Own, share, or keep flying the club glider?
Every answer to this online adds depreciation to the annual bills and quotes one number. That number is right for comparing options and wrong for answering "what leaves my bank account" — and those are different questions asked by the same person at different moments. So this gives you both.
Be honest — this is the number the whole answer turns on.
The queue is a real cost. If you can never get the club ship on a good day, say so here.
| Own it | Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Up front | — | ||
| Cash out per year | |||
| Depreciation per year | — | ||
| Economic cost per year | |||
| Economic cost per hour |
The aircraft
Costs for the whole glider. The share slider divides them.
Annual = (P − S) ÷ n + I + H + M per owner: ÷ k
Club = h × r + D
- P
- purchase price
- S
- what it is worth when you sell, n years later
- n
- years you expect to keep it
- I
- insurance per year
- H
- hangarage or trailer parking
- M
- maintenance and the annual inspection
- k
- syndicate members sharing it
- h
- hours you fly in a year
- r
- club hourly rate
- D
- club dues
(P − S) ÷ n is depreciation, and it is the term every forum answer conflates with the purchase price. The capital you lay out is reported separately and never amortised into the annual figure, because doing both counts the same money twice.
What this assumes, and what it can't know
Depreciation is not cash, and the page keeps them apart on purpose. A glider losing $1,000 of value a year is a real economic cost, but it is not money you have to find in March. Compare options on the economic line; budget your year on the cash line.
The purchase price is not an annual cost. It is a lump you part with once and largely get back when you sell, which is exactly what the depreciation line measures. Adding both would count the same money twice — a mistake that appears in a great many spreadsheets on this subject.
Resale value is a guess and it dominates the answer. Well-kept glass has held its nominal value remarkably well over some periods and fallen over others. The model accepts a resale above the purchase price if that is what you believe, and it will show negative depreciation rather than quietly clamping it.
Launch costs are left out entirely, because you pay them whichever option you pick, so they cancel. If you want those, see the launch cost calculator.
What it cannot price is the part that decides it for most people: having your own glider rigged and ready on a good day, knowing the aircraft, not queueing, and being able to go cross-country without asking anyone. Those are worth something real and the number is yours, not ours.
Not yet checked by anyone but me. If you instruct, or one of these assumptions is wrong, I would genuinely rather hear it than not — tell me and I will credit you here. This is ground school, not a flight computer, and not an authority on your aircraft. Fly the numbers in your own flight manual and the instruments in front of you.
Thinking about buying?
Where to look, what a pre-purchase inspection should cover, and the findings that should make you walk away.
Read: buying a glider →Common questions
Is it cheaper to own a glider than to fly a club glider?
Only if you fly enough hours a year: your hours are the number the whole answer turns on. Owning is a set of yearly sums, depreciation plus insurance, hangarage and maintenance, none of them charged by the hour, while the club glider is charged by the hour, so the more you fly, the better owning compares. The queue is a real cost too: if you can never get the club ship on a good day, count only the club hours you can realistically get. Launch costs cancel, because you pay them whichever option you pick.
How do you calculate the yearly cost of owning a glider?
Add depreciation to the yearly bills: that is the economic cost, right for comparing options but not what leaves your bank account. Depreciation is what you paid minus what the glider will be worth when you sell, divided by the years you keep it. The bills are insurance, hangarage or trailer parking, and maintenance and the annual inspection. In a syndicate, divide the total by the members sharing it. Do not also spread the purchase price over the years: you largely get it back when you sell, which is what depreciation measures, so doing both counts the same money twice.
Is depreciation a real cost of owning a glider?
Yes, but it is not cash. A glider losing $1,000 of value a year is a real economic cost, but it is not money you have to find in March. Keep the two apart: compare options on the economic cost, which includes depreciation, and budget your year on the cash cost, which does not.
Do used gliders hold their resale value?
Well-kept glass gliders have held their nominal value remarkably well over some periods and fallen over others. So the resale value you assume when comparing owning with flying the club glider is a guess, and it dominates the result, because it sets the depreciation. If you believe you will sell for more than you paid, depreciation comes out negative.
What are the benefits of owning your own glider?
The benefits that decide it for most people are the ones a cost comparison cannot price: having your own glider rigged and ready on a good day, knowing the aircraft, not queueing, and being able to go cross-country without asking anyone. Those are worth something real, but only you can put a number on them.