I read these comments with interest. I think the comments made about
the smaller, lower-performance, lower-price sailplanes not selling well
miss the mark. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with the price,
but due to the lower appeal of their looks and performance. The fact is
that there isn't that much difference in the labor or materials needed
to make a PW-5 and the labor and materials to make an ASW-28. The
Germans are sitting on their laurels and making money. This is the
American, (and any other capitalist country,) way of making money. The
Germans have perfected everything except gel-coated finishes, and the
performance shows. I would do the same in their position. It still
doesn't negate the fact that the ASW-28 airframe really shouldn't be
much more expensive than a PW-5 airframe. Figure the weight of each,
and that's how much more material you're buying. Look at the wetted
area, and that's how much more labor you're buying. Oversimplified?
Sure it is. R&D costs are in there, but wait, most of that's done by
college students.

The last boat I bought cost about $1,000- per foot. That ratio went
down as the length went up. I could have bought a 21 foot boat for
about $940- per foot, with a bigger outboard, etc. It just didn't cost
that much more to build the 21 foot boat over the cost of the 19 foot
boat. The cost to produce them was nearly identical, according to the
guy at the factory when I took the tour. Why the higher price? Appeal.
Ego. What the market will bear.

Makes my old Pik look better every time I drag her out of the
trailer... The Germans are making money. They're staying in business,
for the most part. That will end if the pricing doesn't get better...
or will it? No, as long as there are egos, those egos will be played
upon by the performance peddlers. As much as I'd like to have an LS-10,
or an ASG-29, or... insert your favorite Diana 2 here... I'll never
spend that kind of cash on a sailplane... unless this lottery ticket
pays off... 8^)...

Jack Womack
Pik-20B (AZ)