Nyal Williams wrote:
These are scary numbers; this sport appears to be in
much worse shape than sailing. I'd like to know the
production numbers for stock sailboats above 35ftOA.


SNIP

My Std Cirrus came off the production line in October 1970 - it is #57. First
flight of a Std Cirrus was March 1969. I'm not sure when customer deliveries
began but they competed in the worlds in 1969.

Schempp-Hirth were making the Open Cirrus at the same time, but no two seaters.
The Janus only came along in 1974, the SHK had been replaced by the Open Cirrus.
Extrapolating then, total production per year then was 60 for the current
largest manufacturer.

I know there were a lot more manufacturers then. Schleicher had a bigger range
than Schempp-hirth in 1970, but I wonder how many fewer are being produced in
total. Part of the problem (for the manufacturers) is the durability of glass
gliders. Mine was one of the earlier examples, it has circa 2200 hours on a
12,000 hour airframe. We are on to the third generation of instruments - new
radios, varios, GPSs etc. I try to fly more than 100 hours a year in her, but
barring some serious stupidity or bad luck I expect there will be a couple of
custodians of #57 after I am gone...

So - production has declined somewhat I am sure, and part of that must be the
cost - you can buy a high performance two seater all carbon, certified light
aircraft for less than the cost of a high performance single seater from one of
the top German trio. Many people do...

If cost was all that counted , why are the East Europeans selling so few. Their
bulid quality appears to be good.

But production does not show the whole picture - how many sailplanes are there
in the world, and how much flying do they do? If that is declining then we have
cause for concern. If the manufacturers can find a way to make the cost come
down without losing the desirability we may see more built - look at the
Peregrine, PW6, Sparrowhawk, Apis etc - Lots of new entrants.

Maybe it is not so bad after all.

--
Bruce Greeff
Std Cirrus #57
I'm no-T at the address above.
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