Cost to earn a glider certificate?

ContestID67 wrote:
It appears that this club is slightly different than the norm (aren't
we all?). They have low yearly dues ($164 including SSA membership),
$10 per flight glider rental, $50 per 3000 foot tow and $30/hour for
an instructor. Let's assume it takes 30 rides to solo, each ride to
3000 feet lasting 30 mins (with ground school) over the course of one
year. That adds up to 164+30x10+30x50+30x30x0.5=$2414. So the $2500
was a pretty good guess.

Based on your estimate and those provided by others, I'm guessing somewhere
between $2500 and $5000 seems the most probable cost range, when everything
is factored in.

But I probably wouldn't spread the cost over a year. If I had fun for that
length of calendar time without sharing the results of it with my wife it'd
really cost me! :-)

My club is $650/year dues, no rental, no instructor fees, and $30 per
3000 foot tow. That adds up to 650+30x30=$1550.

Wow. That's not much!

Anyone have the numbers for a commercial operation?

However, you need to add in materials, FAA test fees (private), sweat
equity (it is a club after all) and the inevitable cost of the "I-need-
to-buy-my-own-glider" bug.

I-need-to-buy-my-own-glider? Better not feed that bug! I haven't even
gotten off the ground and the idea of owning a motor glider sounds
appealing. That would make the training costs "inconsequential". ;-)

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
:

ContestID67 wrote:
It appears that this club is slightly different than the norm (aren't
we all?). They have low yearly dues ($164 including SSA membership),
$10 per flight glider rental, $50 per 3000 foot tow and $30/hour for
an instructor. Let's assume it takes 30 rides to solo, each ride to
3000 feet lasting 30 mins (with ground school) over the course of one
year. That adds up to 164+30x10+30x50+30x30x0.5=$2414. So the $2500
was a pretty good guess.

Based on your estimate and those provided by others, I'm guessing somewhere
between $2500 and $5000 seems the most probable cost range, when everything
is factored in.

But I probably wouldn't spread the cost over a year. If I had fun for that
length of calendar time without sharing the results of it with my wife it'd
really cost me! :-)

My club is $650/year dues, no rental, no instructor fees, and $30 per
3000 foot tow. That adds up to 650+30x30=$1550.

Wow. That's not much!

Anyone have the numbers for a commercial operation?

However, you need to add in materials, FAA test fees (private), sweat
equity (it is a club after all) and the inevitable cost of the "I-need-
to-buy-my-own-glider" bug.

I-need-to-buy-my-own-glider? Better not feed that bug! I haven't even
gotten off the ground and the idea of owning a motor glider sounds
appealing. That would make the training costs "inconsequential". ;-)

Jim, let the idea of a motorglider go for a while. You need to
experience the simple pleasures of quiet flight, comraderie, and
becoming one with your machine.

You would likely spend more time than you could possibly imagine
fiddling with and maintaining it. Time you really need to be soaring
quietly and freely and learning what it means to use your brain and soul
to keep a motorless craft in the air for hours at a time.

My $0.02.

Larry

"01-- Zero One" wrote:
"Jim Logajan" wrote:
ContestID67 wrote:
However, you need to add in materials, FAA test fees (private),
sweat equity (it is a club after all) and the inevitable cost of
the "I-need- to-buy-my-own-glider" bug.

I-need-to-buy-my-own-glider? Better not feed that bug! I haven't even
gotten off the ground and the idea of owning a motor glider sounds
appealing. That would make the training costs "inconsequential". ;-)

Jim, let the idea of a motorglider go for a while. You need to
experience the simple pleasures of quiet flight, comraderie, and
becoming one with your machine.

I should have edited my response better - I really have no plans (or spare
funds) to acquire a motorglider now or anytime in the near future. Since
John mentioned it, I thought I'd respond and mention that the idea has a
certain appeal.

"ContestID67" wrote in message
...
...
Anyone have the numbers for a commercial operation?

A lot of them put numbers up on their web pages - some random samples (no
endorsement of or experience with any of these..)

http://www.soaringnv.com/instruction.php

http://www.caracolesoaring.com/learn2.htm

http://www.skysailing.com/pages/lessons.html


--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

Brian wrote:
On Jun 6, 9:34*pm, Jim Logajan wrote:
Anyone have a rough idea of the amount to budget to earn a glider
certificate?

