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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1380.PDF
THE FUTURE OF SOARING A Plea for Auxiliary Engines and Ultra-light Designs CROSS-COUNTRY soaring is truly the most exhilarating form of human flight yet devised. The pilot never has time to become bored, for every minute and mile are achieved by his correct understanding and use of atmospheric up-currents found over slopes, in thermals, inside cumulus and thunderstorm clouds, under cloud streets, in front of line squalls, and in standing and moving waves often reaching well into the stratosphere. Experience and skill grow only with practice in the air; the more hours a pilot soars each year, the better will be his thermal-, wave- and cloud-flying, his navigation and his success in out-and-return goal flights. Bv O W His enjoyment, also, will increase in pro portion with his skill and achievements. Although nearly every sailplane pilot would like to spend 50 or 100 hours among the clouds each year—and many would hardly be satisfied with twice this amount—only very few can ever afford the time and money. Most pilots can only try to soar at week-ends and during their holidays. In spite of the greater public recognition and popularity of soaring, the sport is in a serious position. The total number of hours flown last year by 2,200 pilots on club and privately owned sailplanes in this country was only 10,580. This means that the "average" pilot achieved just over 4| hours in the air last year, for which he probably had to spend at least 200 or more hours working or waiting at a gliding site—quite apart from his monetary outlay. Many pilots, like the present writer, managed to obtain 60 hours' soaring, which means that the vast majority had even less flying than the 4J hours' average. Like their pilots, our sailplanes spend the major part of their lives on the ground, depreciating in hangars or waiting at the end of a long queue for a launch. A total of 10,580 hours flown in 170 sailplanes gives an average annual utilization of 62 hours per sailplane. There is little satisfaction in pointing out that our achievements compare very well with those of other countries. For instance, the "average" German pilot spent six minutes in die air in 1952 (80,000 club members flying nearly 10,000 hours). Sailplane utilization averages were: France, 60 hours in 1949, rising to 80 hours in 1952; U.K., 44 hours, rising to 62 in 1953; Sweden, about 16 hours; Switzerland, under 30 hours; U.S.A., about 15 hours; and Germany, about 18 hours. This favourable comparison does not alter the fact that 4f hours per pilot and 62 hours per sailplane are utterly unsatisfactory from both the ethical and economic points of view. They simply do not justify the effort, time and money invested in the sport. More money will not improve our true position until we really frighten ourselves by examining the true average cost of each soar ing hour. This means taking ail operating, wages, maintenance and repair costs and the true annual depreciation of sailplanes, trailers, winches, hangars, and retriev- NEUMARK m^ cars anc* dividing this total by the number of soaring hours. All these figures are not available on a national basis, and even incomplete in the club and private-owner field; but we can take some of them. The replacement value of the sailplanes mainly involved is between £500 and £1,000 and of their trailers £200 to £300. Prices are still rising, and today it would be safer to write £1,000 to £1,500 (T21b and T42 two-seaters, Sky), but we will use the former valuation and very optimistically assume a ten-year life witiiout major repair costs, during which time the average sail plane would produce 500 hours of soaring. There are, of course, exceptions both ways. These figures produce an amortization cost of £1 to £2 per soaring hour (or rather flying hour) before the introduction of any maintenance, operating, hangar, petrol, insurance, certification and other expenses. These are difficult to assess but will account for at least another £1 per hour and probably considerably more. We now have a cost of £2 per hour as an absolute minimum, and a probable average is £3 to £4. If we add the personal expenses incurred by the pilot on the very many days when our inefficient launching methods prevented him from contacting thermal or cloud lift, then the cost of the achieved hours would go up to between £5 and £10 per hour. Many people will disagree with this estimate, basing their opinion on their personal cash expenditure. We are here taking the total expenditure at 1954 prices, and dividing by the total hours flown and obtaining the real cost per hour. If they have The two pictures on this page show the Nelson Hummingbird, an Ameri can two-seater sailplane fitted with an auxiliary engine which develops 40 h.p. for a weight of only 45 lb. In the heading pic ture the power unit is semi- retracted: on the right, with retraction complete, the Hummingbird soars as a normal high-performance sailplane. •M«H D
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