The prices

I did this "research" when I received the price update from Wills Wing in an email.

1.  The dollar has lost a lot of its value relative to the Euro and to the Australian dollar in the last year and the last few months.  When I went to Australia on November 8th the Oz dollar was $0.85.  In late March it was $0.93.  This would normally push up the price of Australian goods in the US.

2.  The Euro had also gone up significantly over this time period.  This would push up the price of gliders made in Europe to the US, but I don't know how it would affect prices for gliders from the Ukraine (they have gone up since August 2007).

3.  7075 tubing is made in Switzerland (as I recall) and the cost of that aluminum tubing would, I assume, have gone up to Wills in dollar terms over the last three years.  This could also be the case for other manufactures using non dollars funds.

4.  It is somewhat difficult to compare prices across manufacturers because their basic glider contains different options and some options are available from some manufacturers but not from others.  You have to make sure that you are comparing similarly configured gliders.  I have done my best to provide you with the information you need to do that.  Still it will be difficult.

5.  I have contacted Moyes USA (Kraig Coomber) and Aeros USA (Deb McGlaughlin ) to get the latest pricing.  Kraig and Deb have confirmed that these are the current prices.

6.  Frankly, I am amazed that Wills Wing is able to maintain its prices over a three year period given the great pressure on the US dollar.

7.  There does not appear to be an Icaro hang glider distributor in the US (Dangerous Toys is a distributor for the Icaro helmets), but you most likely can purchase Icaro gliders from hang gliding dealers.

8.  Airborne may have a dealer in Lookout Mountain but their web site doesn't even list the C4.  I don't have actual US prices for Icaro and Airborne and have had to do a calculation (which may be wrong, and likely is off a bit as the exchange rate fluctuates).

9.  Yes, I am aware that Northwing is a US manufacturer of hang gliders, but they don't make a model that I could use in the comparison.  You can find Northwing here: http://northwing.com/products_hang_freedom.shtml.

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