A proposal to increase membership, cross-country pilots, competitors,and world champions (USA).

Money is not the issue. People have plenty of cash to spend on recreation and discretionary activities. Money is not the barrier to entry. Look at the ski industry. A one day lift ticket costs more then a tow, maybe to tows depending upon the ski area and glider operation. New skis will set the skier back anywhere from $500-2000 depending upon what they purchase. Look at motorcycling, off road vehicles; pick something. Most are on-par with soaring or more expensive to begin participating.

What the sport needs is more time in a day and longer attention spans. I stopped flying because I didn't have enough time to participate how I enjoyed it. Soaring is a selfish activity which requires a lot of time.

American's do not have the attention span. How much time is spent hanging out at the strip compared to flying. If someone is interested in taking up soaring look at the standing around time to flight/active participation time ratio. Glider pilots spend a huge volume of time standing around. By comparison, look at the stand around to participation in the ski industry.

With gliders we cannot have the complete noob help out in a meaningful way. Gliders are too expensive and having the "never before touched a glider" person help us rig a ship doesn't happen. The hands on participation of newcomers is really low. Instructors /club members talk and they listen. We talk too much and do too little.

The mindset of people in 2014 is much different then in 1950-2000. To survive and grow, the soaring (GA too) population has to change its attitude and methods to capture today's youth. Aviation is trying to adapt old ways to today and it isn't working. Aviation has to change the paradigm and change is scary and difficult.

While seeking this new paradigm there will be lots of failures and some success. What is there to lose by trying? Nothing since what is happening now isn't working yet the aviation community seems to believe if they keep going at the status quo it will work. This is a bit like speaking louder to someone who doesn't understand our language. More volume will not breed instant fluency.

Beside believing the aviation community should try something new, not fear failure, and stop pinning the decline on expense, I have no solutions to offer at this time.

On Sunday, August 10, 2014 7:01:29 AM UTC-6, Kevin Brooker wrote:
Money is not the issue. People have plenty of cash to spend on

recreation and discretionary activities. Money is not the barrier to

entry. Look at the ski industry. A one day lift ticket costs more then

a tow, maybe to tows depending upon the ski area and glider operation.

New skis will set the skier back anywhere from $500-2000 depending upon

what they purchase. Look at motorcycling, off road vehicles; pick

something. Most are on-par with soaring or more expensive to begin

participating.



What the sport needs is more time in a day and longer attention spans. I

stopped flying because I didn't have enough time to participate how I

enjoyed it. Soaring is a selfish activity which requires a lot of time.





American's do not have the attention span. How much time is spent

hanging out at the strip compared to flying. If someone is interested in

taking up soaring look at the standing around time to flight/active

participation time ratio. Glider pilots spend a huge volume of time

standing around. By comparison, look at the stand around to

participation in the ski industry.



With gliders we cannot have the complete noob help out in a meaningful

way. Gliders are too expensive and having the "never before touched a

glider" person help us rig a ship doesn't happen. The hands on

participation of newcomers is really low. Instructors /club members talk

and they listen. We talk too much and do too little.



The mindset of people in 2014 is much different then in 1950-2000. To

survive and grow, the soaring (GA too) population has to change its

attitude and methods to capture today's youth. Aviation is trying to

adapt old ways to today and it isn't working. Aviation has to change the

paradigm and change is scary and difficult.



While seeking this new paradigm there will be lots of failures and some

success. What is there to lose by trying? Nothing since what is

happening now isn't working yet the aviation community seems to believe

if they keep going at the status quo it will work. This is a bit like

speaking louder to someone who doesn't understand our language. More

volume will not breed instant fluency.



Beside believing the aviation community should try something new, not

fear failure, and stop pinning the decline on expense, I have no

solutions to offer at this time.









--

Kevin Brooker
True for some Kevin.

I once called a lapsed SSA member to see why he'd dropped out after a year. Turns out he was president of a local Corvette owner's club. He tried soaring for a week, but hadn't soloed and gave it up. His expectation was way out of line. For some it's simply not a good fit. For others, given the chance, it becomes a lifetime pursuit. How do we give them that chance?

Frank Whiteley

--

Kevin Brooker[/i][/color]
True for some Kevin.

I once called a lapsed SSA member to see why he'd dropped out after a year. Turns out he was president of a local Corvette owner's club. He tried soaring for a week, but hadn't soloed and gave it up. His expectation was way out of line. For some it's simply not a good fit. For others, given the chance, it becomes a lifetime pursuit. How do we give them that chance?

Frank Whiteley[/quote]

Frank,
I was an extremely active glider and power pilot for years; SSA state record keeper, successful contest pilot, state record holder, and headed up the committee to make Mt. Washington a National Historic Landmark of Soaring. My involvement went well beyond trying it for a week and deciding soaring wasn't a good fit.

