Bert Willing wrote:

I'm not ready to pay for this extra point (because at the end of the day,
someone has to pay for that work plus a mark-up) but appearently there are a
lot of customers out there who are ready to pay for it. These customers sell
there 10-15 years old ships to pay for the new one, and the second hand
market in Europe is fairly large.


Yes, you are right. The best solution by far at present for someone who
wants to buy a glider is to buy a second hand one in the category of
the LS4, Pegase and so on, or an ASW20 or similar if he wants a flapped
glider and is reasonably confident in his piloting abilities.


I don't think that this is the reason for a decline in soaring - it's rather
the attitude of many a club member who thinks he needs to fly an ASW27
instead of an ASW20, or a Discus2 instead of a Pégase - without having ever
reached a personal performance limit on a Pégase...


I agree 100%, however one must not neglect the fact that the clubs have
to renew their fleet to counter depreciation. To come back to
generalities, it is impossible that the prices keep going up like they
are doing, the system will hit a wall fast.


--

Michel TALON