This is very very good abdvice from Mike. We had the situation years ago when we wanted to possibly buy a Janus B instead of a second Twin Astir (retract undercarriage version) to expand our club two seater fleet. Our President at the time Gary Sunderland advised against a second Twin (very good idea) and suggested a Janus B. We (ie us other Committee mmebers) responded that we would never find an owner in Australia (there being very few such gliders in Australia at that time 1987) who would want to sell, since surely all the owners would know what a great glider they had their hands on and would never want to let go. Gary convinced us we should write around to all the owners and ask if any wanted to sell. We said "Well you reckon its agood idea so you implement it" which he did. We (ie us other Committee members) simply couldn't believe our fortune when we got a reply in the affirmative and so we jumped at the chance and bought Janus B VH-IZI (originally brought into the country by Jack Brabham I believe). This move worked so well that we went hugely into debt a year later to buy Peter Griffo's Janus B "VU". (Why worry about debt when you're doing the right thing!!)
These two gliders have acted as the glue to keep the club (VMFG) together instead of falling apart as private ownership takes over. That is to say, if you have a significant prvate ownership component then you need decent two seaters with a true cross country capability to attract your private owners to fly with their fellow club members and keep the comraderie alive. Again, I say, top advice from Mike .. In the vernacular "Way to go..." Roger Druce VMFG -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Borgelt Sent: Sunday, 4 January 2004 8:21 AM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] glider wanted At 06:15 AM 4/01/04 +1100, you wrote: >There is also a forgotten Hornet sitting in Peter Holmes Workshop >VH-GSF and to best of my knowledge has not flown for about 6 years. Was >first flown by John Rowe in Worlds in Finland in 1976. It has a good >std type trailer Ian McPhee That aircraft was later owned by Tim Knappstein. Nice one for the science fiction fans. My advice to people looking to buy gliders has been to decide what types you are interested in look up the register and get on the phone and ask the owners if they are possibly interested in selling. My experience is that there are lots of gliders out there that don't get advertised for sale but if approached the owner might want to sell. Make sure you are happy with the glider you buy as with the current state of gliding in Australia you might own it for a long time. Mike Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments phone Int'l + 61 746 355784 fax Int'l + 61 746 358796 cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784 Int'l + 61 429 355784 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.borgeltinstruments.com _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
