US Dollar sinks to new low against Euro

Earlier, (Mike Stringfellow) wrote:

...Economic models would suggest a strong incentive for sailplane
manufacture in North America, but I wonder if the numbers of potential
sales would justify this.

Any thoughts?

I have no particularly meaningful thoughts on whether it is
economically feasable, except that I intend to give it a try and see
how it goes.

However, one other thing I'll toss into this thread is that the
materials costs of building sailplanes is closely linked (at least,
more closely than I'd like) to the price of oil. I've been talking
with my suppliers, and _their_ suppliers have been seeing monthly and
sometimes weekly price increases on composite and plastic materials.
What with oil prices doubling since Y2K, it makes a big difference.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24

Uzytkownik "Bob Kuykendall" napisal w wiadomosci
om...

However, one other thing I'll toss into this thread is that the
materials costs of building sailplanes is closely linked (at least,
more closely than I'd like) to the price of oil. I've been talking
with my suppliers, and _their_ suppliers have been seeing monthly and
sometimes weekly price increases on composite and plastic materials.
What with oil prices doubling since Y2K, it makes a big difference.

So what then? Back to the wood? At least in case of the 'sailplanes for the
beginners'?

Regards,


--
Janusz Kesik
Poland

-------------------------------------
See Wroclaw (Breslau) in photography,
The XIX Century, the Festung Breslau, and photos taken today.
http://www.wroclaw.dolny.slask.pl

Earlier, "Janusz Kesik" wrote:

So what then? Back to the wood? At least in case of the 'sailplanes for the
beginners'?

No, probably nothing like that, at least not in the way you'd expect.
Oil would probably have to get a lot more expensive before the many
more man-hours required for conventional wood construction becomes
more economically viable than composites.

Bob K.

Actually, HAL has had a nice upward trend for the last
6 months...no surprise there I suppose


At 00:48 07 November 2004, Gary Kemp wrote:
What has happened to the U.S. Stock market since Bush's
reelection??
Not mine Bubba.

Shawn

(Mike Stringfellow) wrote in message . com...

Economic models would suggest a strong incentive for sailplane
manufacture in North America, but I wonder if the numbers of potential
sales would justify this.

Any thoughts?

Designed, tested and developed in the US, then made in china with our
current management practices. Net gain = new market = 0. The only
things we make here are hamburgers.

(Lennie the Lurker) wrote in message . com...
(Mike Stringfellow) wrote in message . com...

Economic models would suggest a strong incentive for sailplane
manufacture in North America, but I wonder if the numbers of potential
sales would justify this.

Any thoughts?

Designed, tested and developed in the US, then made in china with our
current management practices. Net gain = new market = 0. The only
things we make here are hamburgers.

Why don't you drive your China-produced car into the lake!

"The U.S. has a current account deficit, a budget deficit and a
president who appears unconcerned about dollar weakness," said Shahab
Jalinoos, senior currency strategist at ABN AMRO. "No one can see any
reason to buy the dollar at the moment."

The president cost me nearly $15,000 last year when I purchased my
current glider with flip remarks about not caring and then retracting
his statements about the dollar's strength. It has become so weak now,
that gliders are priced beyond all reason... meaning even though new
ones cost more, used gliders are losing value because demand is
reduced (psychologically, it's tough to justify six figures for a
piece of plastic). Since I don't quite earn 7 figures yet, my tax
break in miniscule, and now GWB is spending three-day weekends at Camp
David, effectively barring us from our local ridges on NW days.

Four more years... sigh!

(Mike Stringfellow) wrote in message . com...
The US dollar is now valued close to 0.75 Euro, down from its peak of
1.25 a couple of years ago. Analysts say it may go even lower, with
some projecting exchange rates of 0.7 (1.4 dollar to the Euro).

This has pretty much put the kibosh on my goals of buying a new
European sailplane. A model at, say, Euro 85,000 cost around $70,000
a couple of years ago, is now around $110,000 and may soon be at
$120,000.

Economic models would suggest a strong incentive for sailplane
manufacture in North America, but I wonder if the numbers of potential
sales would justify this.

Any thoughts?

http://www.scaled.com/projects/globalflyer.html

Well if anyone out there in ras world is a buddy of
Rutan...I suspect he might make some terrific sailplanes
if he set his mind to it. For some reason I suspect
the very limited market would not be of much interest
to him


Economic models would suggest a strong incentive for
sailplane
manufacture in North America, but I wonder if the
numbers of potential
sales would justify this.

Any thoughts?

Stewart Kissel wrote:

http://www.scaled.com/projects/globalflyer.html

Well if anyone out there in ras world is a buddy of
Rutan...I suspect he might make some terrific sailplanes
if he set his mind to it. For some reason I suspect
the very limited market would not be of much interest
to him

It's not that - he just isn't a production company. How many
round-the-world airplanes or Spaceship Ones do you think he expects to
sell? I suspect he wouldn't be interested in it, even if you brought a
pile of money to pay for a design, because it's not as interesting as
the stuff he's already working on.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Actually, Burt Rutan already designed and marketed a self launching
sailplane called the Solitaire, 20 years or so ago.

http://www.rutanaircraft.com/htmlpages/orderform.html Photo, 2/3 down the
page.

I was quite excited about it at the time, but it did not turn out to be very
successful -- too short span, too high wing loading, optimized for higher
speeds, poor thermalling performance. It was quietly dropped from plans
sales by RAF.
-Bob Korves

"Stewart Kissel" wrote in
message ...
http://www.scaled.com/projects/globalflyer.html

Well if anyone out there in ras world is a buddy of
Rutan...I suspect he might make some terrific sailplanes
if he set his mind to it. For some reason I suspect
the very limited market would not be of much interest
to him


Economic models would suggest a strong incentive for
sailplane
manufacture in North America, but I wonder if the
numbers of potential
sales would justify this.

Any thoughts?