How do we inspire pilots to truly take up cross country soaring ?

A European perspective he
1. We have the same problems. (Numbers, Retention, Youth, Over-regulation) Grass ain't greener over here.

2. Soaring has IMO a major image problem.
- Missunderstood (what we do, how we do it.)
- Missconceptions (Cost, Skills needed, Time Required)
- The Rewards are not apparent.

Due to this we attract/train the wrong people. There are people who want to become a pilot in the power plane sense. Yes, its a challenge on its own, but the major challenge while power flying is doing it right according to method X.

Basic glider training matches the above. But when it comes to fly on your own, its suddenly a different story:

Soaring requires to develop your own processes, your own instincts and there isn't a clear right / wrong. Its a different mind set.

We are more adventurers/explorers/pioneers than pilots in the classic sense..

We need to attract the people who cater to the above values, more than that of piloting an air plane.

At least here in Switzerland we have a major competitor: Paragliding. They have 30000+ Pilots, Glider pilots: 2200. And its exactly that mindset that is the difference. People go PGing because they think of adventure, close to nature etc. even though they are doing the same thing as we do, albeit on a different scale.

Other Frequent citied points:
* No dependency on infrastructure (take back pack and run off a mountain)
* No club dependency (volunteer work, politics, cost of association etc)

An EGU Paper suggested we do something similar as PADI did for the diving community.

I call B$ on the argument that people don't have enough time. I see how many hours people spend on social media, games and general assisted procrastination. In the end its all a deviation from their internal dissatisfaction with themselves. If they where offered a perspective, they would find it important enough to dedicate themselves to soaring.

For me Soaring has been a major character development driver. Its made me strive for goals previously thought unattainable, upped my self confidence, reliance and planning skills. Its also made me accustomed to "take the plunge/leap" often and willingly. Soaring fundamentally changes you.

I really think we can bank on that. It should be part of the sales-pitch at any Soaring presentation.

You see all these "Go pro" videos with millions of hits on youtube? That is people wanting to experience the same as the person shooting the video. But they don't even try because they think its unattainable to them.

Soaring need to break into new communities. I love for that the Soaring Grand Prix. Especially if its televised. I think we need a sports tv channel to adopt regular screening of this. It should be an easy sale. Its fresh, fast and its got major visual power.

Cheers,
- Folken

Folken,

Amazing post. Great insight. I agree with you.

Paragliding is cleaning "traditional soaring's" clocks in much the same way kiteboarding and multihulls are exceeding traditional sailboats and yacht clubs. They are generally younger, more agile and more free.

Sean

On Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 11:08:22 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Folken,

Amazing post. Great insight. I agree with you.

Paragliding is cleaning "traditional soaring's" clocks in much the same way kiteboarding and multihulls are exceeding traditional sailboats and yacht clubs. They are generally younger, more agile and more free.

Sean
I've found the PG population is older and better off then sailplane pilots assume. Maybe it is just this part of the country, lots of 50, 60 year olds, slightly less 30 year olds, 40 year olds seem to be the rarest, probably divorces taking up all their resources. No real young dude types. Guessing most PG pilots that I've met could afford a sailplane if they wanted one.. Number one factor for being a soaring pilot(of anything) is time.