In article .com,
wrote:

Annual Conventions are not helping to grow the sport....they consume
time, energy and money that the SSA could probably be used elsewhere.
No one is getting less busy these days, and soaring is time consuming
enough just trying to get out to the airport and commit aviation.
It's not as if there exists tremendous advances from one year to the
next. I know this has been batted around before, but I think the
sport could survive with a convention every 24 months.

And while we are on the subject of sacred cows, does the SSA really
need a hard-copy magazine? I get 95% percent of my information on
soaring online, and glancing over the mag does not hold the same
interest it once did. OLC, BlipMaps, RAS, the SSA website, the
various websites for clubs and national organizations, the Yahoo
Groups...all seem to prosper online, as well as commercial vendors.
Why is "Soaring" and exception to this?

I think the handwriting is on the wall. Most hardcopy publications are
going to go away in favor of electronic versions. SOARING will not be an
exception. I just don't think that day is yet at hand. Heck, the NY
Times says they may not be publishing hard copy in 5 years! I rather
doubt that, but that is the trend. At present though, I don't think we
are at the point of going totally electronic...yet. I too get the vast
majority of my information from electronic media, though I still
subscribe to my local daily fishwrapper and I still (irrationally) like
getting that copy of SOARING in the mail. Physical books and magazines
still hold some advantages over electronic media in ease of use,
portability, access, and longevity. I can read SOARING by candle light
when my rural electric co-op goes out (which it does a least twice a
month). The hard copy mag still arguably has some recruiting value as
well. Most of the electronic media related to soaring are aimed at those
of already in the know. The hardcopies of SOARING cluttering coffee
tables at FBO's are a good thing in that they grab an outsider's
attention and maybe encourage that person to try out soaring. Not that
an electronic version of SOARING could not be made yet more valuable as
a recruiting tool. But, that is already happening to an extent with the
great improvements in the SSA website.


Fly safely and have fun!

Wallace Berry