In article ,
Robert Ehrlich wrote:
Bert Willing wrote:

Exactly. Just a bunch of say 50,000 arrogant European pilots who think that
it's an ugly ship and who rather spend $15,000 on a second hand ship having
much more performance...


Remember a high number of pilots among these 50,000 are not owning nor buying
any glider, but just fly club gliders. And the choice of which glider a club
should buy is another thing. If a glider costs twice the price of a PW5, but
flies twice the number of hours a PW5 would fly because of better performance,
there is no hesitation on the choice. My club owned 2 old gliders (wood, metal
frame and fabric) that were donated, not sold, some years ago because the annual
number of hours they were flown were not worth the simple cost of maintaining them
airworthy.

The flip side is the 1-34 that BASA owns. They have a DG1000,
grob 103, and pegasi, but kept the 1-34 because it's just so dang
cheap to maintain.

And a local power FBO just sold two 152s and a 172 to
buy a brand new 172 because it's less maintenance.

So I think the door swings both ways. Operators may buy or
keep old stuff that is sturdy, and discard old stuff that
breaks a lot.

The L-13 seems to be a good example. Old, and with lots of
parts, but it doesn't need a new gelcoat, so it
makes a good tiedown glider. But an old glider with wood wings?
Man, now you're talkin' el rotto...
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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA