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Old August 14th 14, 09:39 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Chris Rollings[_2_]
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Posts: 133
Default A proposal to increase membership, cross-country pilots, competitors, and world champions (USA).

Thnat's not very far off a description of about 25% of my job as Senior
National Coach for the British Gliding Association in the late 80's and
90's. The training weeks weren't linked to competitions (apart from the
Junior National Championships) but run a various clubs around the country.
Easier in the UK, everywhere is within a day's drive.

At 17:06 13 August 2014, Robin Clark wrote:

What if America's national training center for soaring was mobile?

A two-place,self-launching sailplane towed by a motor home driven by the
SS=
A's chief of training=20
could show up a week before a regional contest. The instructor would
conduc=
t seminars, take students aloft and encourage others to follow in their
own=
planes. Other times, clubs could pool interested members to bring SSA
trai=
ning to town. It might be popular enough to require bidding with sites
brin=
ging the most paying students getting the trainer first.=20

The chief training officer could write a column for Soaring magazine,

have
=
winter chores in the offices at Hobbs, help put on the convention and
other=
national events.

The project would be partially self-funding, but mostly supported through
t=
he SSA with the most subsidy aimed at the instructor community, because

we
=
want our instructors to convey excitement about cross country flying.

Some
=
sailplane manufacturer would get the benefit of a top-of-the-line product
b=
eing demonstrated across the country.
Robin Clark