Make Modern Gliders Cheaper!
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Lower price will allow more people to fly modern gliders, what's not to like!
I started thinking about this "why are there so few new gliders in the clubs?" last year. At last years national competition a young enthusiastic pilot forgot to connect his elevator(ASW20) and crashed badly during take off. Why do we still fly these old gliders when there is newer more safe gliders available, since more than 30 years!
It is time for a change to the better.
Over the last decade and a half I have been watching this; modern 15m and standard class
gliders becoming increasingly more expensive and disapering out of clubs. A nice Discus 2 or LS8 could be
had for 55k € just 10 years ago, that would equal 68k today but they sell for closer to 80k now in
2024. Same goes for ASW27 and Ventus 2. Why do second hand gliders get more expensive?
Simple as supply and demand. We can see that there is an issue with the supply of these types of
gliders, but how have that happen? Let see the history.
Gliding is, and have always been, largely influenced by competition gliding or more specifically
cross country competition gliding. The gliders we have are built to fit in a certain competition
class like 15m, standard, 18m etc. It is very clear that we buy gliders that we can compete with.
The problem started when competition rules allowed for engines to be used in the normal EGC/
WGC which increased cost and complexity for everyone, maybe not the
way you think.
This needs to be cheaper!
Before this was allowed not many bought engine equipped gliders, you couldn’t compete with
them anyway(except for specific competition only for motorised gliders). And, without engine,
15m wingspan is sufficient for week and strong days. 15m is infact only marginally slower than 18m.
18m gliders are more suited for engines(to keep minimum wing loading reasonable for weak
conditions) and as such they started to gain popularity when engines was allowed in general
competitions, but they lacked their own competition class rendering them class less and less
attractive. But, in 2001 18m class was born. This was also the real turn point when gliding stopped evolving in most clubs. The problem with 18m with engines is that they are too expensive for clubs to
buy, even as second hand. While in the past the latest-and-greatest 15m and standard glider
could be bought by clubs second hand, this supply of gliders in to clubs pretty much halted. This is a real
problem! And this is were most of the club gliding world is right now, they are still keeping the old
gliders from before this turn point alive. Instead of buying new gliders clubs now spend big money refinishing old, since long, outdated gliders.
A further problem in the period of the introduction of the 18m class was the uncertainty of the
future for 15m and standard in world level competition, further reduced the sales of these
aircrafts. At the same time 18m felt as the future proof investment.
Not only this lack of new gliders to the clubs, the 18m class also brought with it higher weight,
600kg, and bigger wingspan. Due to the higher weight many clubs hold on to old, expensive and
inefficient towplanes just to be able to tow these heavy gliders safely. They also need more hangar
space, making hangaring generally more expensive. The self launch versions also removed the need to tow, one less financial participant to the tow plane.
The idea of having an engine in a glider might seam a wise idea but it has spun off a myriad of
costs that is slowly pushing gliding out of financial reach of people. Engines have not made gliding more
attractive (removing the anxiety of outlanding) but it is making it less attractive due to cost.
Since the second hand value of gliders is rising this also brings the insurance cost up thus making gliding even more costly. What we want is a healthy second hand market where values of gliders is decreasing, not increasing.
So, what can we do to make it better?
As mentioned in the start we need to improve the supply of newly produced cheap(to buy and run) gliders: gliders for the gliding community. And, let’s not repeat the world class mistake but instead promote an existing class. The class with the
cheapest modern gliders are 15m and standard class.
Since it is clear that competition rules affect what we buy, the most efficent way to swing the buyer demand is to change the competition rules.
I propose the following rule, and general competition, changes to make gliding cheaper.
1. Reduce MTOM for 15m and Standard class
15m and standard will be the same except for lowering the max weight to 475kg. The lowering of
the weight is to make it easier to tow with any modern UL tow plane. This will make the sport
cheaper in many ways and also make it easier for the competition organiser to find tow planes.
475kg is chosen as the heaviest 15m glider that might enter the competition have an empty
weight close to this without water ballast.
2. Only run the World Championships(classic or grand prix) in 15m and standard class,
same for juniors
If you want to be world champion, you NEED a 15m or standard class glider. All
other classes will only be run up to continental championships. This will very much increase the
prestige of these classes, and with that the attraction. Further, we need to keep both these
classes even tho they are very similar in performance. 15m is kept so that anyone who have
bought a 18m glider can still compete in the world championships by investing in some 15m tips. Standard class is kept since most clubs prefer non-flaps gliders, allowing for talented pilots
without their own glider to be world champion. The last part is very important because we want
more talented pilots competing to make for a better competition. Both classes have very similar
performance and as such it is no problem running at the same location (similar thermaling speed
and cruise speed). This will also help in the search of sponsorships since the world championships will have higher status and more viewers. Further more the competition pilots with world level ambition will let go of the club class gliders shortly after the rule is implemented which will give a direct effect on lowering the price of these gliders.
3. In 15m and standard class, you are allowed to make a technical outlanding(engine start) but your scoring
distance will be 50% of achieved distance.
This rule is implemented for several reasons. First,
we don’t want expensive gliders on the market since this will be financially out of reach for clubs
as second hand(as described above). As such, there should be no competition advantage from
having an engine, more so a burden. The buyers will have little incentive to tick that option
from a competition point of view, rather the opposit. Secondly, engines do make an unfair
advantage as the engine pilot will arrive back home quickly and rest well for the next competition
day. He may also stretch his last glide over terrain with bad outlanding fields since he normally
doesn’t need to land anyway. 50% is my suggestion but anyway it should be high enough penalty that the
pilot who wants to win will make an outlanding instead of engine start, thus competing on the
same premises as the other pilots.
That’s all, three changes.
In conjunction with these changes it is very important that the IGC communicate that 15m and
standard will be the main classes at the world level for the foreseeable future. This will instille
confidence in potential buyers and producers and hopefully the production(maybe development?) of these
gliders will ramp up.
With these changes it is clear that we aim for a, not only cheaper and more accessible sport, but
also more environmentally sustainable. The environmental part will come from using efficient
tow planes and using less water ballast. The less obvious is that by time 15m and standard gliders
will be available in numbers world wide and the need to ship gliders around the globe for world
level competitions will not be needed. For every WGC outside of Europa several containers are
shipped with gliders since there are not enough available locally.
If we don’t take action clubs will be without cheap gliders eventually and the cost will go up
significantly. Every year a certain number of gliders are crashed or otherwise written off. As such,
we have an every diminishing supply of cheap gliders combined with higher demand. The higher
demand comes from the fact that new gliders are so expensive that more buyers will look at the
second hand market. This is already happening as mentioned in the beginning.
To even further reduce the cost of new gliders I suggest that producers bring back the raw build option when buying a 15m or standard glider. Bascially you buy a glider that is half finished but to a significant lower price. Plenty of clubs have workshops and experience people to do the hours of simple job to finish the glider. A raw glider could for example be finished to the point that the factory could test fly it safely with a temporary instrument panel.
All work which can be done in a clubs workshop with basic hand tools doesn't need to be done by the factory, this includes:
-Bringing the surface finish from rough to mirror finish (The factory only does the shaping of the surface)
-All electrical installation
-All instrument installation (panel is just pre-drill with holes)
-Cockpit interior
Q&A
Why not promote 18m, it is the forefront of gliders!?
We don’t want to reinvent the wheel(rememeber world class?) so we need to identify the
established class which is the cheapest, popular and is flown with gliders that the clubs can
afford in second hand(if we increase the supply and lower the second hand price). 18m gliders are
roughly 40% more expensive(and even more if engine is included) than 15m and standard. They
are also slightly more difficult to outland due to wingspan and weight(which will happen since we
don’t want the price and complexity of engines). Further more they are also heavier which may
cause a problem towing with some UL towplane.
Why will juniors fly standard and 15m instead of standard and club?
By focusing world level competition on 15m and standard more gliders of these types will be
bought. If we only run worlds in these classes we can arrange so that they do not overlap and
same glider can be used for both junior and seniors. We further more want our junior pilots to stay
safe and modern gliders are safer in many ways.
10-june-2024
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