By any measure Mike you underestimate the costs of owning your own glider. Try to get to grips with the following:
1. "Red" Wright wrote in Soaring April 1964 "A letter to Editor" and it is reprinted in Joe Lincolns book "On Quiet Wings" page 51 onwards about he got caught up in the simple, inexpensive recreation of soaring to which he had transitioned from being a 6000 hour power pilot. After training costs, he got to fly solo and subsequently to progress he had of course to buy his own glider which he duly did. He lists the costs of training and then the costs of obtaining his glider and operating it, including all that 'must have' instrumentation. (Borgelt Instruments being not yet around at the time to sever you from your hard earned dollars in trade for the magical wonder instrument, there were nevertheless many other instrument makers practicing that art on the hapless likes of "Red" Wright.) After a while of solo operations comes the time where he has to get into contest flying to progress in the sport. He lists the costs of doing this. Contests aren't cheap in the USA if you have to pay someone else to tow your glider across continent while you remain working. (Our WA troops can relate to that.) So the contest bills add up and the costs per hour keeps climbing. At the competitive level of soaring you need to practice and fly the good days from your home site, so you have to take time off mid week because of course the best weather doesn't always coincide with the weekend. As an operator of a business this leads him to be out flying midweek when he should be tending the customers, and so on one deal, being away flying, he looses $66,000 of one customers business. He works out his ultimate cost for 125 hours soaring as totalling $96.164.84, ie $12.82 per minute. At that time it cost aparently $12 per minute to run a Boeing 707, but he doesn't want the conclusion drawn from this that soaring is an expensive sport by comparison. Red's article is an utterly delightful read (at least in my terms). 2. Closer to home. If I had bought Westpac shares in 1993 instead of my Janus CT I would now have around about 4 times capital appreciation on the shares, ie $600,000 (excluding dividends) from my original $160,000. Even after capital gains tax the increase would pay for almost unlimited hours at Tocumwal rates. Hmmm, and I used to think I was a rational person in owning my own glider. Definitely I have been away with the fairies. Roger Druce -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Borgelt Sent: Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:01 AM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring inAustralia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] BORING in California At 03:05 PM 9/03/05 +1030, you wrote: > >Definitely one of the more memorable experiences of my North American >trip. Also the most expensive flying I've ever done: that 2-hour >flight cost US$200, including glider hire, instructor hire and tow-plane charter. >I think the Australian system really has it all over the US system when >it comes to the *cost* of flying; god knows how much it costs for a >novice pilot to receive training over there when the instructor adds >$60 per hour to the price of the flight. Given the same equipment and the a generally similar taxation regime the "cost" of flying is about the same everywhere. It really is just a question of "who pays?". US$100ph is about A$130 currently. Take a look at Aero club charges for a C172 with instructor some time. You had a cheap flight! I know a bloke with a Discus 2. Say A$130,000. That's A$6500 at 5% which you can get easily from a bank. Actually you can get 6% right now. Insurance is A$5000. At 100 hours a year thats A$115 per hour right there without tows. Say 30 at A$30 per tow for another A$900 and about A$1000 for GFA, airworthiness fees and maintenance. A$13400 per annum so A$134 per hour for 100 hours a year. Even if he pays top marginal tax rate on the A$6500 it still ends up at A$100 per hour or more. We haven't even talked about depreciation. As for the novice pilot, the way to do it in the US is to learn to fly in a power plane(it's cheaper) and do a two day glider conversion later. Most of the US glider pilots I know have a power licence for this reason. Mike _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
