On Monday, May 7, 2012 10:21:55 AM UTC-5, Bill D wrote:

The thing with the 'glider gene' is people don't know they have it
until they are made aware of soaring. (It doesn't take much -
sometimes just a picture or short video will do.) As for why people
aren't finding the sport on their own, I think it comes down to one
word - ignorance.

They don't know about us.
They don't know what we do.
They don't know how spectacular this sport is.
They don't know they can become glider pilots too.

Unlike "Cave Diving" which gets a fair amount of press, we've
inadvertently done a great job of hiding. Very few people even know
we exist much less what we do.

I constantly talk to airplane pilot groups and I'm amazed at how
little they know. Almost to a person, they think gliding is exactly
that - tow up and glide down. Or maybe, on extremely rare occasions,
someone finds a mysterious force called a "thermal" and stays up a few
minutes longer.

When shown what modern sailplanes can really do, and are doing on a
regular basis, they're flabbergasted. Explaining the OLC is an
effective way of convincing skeptics. It proves cross country flying
in gliders is not a "fish story".

Make them aware of us, tell them what we do and those afflicted with
the "glider gene" will come roaring out of the woodwork.

Bill Daniels

Have to agree with Bill on this one as my personal story matches this scenario.

I took a demo glider flight 25 years ago in Durango CO and loved it but didn't have the time or resources to pursue gliding and so quickly forgot about it. A year ago, while searching YouTube for Radio Control slope soaring videos up pops one of Bruno Vassell's excellent videos. Over the next few days I watched every one of Bruno's YT videos and decided that I needed to give it a shot. The rest is history - I joined a club, started taking lessons in Feb, and completed my first solo flilght on Saturday. None of that would have happend without the "jog of awareness" provided by that YT video.. I'll bet I'm not the only one with this sort of story and I suspect the LetsGoGliding program will produce similar inspiration in others.

Robert