We need to inspire our Jr glider pilots to go beyond a "pattern license." Most of them never actually experience "true soaring!" This is our fault. At current, the goal we set for these pilots is achieving a "glider license" which actually includes zero cross country skills, training or experience. The goal should be (for all clubs, all instructors and all commercial operations) to get all new glider pilots (especially Jrs) comfortable, confident and p
PROFICIENT with flying cross country. Sure, some are not going to achieve this goal. So what?

Clubs, in my opinion, are almost exclusively focused on rides and basic training (no cross country). In fact, most U.S. Soaring Clubs have almost zero interest in inspiring or developing cross country skills for their students. In order to improve on our present course, U.S. clubs must be re-tooled and refocused on a new goal (less trainers, more cross country able gliders for members to train in and rent). When a new student comes along, the conversation should not be how do we get you your glider license, it should be how do we build you into a cross country soaring pilot capable of competing in your first soaring contest! The license itself should not be the goal, the first 100km solo cross country should be the goal!

Train how you fight, fight how you train. This is such a fantastic quote, perhaps the best I have ever learned. In other words, we are getting exactly what we are asking for in U.S. soaring circles today. We are getting pattern pilots who do not stick with or progress further in the sport. It is no surprise that pilots move on when the sport (for them) is limited to flying around the home airport. Most new glider pilots in the U.S., unsurprisingly, eventually get bored and go do something else. We wonder why we are failing (in terms of growth and development) and why all the effort we are putting into basic training at our clubs is producing fewer pilots who stick with a sport which is, to them, essentially pattern sleigh rides.

Glider clubs build their "business" on whipping new students (members) thru this primary training cycle. They are happy as pigs in mud when the gliders are flying locally and generally have no concerns that no cross country is being conducted. In fact, many clubs actively discourage cross country ("in club ships"). Heaven forbid a "club" glider is not on the ground for the next revenue producing rental time!

We need to fundemetally chance our priorities, mindset and strategy. We need to change almost everything about our current way of thinking about glider training. Clubs, instructors and especially the SSA's goals and strategy. We are a marketing disaster that should be taught in graduate schools actually. On so many levels...

Again, Great Britain just hosted its nearly 70 strong youth gliding national championship. They have this kind of attendance year after year! Meanwhile, the USA does not even have a single Jr soaring event and the USA has only a handful of youth pilots who are capable of contest or real cross country soaring. In short, WE SUCK! Can anyone tell me when the last Jr contest was held in the USA? The USA is SIX TIMES the size of the UK. So don't tell me geography. We should have 6 regional youth events of equal size (NE, SE, S, NC, NW, SW) in the USA just to be equal to Britian. Don't tell me we can't. We have not even tried.

The first step is holding on US Jr Nationals with 20 pilots in 2016. An achievable goal.

The second step is "changing the guard" and getting some new leadership capable of truly inspiring our youth pilots to go further and motivate them to take the sport of soaring to its full potential. This is at every club and within the SSA. Does your club leadership have a cross country development strategy? Does your club even care about cross country or is cross country entirely outside of their focus? Does your club have statistics on cross country utilization? A strategy? Youth? Adult? What percentage of newly licensed pilots achieve a cross country badge in the first 1-2 years after being licensed? Is your club a success or a failure?

Unfortunately, right now, cross country training is far beyond the capabilities and comfort zones of most clubs and instructors. We have to begin digging out of this hole someday. Why not start now?

Or, just stay the course? Keep bumbling along into oblivion.

Will 2016 be any different that 2015? I wonder...