The glider training closest to me appears to be at this club:

http://www.kpflight.com/coburg.htm

I am not that familiar with the club or there cost, But I have worked
with their examiner, he is excellent and I have had several students
take their checkrides at this club.

That is good to know.

You might also check out www.nwskysports.com in Hood River or the
Willamette Valley Soaring Club. They do a Soaring Safari at the Alvord
Desert every year in July where they specialize in ground launches.
There you might be able to arrange for a lot of training for a very
little cost.

Thanks for the tip!

Just a quick note:

Don't overlook the "supplies" category.

Charts, learning materials, study guides, etc. will probably add up to
about $500. It'll happen in $20 - $50 increments, but it adds up
fast. And there's no such thing as "too much studying" in the world
of piloting!

BTW for training materials, I'm a big fan of Bob Wander's books. He
has some great "Package Deals" on his website for around $100 - $150
that include all the books you need for training and basic soaring
flight. Good stuff! I'm not associated with him, but like his
writing and his lecturing style (if you ever get a chance to hear him
speak, he's pretty good): http://www.bobwander.com

Take care,

--Noel

On Jun 7, 1:51 pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
Just a quick note:

Don't overlook the "supplies" category.

Charts, learning materials, study guides, etc. will probably add up to
about $500. It'll happen in $20 - $50 increments, but it adds up
fast. And there's no such thing as "too much studying" in the world
of piloting!

BTW for training materials, I'm a big fan of Bob Wander's books. He
has some great "Package Deals" on his website for around $100 - $150
that include all the books you need for training and basic soaring
flight. Good stuff! I'm not associated with him, but like his
writing and his lecturing style (if you ever get a chance to hear him
speak, he's pretty good): http://www.bobwander.com

Take care,

--Noel

Unless I missed it, none of the previous posts mentioned the club
initiation fee which can be easily a one-time expense of $500-$1,000
or more. Clubs put up that entrance barrier to make sure applicants
have well considered joining a club and to provide a (non-redeemable)
"share" of the very expensive club equipment. When entering the sport
this amount needs to be added to the already stated costs.

Herb, J7

Right! About the amount of a good set of golf clubs.

At 13:44 08 June 2008, Herb wrote:
On Jun 7, 1:51 pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
Just a quick note:

Don't overlook the "supplies" category.

Charts, learning materials, study guides, etc. will probably add up to
about $500. It'll happen in $20 - $50 increments, but it adds up
fast. And there's no such thing as "too much studying" in the
world
of piloting!

BTW for training materials, I'm a big fan of Bob Wander's books. He
has some great "Package Deals" on his website for around $100 -
$150
that include all the books you need for training and basic soaring
flight. Good stuff! I'm not associated with him, but like his
writing and his lecturing style (if you ever get a chance to hear him
speak, he's pretty good): http://www.bobwander.com

Take care,

--Noel

Unless I missed it, none of the previous posts mentioned the club
initiation fee which can be easily a one-time expense of $500-$1,000
or more. Clubs put up that entrance barrier to make sure applicants
have well considered joining a club and to provide a (non-redeemable)
"share" of the very expensive club equipment. When entering the sport
this amount needs to be added to the already stated costs.

Herb, J7

Herb wrote:
Unless I missed it, none of the previous posts mentioned the club
initiation fee which can be easily a one-time expense of $500-$1,000
or more.

The club near me has no initiation fee (they make a point of it on their
web site) - just an annual fee of US$164.

"noel.wade" wrote:
Charts, learning materials, study guides, etc. will probably add up to
about $500. It'll happen in $20 - $50 increments, but it adds up
fast. And there's no such thing as "too much studying" in the world
of piloting!

Noted.

BTW for training materials, I'm a big fan of Bob Wander's books. He
has some great "Package Deals" on his website for around $100 - $150
that include all the books you need for training and basic soaring
flight. Good stuff! I'm not associated with him, but like his
writing and his lecturing style (if you ever get a chance to hear him
speak, he's pretty good): http://www.bobwander.com

The package deal looks pretty good - but it looks like I'll need to
supplement even that with a current copy of the FAR/AIM, among a couple
other items.