Future of 15m

On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 11:24:42 PM UTC-8, John Foster wrote:
Sounds like for competitive soaring to endure in the US, there needs to be a significant push to get more people involved. Sounds like there needs to be more focus on young people, getting them involved from an early age.

I'm from MT, and there is apparently only 1 soaring club in the state, and it is a solid 4hr drive from where I live. And from what I'm told, they are not very active, if at all. Yet there is an airport 1 mile from my house with a whole fleet of Piper Pawnees (used mostly for wildland firefighting). Not a whole lot of money locally, but the place would make for stunning soaring!

Where in MT do you live?

I've owned my Standard Class ASW 24 for over 25 years. So for some time, my big question has been whether I can continue to fly contests where at least some top pilots show up. As 9B's data indicate, that seems to be the case in Standard Class. It's a small group, true, but every class in soaring is small these days.

Encouraging me is that I can fly Standard (which has some nice handicapping to encourage older generation gliders), Club, Sports, and--at the regional level--mixed handicapped 15M/Standard (e.g., Fairfield Reg. 4). And subject to the efficacy of the handicapping factors, I have a competitive glider in all of them.

Yeah, the "subject to" is an issue, especially out west, but it's one I'm willing to live with. I can't justify buying a new glider so it's nice to think I don't have to.

Chip Bearden

On Monday, December 4, 2017 at 9:36:14 AM UTC-7, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 11:24:42 PM UTC-8, John Foster wrote:
Sounds like for competitive soaring to endure in the US, there needs to be a significant push to get more people involved. Sounds like there needs to be more focus on young people, getting them involved from an early age..

I'm from MT, and there is apparently only 1 soaring club in the state, and it is a solid 4hr drive from where I live. And from what I'm told, they are not very active, if at all. Yet there is an airport 1 mile from my house with a whole fleet of Piper Pawnees (used mostly for wildland firefighting). Not a whole lot of money locally, but the place would make for stunning soaring!

Where in MT do you live?

Ronan. Those Mission Mountains beckon me every day!