Aero Club Albatross has been doing quite well in the membership department. In 2008, we had a total of 91 members. As of this January we have 107. Furthermore, "Full Flying" membership has increased from 44 to 66. Our dues structure gets most of its income from full flying members, particularly as they are paying in their initiation fee, so the membership increase has been particularly good for us.

We are doing a better job of retaining people. There's a lot more energy in the club and a lot of flying happening from Blairstown.

I believe that the biggest reasons are that the club is quite affordable and provides a clear pathway from rating to soaring. People joining the club can putter around the pattern through taking gliders to National competitions. Cross country flying is encouraged and people will wholeheartedly volunteer to crew if someone lands out. As the club provides these opportunities, we have a lot more time to hook people to stay with the sport since they are not burdened with a big capital investment once they get their rating.

Furthermore, the club has coalesced into a much better defined social body. My opinion is that Blairstown used to be more "cliqueish". There were the guys that fly club equipment, the 1-26 guys, and the high-performance ships.. It seems to me that these distinctions have largely disappeared. We're all out to have fun and soar.

Another thing is that we upgraded our fleet and we did so using a lot of sweat equity. The best improvement was the Grob Twin Astir, though we also now have a LS3 and LS4. The work we have been doing on the Grob Twin Astir, LS4 and 2-33 has added another level of enthusiasm to the club. While there are some club members that do a lot, a lot of club members have done some work on those projects. It is particularly exciting when the gliders come out nice after months of work and especially since we can't really afford to have them done any other way.

We do have social media now, specifically an Aero Club Albatross facebook page. The page is useful to showcase our work and flying, though I don't believe it is directly going to increase membership. Consider it "earned media" that keeps getting the Aero Club Albatross name out to the rest of the world. It's supplemental, though it is a nice addition.

Our best marketing device has been OLC. There is no better way to showcase the quality of a soaring site than show all the great flights happening there.

Most of our new members are either foreigners who are working in the city and were exposed to soaring in their own country or empty-nester airplane geeks. We're getting more and more members making the big drive from New York City.

We're somewhat unique in our location, though I think we're finally on a path to consistent growth.

Hope this helps,

Daniel Sazhin
Membership Chairman
Aero Club Albatross