SSA Convention

And how is attendance?

The attendance appeared to be pretty low. The ice storm was pretty bad
and
the roads were terrible. There were a few people that I was really
wanting
to see, but they were not able to fly in because the LIT airport was
closed.
The convention hall was very large and the only time there was a crowd
was when a ticket was raffled off at the Craggy Aero display.

Randy

http://talihinasoaring.com/

On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:10:41 -0800 (PST), Randy
wrote:


And how is attendance?

The attendance appeared to be pretty low. The ice storm was pretty bad
and
the roads were terrible. There were a few people that I was really
wanting
to see, but they were not able to fly in because the LIT airport was
closed.
The convention hall was very large and the only time there was a crowd
was when a ticket was raffled off at the Craggy Aero display.

I asked because an editorial in Soaring said the SSA they will decide to
go back to yearly conventions based on the attendance this year. And
it's low.

Perhaps they will take the weather into account when the make the
decision, or perhaps they took a financial hit that will make it
impossible.

What is the excuse for not having the convention in the Northeast
again?

Climate, weather?
How about the top USA OLC club hosts it?
May the Schwartz be with you,
Jim

On Jan 30, 6:34*pm, "
wrote:
What is the excuse for not having the convention in the Northeast
again?

On Jan 30, 7:34*pm, "
wrote:
What is the excuse for not having the convention in the Northeast
again?

I just got back to Phoenix from the convention. Handily, my flight
was this afternoon, as airport was closed / totally iced in
yesterday. FULL flight today. A good number of VERY good talks. The
only problem was that, as at most conventions, there were 3
presentations at the same time all day, and sometimes there would be 2
you wanted to be attend at the same time. Ah, choices in life.

Really enjoyed seeing old / good friends. The Taurus 41:1 2 place
side by side electric self launcher really caught my eye... for way
less than half cost of Antares, but less glide, too. Gonna get a test
flight with Roger Mudd next month in that one. Some orders for
various gliders, and a winch, were taken, and I'm sure lots of
instruments, etc... so for some folks at least, the event was a
sucess. I often watched money being exchanged for goodies at the SSA
booth. I heard from several folks that the ARCUS that was there was
sold, and several others were seriously considering purchasing one. $$
$$$ Bob Carlton and Mark Mocho displayed a pretty neat jet powered
twin self launcher for a pretty reasonable price.

Global warming / climate change has been expected to, and is,
producing weather extremes. Very basic physics makes it easy to
understand. We got to see that in Little Rock. While at the same
time down under is roasting / dessicating.

There is an on-going discussion within SSA about future conventions.
Spent an hour with Bill Daniels this morning talking about the many
possibilities / pros / cons / options. No question that the weather,
current financial climate, and I'm sure other things, affected the
attendance some this year.

the editor. He attended, and is working at improving the
magazine, as has been seen in recent issues, with more to come. One
must remember, he's the editor, not an author. Hopefully someone in
our community will submit an article on the event. Perhaps several of
us might collaborate on an article and some photos.

19

Next full convention will be Reno 2012. Odd years may/will be a
symposia, working groups, committee tracks, with awards, board(s)
meeting(s), etc. In 2011, this will likely be in the northeast. I
staffed the collegiate, youth, Kolstad booth with Ralph K. We got
some work done. Leadership torch was passed in a couple of instances.
I had a small SSA by-law passed by the board, thank you.

Visited with many soaring friends. Two years is too long.

Frank Whiteley

On 1/30/2010 8:44 PM, Jack Hamilton wrote:
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:10:41 -0800 (PST),
wrote:


And how is attendance?

The attendance appeared to be pretty low. The ice storm was pretty bad
and
the roads were terrible. There were a few people that I was really
wanting
to see, but they were not able to fly in because the LIT airport was
closed.
The convention hall was very large and the only time there was a crowd
was when a ticket was raffled off at the Craggy Aero display.

I asked because an editorial in Soaring said the SSA they will decide to
go back to yearly conventions based on the attendance this year. And
it's low.

Perhaps they will take the weather into account when the make the
decision, or perhaps they took a financial hit that will make it
impossible.

Does low attendance imply that the convention should be held every year,
or that a radical rethink is in order on where and when it is held?

If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard
core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with
some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend.

--
Mike Schumann

Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather
in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter.
Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno
convention? And there's always skiing/boarding.
The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend
extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011
symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only
takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels
close to an airport with hangars...
Jim

On Jan 31, 6:14*am, Mike Schumann
wrote:

If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard
core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with
some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend.

For those of you who missed the Concordia presentation....it was
great. It was so exciting to hear the first half of a "story that is
in the writing" as multiple elite aersospace engineers are coming
together to build a glider that is another quantum leap into the
future. Dick Butler will no doubt kick some tail when this glider is
up and running. I will be cheering him on as he blows past all of us
at 75/1 L/D. It is truely the story of an American Dream coming true.

This glider is so dang bad to the bone, that I firmly believe when it
shows up for contests in the future, all other glider pilots will
throw in the towel and forfeit immedately upon first glance at this
motorless-rocketship.

Other than that Moffat had a speech about his days when he was burning
the gelcoat off the wings. The Perlan exhibit was exciting as they
are attempting to set a rediculously high altitude record of 90,000
feet over the southern tip of South America on a wind condition that
only happens 3 times a year. The Perlan pilot was a wingman with
Steve Fosset.

It was my first time to attend a convention and it just adds salt to
my wound in the fact that we still have a few more weeks of cabin
fever to endure before we set off on more cross country flights.
Spring is almost here and I can't hardly wait!

On 1/31/2010 1:55 PM, JS wrote:
Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather
in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter.
Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno
convention? And there's always skiing/boarding.
The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend
extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011
symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only
takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels
close to an airport with hangars...
Jim

On Jan 31, 6:14 am, Mike
wrote:

If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard
core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with
some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend.

I would suggest Naples, FL as a great venue for 2011. Don Ingraham's
winch experiment down here is a rousing success, and will hopefully
become an annual event. Besides winching, Immokalee offers lots of
other options, including an Acro box, etc....., not to mention golf,
beaches and warm weather!!!

--
Mike Schumann