What keeps me from flying is the lack of available time to participate in a way which is meaningful and enjoyable. Soaring requires a lot of discretionary time and the ability to be opportunistic with respect to the weather. If a potential pilot works Monday through Friday and only has weekends to complete domestic chores, and other recreational activities (go for a bike ride, run, exercise, visit friends/family) there is not much time left over to head to the airport. If the weather isn't flyable then the opportunity to get some stick time and feed the interest is gone past. Have a few weekends in a row with non-flyable weather and the interest wanes or is replaced by something not so conditional.

When my life changed to where the point of losing the opportunism, flying went away. I still head to the airport to visit soaring buddies and listen to storied and keep in touch but I haven't flown anything in at least two years. My glider sits in the trailer in the yard with hopes of getting the time to fly it but it is mostly just hanging onto a dream. I should divest of it or remove the canopy and plant it full of flowers. At least as a flower pot it will be getting some use.

Learning to fly requires a lot of time, specific conditions (just VFR not necessarily soarable) on a consistent basis in order to keep the student interested. There are too many other things to compete with which give more access. Learning to fly is also relatively difficult and society doesn't have the attention span of discipline to wait. Most people expect instant results and success. Soaring is also extremely solitary while participating. Most other activities are more communal and social while participating.

The number of barriers to growing the sport of soaring are monumental compared to the small hurdle of expense. American's have tons of discretionary income and an immense playing field to spend it. Expense is an easy scapegoat and blinds us from seeing what else needs to be done to grow the sport either by attracting new participants or keeping what we have.

On Monday, August 11, 2014 6:18:38 AM UTC-6, Kevin Brooker wrote:
--



Kevin Brooker

True for some Kevin.



I once called a lapsed SSA member to see why he'd dropped out after a

year. Turns out he was president of a local Corvette owner's club. He

tried soaring for a week, but hadn't soloed and gave it up. His

expectation was way out of line. For some it's simply not a good fit.

For others, given the chance, it becomes a lifetime pursuit. How do we

give them that chance?



Frank Whiteley



Frank,

I was an extremely active glider and power pilot for years; SSA state

record keeper, successful contest pilot, state record holder, and headed

up the committee to make Mt. Washington a National Historic Landmark of

Soaring. My involvement went well beyond trying it for a week and deciding

soaring wasn't a good fit.



What keeps me from flying is the lack of available time to participate in

a way which is meaningful and enjoyable. Soaring requires a lot of

discretionary time and the ability to be opportunistic with respect to the

weather. If a potential pilot works Monday through Friday and only has

weekends to complete domestic chores, and other recreational activities

(go for a bike ride, run, exercise, visit friends/family) there is not

much time left over to head to the airport. If the weather isn't flyable

then the opportunity to get some stick time and feed the interest is gone

past. Have a few weekends in a row with non-flyable weather and the

interest wanes or is replaced by something not so conditional.



When my life changed to where the point of losing the opportunism, flying

went away. I still head to the airport to visit soaring buddies and listen

to storied and keep in touch but I haven't flown anything in at least two

years. My glider sits in the trailer in the yard with hopes of getting the

time to fly it but it is mostly just hanging onto a dream. I should divest

of it or remove the canopy and plant it full of flowers. At least as a

flower pot it will be getting some use.



Learning to fly requires a lot of time, specific conditions (just VFR not

necessarily soarable) on a consistent basis in order to keep the student

interested. There are too many other things to compete with which give

more access. Learning to fly is also relatively difficult and society

doesn't have the attention span of discipline to wait. Most people expect

instant results and success. Soaring is also extremely solitary while

participating. Most other activities are more communal and social while

participating.



The number of barriers to growing the sport of soaring are monumental

compared to the small hurdle of expense. American's have tons of

discretionary income and an immense playing field to spend it. Expense is

an easy scapegoat and blinds us from seeing what else needs to be done to

grow the sport either by attracting new participants or keeping what we

have.









--

Kevin Brooker[/i][/color]

Agreed, discretionary time is probably more important then income. I've been doing a lot of grandparenting with two that are not yet ready for the gliderport. And also looking after affairs of estate of my late father-in-law, a much bigger project than for my parents. At least we're out of the cheap rentals business and only keeping the farm viable.

Outreach remains our most important imperative.

Frank

On Monday, August 11, 2014 8:18:38 AM UTC-4, Kevin Brooker wrote:

What keeps me from flying is the lack of available time to participate in a way which is meaningful and enjoyable.

Maybe people like Kevin will have the opportunity to re-involve themselves in the sport once their kids are in their 20s and the demands of their careers taper. It's good that they got their soaring chops at an early age. Having that expertise under their belts will make it a lot easier to get back into the sport in the future.

