Registration doesn’t expire, so an aircraft stays on the register even if it’s wrecked in a blown-over trailer in a corner of a gliding field that its deceased owner hasn’t visited for ten years.
The real point of interest is the number of form-2 kits the GFA sells each year. Mandy Temple’s “Mande-news” on June 10 last year included an extract from the GFA’s Salesforce database, which said there were 738 gliders with a current form-2 as of that date. So - slightly over half of the total number of registered gliders are airworthy. The same extract said 2584 members flew GFA aircraft for 115,100 hours from 68,200 launches in 2015-16 (based on form-2 returns). That means every airworthy GFA aircraft averaged 156 hours and 92 launches, making the average GFA aircraft flight 102 minutes long. Not sure what to make of that. Must be some absolute bladder-buster long endurance flights to compensate for the thousands of 6 minute circuits all the winch clubs spend most of the winter flying. Also means the average GFA member logs about 45 hours per year. Once again, some pilots must be absolutely cranking out the hours to make up for the trainees who only log between 5 and 20 hours per year. The other weird numbers worth noting: GFA had issued 932 GPCs, and had 189 AEIs, 97 Level 1 instructors, 306 Level 2 instructors, and 97 Level 3 instructors. That’s 689 members with instructor ratings (out of 2584 total — over a quarter of GFA’s membership base), and each Level 3 having their very own personal Level 1 to train. Let me put it another way: There’s an instructor for every three non-instructor GFA members. The ratio is even stranger if you compare instructor headcount to GPC holders, and observe that 689 of those 932 GPCs are actually supposed to be instructors. I reckon GFA members get instructor ratings instead of Level-2 Independent Ops. If you want to fly club aircraft whenever you want without needing anyone’s permission, nearly 700 members have worked out that it’s easier to get an instructor rating than a Level 2 Independent Operator rating. Also easier to get a crew organized if you’re an instructor and you offer to run a day. That’s a perverse outcome, isn't it? I mean, in an ideal world, it wouldn’t be that way? - mark > On 1 Feb 2017, at 6:04 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > > From the aircraft register of 2013 > > 1220 gliders and motor gliders > > 950 privately owned > > 270 owned by clubs/cadets/societies etc. > > > > last year > > 1276 gliders and motor gliders (+4.6%, 56 actual) > > 981 privately owned (+3.3%, 31 actual) > > 295 owned by clubs/cadets/societies etc. (+9.3%, 25 actual) > > > > Only about 3 years difference, I'd be reluctant to say too much about trends, > have to go back and dig up a really old one. But private ownership (in > absolute terms) increasing more than club ownership (and as others will point > out, only about half of the gliders in Australia are given an annual in any > one year, so it all may be moot anyway). > > gliders on the register newer than 3 years old in 2016 - (64 total) > > 36 private > > 28 club > > Of those 64 new gliders 18 "pure" (mostly DG1000s, and 10 of them air > cadets), 46 with some sort of motor. That's a clue to the future right there. > > > > > > For pilot flying times, much more difficult to get a handle on. > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." @lists.base64.com.au> > > To: > "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." > Cc: > > Sent: > Wed, 1 Feb 2017 14:36:35 +1100 > Subject: > Re: [Aus-soaring] MEMBERSHIP AND A WORLD REVIEW > > > to put a different spin on it, how about asking some different questions > > 1) how many gliders are there now? > > 2) how many are privately owned (percentage change)? > > 3) have the annual flown hours per pilot gone up or down? > > > > > > > > @johnroake.com>@lists.base64.com.au> > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
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