Luke is right when he says the biggest challenge for youth in North America is the limited access they have to gliders that can be flown XC or taken to a contest. Solving this problem should be a top priority at the club level - make a club class ship available to people (especially youth) to fly XC or at contests and make sure it has a good working trailer. Sandhill Soaring Club is working to solve that issue this winter (consolidating a portion of its fleet to acquire a quality club class ship) and require rigging practice and dual XC instruction as part of its student pilot training syllabus, regardless of whether the FAA requires such practical training or not. In other words, if you don't expose the student pilot to XC and get their feet wet they're a whole lot less likely to have the confidence to cut the apron strings themselves after their PPG checkride. I also hope to get some of these youngsters (in their 20-30's) to go ride (fly) backseat with KS (or anyone) with a Duo. Get'em hook'd!

As for the cost associated with having a Club Class ship available for use by Juniors and other young pilots, the cost for a club to acquire a G-102, Std. Jantar, or Std. Cirrus is under $20k. This is quite reasonable when you think about it. It makes no sense to prohibit club members from flying these ships at a regionals. I'm told the Canadian Nationals leader-board was largely made up of Juniors. Is this right? How do you guys do it at SOSA and elsewhere?

Chris Schrader
Treasurer @ Sandhill Soaring Club, Gregory, MI, SSA Region 6