Kevin's experience seems typical; I did not have time to learn to soar until I was 56 and that was a bit too old to learn to soaring easily.

If we want to keep soaring alive, we will train young people to soar, expect that most of them will get too busy to participate in the sport, and then make it as easy as possible for them to reenter and stay active in the sport later in life. This is the long game.

With an eye to demographics, there will be fewer and fewer previously trained young-geezers reentering the sport in the next 15 years. What about marketing Ab Initio soaring to the affluent 50+ cohort?

Clubs and CFI-Gs are enthusiastic and successful when teaching young students who learn fast. Are they less successful with older harder-to-teach students? Who is good at teaching older students, what are their secrets, and how can those techniques become widespread?

Sure, we should train lots of young people, but we also need to recruit and train 50+ year old people to replace the people in their 70-80s. Older people will stick around and keep clubs afloat, and that will allow the hopefully steady stream of younger people to come and go.

On Monday, August 11, 2014 8:18:38 AM UTC-4, Kevin Brooker wrote:
--



Kevin Brooker

True for some Kevin.



I once called a lapsed SSA member to see why he'd dropped out after a

year. Turns out he was president of a local Corvette owner's club. He

tried soaring for a week, but hadn't soloed and gave it up. His

expectation was way out of line. For some it's simply not a good fit.

For others, given the chance, it becomes a lifetime pursuit. How do we

give them that chance?



Frank Whiteley



Frank,

I was an extremely active glider and power pilot for years; SSA state

record keeper, successful contest pilot, state record holder, and headed

up the committee to make Mt. Washington a National Historic Landmark of

Soaring. My involvement went well beyond trying it for a week and deciding

soaring wasn't a good fit.



What keeps me from flying is the lack of available time to participate in

a way which is meaningful and enjoyable. Soaring requires a lot of

discretionary time and the ability to be opportunistic with respect to the

weather. If a potential pilot works Monday through Friday and only has

weekends to complete domestic chores, and other recreational activities

(go for a bike ride, run, exercise, visit friends/family) there is not

much time left over to head to the airport. If the weather isn't flyable

then the opportunity to get some stick time and feed the interest is gone

past. Have a few weekends in a row with non-flyable weather and the

interest wanes or is replaced by something not so conditional.



When my life changed to where the point of losing the opportunism, flying

went away. I still head to the airport to visit soaring buddies and listen

to storied and keep in touch but I haven't flown anything in at least two

years. My glider sits in the trailer in the yard with hopes of getting the

time to fly it but it is mostly just hanging onto a dream. I should divest

of it or remove the canopy and plant it full of flowers. At least as a

flower pot it will be getting some use.



Learning to fly requires a lot of time, specific conditions (just VFR not

necessarily soarable) on a consistent basis in order to keep the student

interested. There are too many other things to compete with which give

more access. Learning to fly is also relatively difficult and society

doesn't have the attention span of discipline to wait. Most people expect

instant results and success. Soaring is also extremely solitary while

participating. Most other activities are more communal and social while

participating.



The number of barriers to growing the sport of soaring are monumental

compared to the small hurdle of expense. American's have tons of

discretionary income and an immense playing field to spend it. Expense is

an easy scapegoat and blinds us from seeing what else needs to be done to

grow the sport either by attracting new participants or keeping what we

have.









--

Kevin Brooker[/i][/color]

....says the guy who lives under the traffic pattern of the best little soaring club in the USA. You have access to soaring the rest of us dream about.

Come back any time Kevin, it's always great to see you.


Evan Ludeman

On Sunday, August 10, 2014 3:41:21 PM UTC-6, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Sunday, August 10, 2014 7:01:29 AM UTC-6, Kevin Brooker wrote:

Money is not the issue. People have plenty of cash to spend on



recreation and discretionary activities. Money is not the barrier to



entry. Look at the ski industry. A one day lift ticket costs more then



a tow, maybe to tows depending upon the ski area and glider operation.



New skis will set the skier back anywhere from $500-2000 depending upon



what they purchase. Look at motorcycling, off road vehicles; pick



something. Most are on-par with soaring or more expensive to begin



participating.







What the sport needs is more time in a day and longer attention spans. I



stopped flying because I didn't have enough time to participate how I



enjoyed it. Soaring is a selfish activity which requires a lot of time.











American's do not have the attention span. How much time is spent



hanging out at the strip compared to flying. If someone is interested in



taking up soaring look at the standing around time to flight/active



participation time ratio. Glider pilots spend a huge volume of time



standing around. By comparison, look at the stand around to



participation in the ski industry.







