Letter to editor in SOARING Mag

If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport.

This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more. My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not.

Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to shout and bicker when we get down on the ground?

Bruno - B4

On Tuesday, February 12, 2013 12:42:23 PM UTC-5, wrote:
If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport. This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more. My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not. Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to shout and bicker when we get down on the ground? Bruno - B4

I second that emotion
UH

On Tuesday, February 12, 2013 11:42:23 AM UTC-6, wrote:
If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members who maintain no other contact with the sport. This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more. My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not. Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to shout and bicker when we get down on the ground? Bruno - B4

bravo Bruno.

back to the original subject (does anyone remember that?) I can sympathize with Roger's feelings. I felt the same way back when I started. My cross country flying was generally short distances, involved a fairly high fun quotient but had a nearly 100% frustration aspect when any sort of flight recording was involved. I got to the point where I wouldn't even fly with a barograph because the eventual failure would just put a black spot on an otherwise fun flight. My time was otherwise occupied with concerns of passing college classes and my budget would hardly accomodate a tow let alone any sort of logger. So to me the OLC was for rich glassholes (although i had never flown with a fiberglass glider pilot i was sure they all must be rich jerks). It surely didn't help that no one else in my area was using OLC either really so there wasn't any peer pressure to join in.

That changed when I moved to kansas and my financial situation improved markedly AND the soaring conditions got a lot better. Steve Leonard loaned me a logger, a cambridge 20 which made a great gateway drug, as he knew it would. My general soaring outlook improved, i started hanging out with glass pilots and couldn't find a single jerk, and lo and behold i eventually bought a glass ship myself.

On 2/12/2013 10:42 AM, wrote:
If the magazine went away entirely, SSA would probably lose 500+ members
who maintain no other contact with the sport.

This thread has made me really sad. I love the sport of soaring only
slightly less than my family...and depending on the day sometimes more.
My guess is that without Soaring magazine coming monthly the real loss in
membership would be more like adding another zero to the above comment to
be more like 5000+ members dropping off. Sorry guys but I think it is
petty to rip on the content of a volunteer publication in public. Feel
free to submit more of your own work to improve the quality. My guess is
it will be criticized as well. I for one appreciate the magazine even with
its flaws. Would much rather have it come every month than not.

Damn you guys - stop being so quick to find fault and pick fights and just
enjoy the silent fun we have up in the air. Maybe it is because it is so
peaceful and silent up there when we soar that we feel the compulsion to
shout and bicker when we get down on the ground?

Bruno - B4


"What Bruno said."

I'm from the school: Praise in public. Criticize in private.

There's a time and place for everything...discussing (say) economics when
(say) the preacher is moralizing from the pulpit is an example of the wrong
time and place for the former.

I discuss soaring (the sport) and "Soaring" (the magazine) with my buddies and
with people knowledgeable about the sport. To that extent, the discussions are
private. When I've felt the need, I've directed my criticisms of the latter to
my Regional Director and - if also felt necessary - to others in the "chain of
command".

Like the preacher and sin (he was agin' it!), I'm no fan of willy-nilly,
public, opinionizing "on the cheap" when individual volunteers (and a few paid
staff) are easily identified as "targets" even if not intended as such at the
outset. That's just the nature of the beast.

To each their own, I suppose...

Bob W.