In article ,
Andreas Maurer wrote:

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 18:22:21 +1300, Bruce Hoult
wrote:

Our club owns six gliders: three two seaters, and three single seaters
(all glass). The two PW-5's are only eight years old, but everything
else (2 x Twin Astir, 1 x Janus, 1 x Std Libelle) is 25 or more years
old, though all but the Libelle have been purchased in the last ten
years.

Hmm... how does your club work (number of members, fees, et cetera)?
maybe we are comparing apples with oranges here....

Membership varies between maybe 80 - 100 depending on the economy.
Annual fees are I think something like US$150 - $200, including a good
chunk that goes to the national organization. Landing charges are about
$7/month/flying member (flat rate). Tows are about $3/min (typically 6
min to 2000 ft for 2 seaters, less for singles). Casual hire of club
gliders is about US$30/hour, less if you pay an extra annual (or
semi-annual) fee, including this year $0/hour if you pay an extra US$500
for the year.


In fact the vast majority of the privately owned gliders (which far
outnumber the club ones) are also more than the 15-17 years old you
mention.

Indeed - used old gliders offer a lot of little money, but in my
opinion it's not necessarily the best thing for a club to have old
equipment only.

Hey, we only just got rid of the last of the Blaniks!

I'm sure we'd love to have a fleet of new equipment, but that would cost
money that we don't have, or require reducing the size of the fleet.
I've heard talk recently of selling the Janus and one of the Grobs in
order to put the money towards a new DG 1000. It wouldn't be enough
money, of course, and would leave us with less capacity, though perhaps
better utilization.

-- Bruce