With gliders we cannot have the complete noob help out in a meaningful



way. Gliders are too expensive and having the "never before touched a



glider" person help us rig a ship doesn't happen. The hands on



participation of newcomers is really low. Instructors /club members talk



and they listen. We talk too much and do too little.







The mindset of people in 2014 is much different then in 1950-2000. To



survive and grow, the soaring (GA too) population has to change its



attitude and methods to capture today's youth. Aviation is trying to



adapt old ways to today and it isn't working. Aviation has to change the



paradigm and change is scary and difficult.







While seeking this new paradigm there will be lots of failures and some



success. What is there to lose by trying? Nothing since what is



happening now isn't working yet the aviation community seems to believe



if they keep going at the status quo it will work. This is a bit like



speaking louder to someone who doesn't understand our language. More



volume will not breed instant fluency.







Beside believing the aviation community should try something new, not



fear failure, and stop pinning the decline on expense, I have no



solutions to offer at this time.



















--



Kevin Brooker

True for some Kevin.



I once called a lapsed SSA member to see why he'd dropped out after a year. Turns out he was president of a local Corvette owner's club. He tried soaring for a week, but hadn't soloed and gave it up. His expectation was way out of line. For some it's simply not a good fit. For others, given the chance, it becomes a lifetime pursuit. How do we give them that chance?



Frank Whiteley

The starting point for understanding the growth problem is the fact that soaring is a very small sport embedded in a vast and incredibly diverse population. In that population there are probably enough wealthy "annuity kids" who will never need to work who could increase the number of glider pilots by an order of magnitude. There are a huge number of other special situations where individuals could take up the sport if they chose to. There is a target "market" "out there".

We fall into a trap when we project our own situations onto the general population. When we say "people" we are unconsciously saying "people like us".. We are too unique as individuals for that to work.

It's really not "the economy" or "kids these days" or a "70 hour week work ethic" etc... that's causing the growth problem. In fact, I don't think there's an external problem at all. Instead, I think we would do much better to look hard at our "product" and how it's marketed.

When a company's product is not selling, it's pointless to blame the customer. The route to success is always the same - improve the product and then do a better job of marketing it. Those go hand in hand - marketing won't help if the product is inferior nor will a better product succeed if no one knows about it. It's basic business 101.

Another poster nailed it when he suggested that most airports and glider operations in the US are simply not nice places to hang out. For every hour a student flies in a glider, probably three or more hours are spent on the ground at the airfield so it had better be a comfortable, interesting place if we expect them to come back. It's even more critical if the student brings family.

Old, ratty trainers are just as problematic. Even if a student can be persuaded that training in one is acceptable, a watching family member who can only judge appearances may think otherwise.

Both on the ground and in the air, our image is critical to success. The European model is a great place to start - then improve on it.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 6:26:08 AM UTC-7, Bill D wrote:



Another poster nailed it when he suggested that most airports and glider operations in the US are simply not nice places to hang out.


"Another poster nailed it when he suggested that most airports and glider operations in the US are simply not nice places to hang out."

Think about that when Minden is proposed as the national gliding center. While I'm sure a lovely place to live, it isn't listed in Conde Naste as one of the ten top destination resorts.....

Another difference between the US and Europe: In most European countries the National Gliding center is less than a days drive away, because the whole country is less than a days drive across. Not true in the US.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 9:26:08 AM UTC-4, Bill D wrote:

Both on the ground and in the air, our image is critical to success. The European model is a great place to start - then improve on it.

Okay, fine. What makes the European model go, financially? How would we do this, here in the USA?

-Evan

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 9:51:40 AM UTC-6, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 9:26:08 AM UTC-4, Bill D wrote:



Both on the ground and in the air, our image is critical to success. The European model is a great place to start - then improve on it.



Okay, fine. What makes the European model go, financially? How would we do this, here in the USA?



-Evan

I don't think anyone has all the answers but I have uncovered two.

One, the European clubs get a lot of "sweat equity" from their members who feel an obligation to help the club in whatever way their skills allow. That may be helping with glider maintenance or just mowing the grass - whatever needs done. I've heard it put this way, "Every day, try to leave the glider operation in better shape than when you arrived." That effort just makes it a nice place to be. An example is Elke Fuglsang-Petersen whose writing is often seen at the Soaring Cafe. She obtained a parachute riggers license so she could repack her clubs parachutes.

The second is intensive use of winches which if done well can create a substantial cash flow that can help support the operation.

A third may be that in some countries, tax laws encourage companies to donate equipment. One sees late model Mercedes vehicles used to retrieve winch ropes which, I understand, were donated to the club. In another case, I heard of a club needing a new winch engine. In a few days they found a new Mercedes V10 industrial diesel sitting on their doorstep. In the US we could make something like that work with 501(c)(3) incorporation.