Attracting the kids

On Aug 15, 9:13 pm, Ray Lovinggood
wrote:
And where would we get a 'proper Lepo?' :-)

Chop the top off my wife's Prius? X-)

Driver of the "Ultimate Golf Cart"
-- Matt

I have read all this and the thing that's missing is effort. Kids
nowadays don't have to do much to be entertained. When I was growing
up, everything required effort. I had to cut grass and throw papers to
make enough money to feed my model habit. Five lawns would buy a
Nordic A-2 kit, and then I had to build it. I ran wings for weeks at a
time before someone would offer me a glider ride. Kids now have models
already built for them, cheap video games and all sorts of other
entertainment to keep them occupied... and parents that would rather
throw money at them than spend time with them. However, remembering
the young people at Houston that were flying, and the parents that
were the exception to the last statement... When they did bring other
young folk to the airport, their friends were astonished that they
were actually flying. It didn't seem to matter that they were flying a
2-33, they were flying. It isn't just gliding that's declining, but
all general aviation is falling off, too.

I fly both, real and R/C sailplanes. I'm almost 56, and I seldom see
anyone younger than 40 at either place... the gliderport, or the R/C
field. I know they're out there, but their numbers are small, indeed.

Jack Womack

Step One: don't yell at them, or their parents, at contests

This message should go private, but I don't know your
address.


KHRJ reports an average of 84 aircraft movements a
day as of 2005.
Any higher or lower since then?

I have no idea. On weekends, not much power traffic
comes and goes. Maybe a couple or up to, oh, 10 movements?
Whomever comes up with the '84' movements a day is
an unknown person to me. Maybe they are averaging
in our glider movements? Even then, I know nobody
but the club is logging flights and we haven't been
asked to provide that info to the airport or the county.


Means communication between pilots
and winching ops.

Agreed. Sometimes, we have the power types that love
to do straight in approaches and the no-radio approaches
and the REALLY WIDE PATTERN approaches.

Gliders land adjacent to paved runway in grass area.
Is that on the
west or east side?

Normally, the west side grass is used for landing for
runway 23 ops and the east side grass is used for landing
for runway 05 ops. Power traffic makes left patterns
and gliders make right patterns.

Is that true at both ends?

We are currently taking off and landing on the pavement
on 05 because the county had some earthwork done recently.
They really buggered up the grass we use for the 05
ops. They graded out a lot of the area to the southeast,
'borrowing' fill material and placing it on the 'drop
off' to the south west of the runway. The slope used
to be, oh 2:1 or 3:1, but they flattened it out to
4:1 or even flatter. In the process, they made our
grass area much wider and has potential for a lot of
glider staging, but they just left it rough as a cob.


60 power aircraft
based there?

I doubt that number. Maybe only half that.


Is that a golf course
to the east?

Yes. 'Keith Hill Country Club.' I think 36 holes
now. And I believe it's actually part of Campbell
University, which is the clump of building to the north-east
of the golf course. The University usually serves
as the 'house thermal.'

Some slope off runway is mentioned.

See answer above. Yea, as you depart on R/W 23, the
ground off the end of the runway really drops down
to the floodplain of the Cape Fear River.

Lights standing or recessed? How much room between
the pavement and
lights?

Lights are the typical 'up on a post' type. There's
10' between edge of pavement and the lights. Currently,
the runway is 75 feet wide, but there are plans afoot
to widen it to 100 feet.

Honestly, it looks like a great place for winching.
What you need is
a demo day.

Oh yea! Bring us a 'HydroStart' from the Netherlands.
Don't know what the airport would think if our avgas
purchases for the towplane dropped to almost nothing...

On Aug 16, 7:37 am, Ray Lovinggood
wrote:

KHRJ reports an average of 84 aircraft movements a
day as of 2005.
Any higher or lower since then?

