There are several issues with declining membership issues. I think that
the main one is the cost directly involved. Many say that soaring is
less expensive then flying power. Well, not really. Think about
it.Compare price of LS-8 at 65000 Euros to Cessna 172. You can rent a
Cessna 150 for $50.00/hour wet. How many airports permit gliders to
operate? Not very many. I am traveling every weekend 125 miles one way
just to get some flying time in a glider. That how is from my house to
the club hanger. At the same time I can go to local airport, as a
matter of fact we have 3 of them around, in a few minutes and rent that
damn Cessna or Piper or whatever else is available. You have mentioned
EAA. Did you guys noticed that those guys are sticking together, they
do things together, they support each other, they don't bash each other
because they fly something different. How many of you read postings
about the PW-5...we are divided into their lovers and haters. How about
guys flying motorized sailplanes? They are trying very hard to convince
everybody that that is the way to go. Then some other people will
accuse them of not being skilled enough to fly pure sailplane. Then we
have those who are concerned about the looks and span and the argument
goes on. Have you seen how occasional passengers that every so often
come to the glider port for a ride, react to some of the glider pilots
comments and statements? This is the group of people that we need to
recruit, that is the group of people we need to concentrate on in order
to produce new pilots. So what if they are old or young. The EAA guys
will buy some sort of a kit, such as RV or Lancair and they enjoy
themselves.
Those guys don't blame everything on EAA just like we do with SSA. If
there is a problem they attack it.
These are just some of my thoughts but the issue is much deeper.