I have no idea. On weekends, not much power traffic
comes and goes. Maybe a couple or up to, oh, 10 movements?
Whomever comes up with the '84' movements a day is
an unknown person to me. Maybe they are averaging
in our glider movements? Even then, I know nobody
but the club is logging flights and we haven't been
asked to provide that info to the airport or the county.

Yes, the glider traffic is a fair chunk of that. Consider that the
takeoff counts
as one movement, and the landing of the towplane and glider each count
as another,
so those "really good" days with 20+ launches contribute 60+
"movements".


Oh yea! Bring us a 'HydroStart' from the Netherlands.
Don't know what the airport would think if our avgas
purchases for the towplane dropped to almost nothing...

Another issue with using a winch. At one time the club DID use
a winch, back when it operated at Wilson, NC. Ask Paul about
that sometime. I don't know how it was involved with the club
leaving Wilson.

"Jim Beckman" wrote in message
...
And are those honestly the type you want to entice
into gliding? Or are they inclined to get as much
from a club as they can, and contribute as little as
possible?

I will never forget the look on my daughter's face the first time she got a
close look at a 2-33. It wasn't pretty! (neither the look nor the 2-33) She
had been flying Cezznas and decided on gliders because she would soon be old
enough to solo a glider. After her first flight, we heard no more about the
2-33 being ugly, it was just an aircraft to be mastered.

Yes, she not only soloed it, she got her license and moments later took her
(then) non-pilot father for one of his first glider rides. I was stoic, but
mildly nervous. I, more than anyone, knew that my daughter was not perfect. It
was some ten years later before I finally soloed, also in a 2-33.

Vaughn

THIS is how you do a good advert - next GP in New Zealand.

http://www.r2.co.nz/20060623/promo-mbr.asx

and show the kids!

bagger
(getting tired of explaining that wings are supposed to flap like that)

bagmaker wrote:
THIS is how you do a good advert - next GP in New Zealand.

http://www.r2.co.nz/20060623/promo-mbr.asx

and show the kids!

bagger
(getting tired of explaining that wings are supposed to flap like that)





I'm not knocking this new filmography - it is spectacular, beautiful and
revolutionary, but I wouldn't show it to the mother of one of the Boy
Scouts I take on a gliding camp out each year. They already think
gliding is very dangerous. This promo tends to reinforce that idea. The
people developing this are trying to turn soaring into a media sport on
a par with Formula One, NASCAR etc. for $$$. So they have to emphasize
the idea the pilots could get killed by getting smashed on those rocks
while doing this in order to make it seem exciting and attract the
audiences the sponsors want. The audiences haven't really changed much
since the days of the Roman Coliseum. They want there to actually be a
signficant chance of somebody getting killed or maimed at least every
second or third time they watch, or it will be boring.

It's horses for courses. That film does what it aims to do - promote
Air Sports' gliding GP format and technology - very well. You'd be
bonkers to show it to the mum of a scout just taking up gliding, or
any other newbie in fact - what's any of that film got to do with what
you or I do at our clubs at the weekend? However, show some TV execs
that film and it may well lead to them bidding for the coverage rights
for any future GPs.

I hope people keep making good quality films about gliding but really
consider who their target audience is.


Dan

To Dan and Bagger and et al:

I agree the video from NZ was GREAT...for the more experienced pilot
or the glider pilot looking to "enhance" his experience by adding
competition. Or the crew on the ground that want to "see" what their
pilot is doing. It was also a GREAT video to promote the marketing
value of soaring...(can you believe anyone ever thought to do that in
the first place...Soaring is the most under-marketed sport I have ever
seen in my life! - even curling, bull-riding, and Scrabble
tournaments do better than soaring!)


But I agree with Dan, that you have to "gear" the attention to the
right audience. Mike Robison showed me a video he made with Mark
Maughmer back in 2001, and it was incredible, but SCARY...lots of low
dives and sweeps. The older teens loved it, the ones who didn't know
anything about soaring were mildly impressed, but no way were they
going to try that!

if you don't have a clear idea of the age group you want to attract,
you aren't doing much but wasting the money you are willing to spend.
micki