What should a soaring club do at an airshow

Here are some thoughts from the performer side:

Absolutely have a glider on display with brochures
about your club. Make sure to include the relatively
low price and social aspect of club flying. Be sure
to mention that your club offers instruction and that
kids can solo at 14.

Don't bring your rusty old 2-33, 1-26 or Blanik. Bring
any modern class glider (the average person doesn't
recognize the difference between a Libelle and a supership,
but they do recognize a junker).

Mna your booth with enthusiastic pilots, and rotate
duty throughout the day.

Let people touch the aircraft, and sit in it under
supervision. Yes, some people's children are idiots,
but I've never experienced any damage. Just keep an
eye out and polish off the grubby fingerprints when
you get home.

Don't offer a free demonstration. A glider flyby without
smoke is nearly invisible from the distances required
for crowd clearance during an airshow waiver, and you
can't do aerobatics without a waiver card. Without
an experienced crew, gliders require a lot of time
to setup for launch and retrieve, often upsetting the
airboss. Airshow schedules are TIGHT! Please don't
take offense at these statements, but airshows are
not the same as the local club environment. The airboss
invariably schedules the glider right after a bunch
of warbirds, then wants you launched in 1 minute.
The free demo also really hurts my chances of ever
performing at that show. I hear a lot of 'We had a
glider at our show once, and nobody liked it' comments
from show producers.

(OK, here comes the blatant sales pitch.) Try to convince
the show to hire a professional sailplane act, and
work with him to help promote your club. I often fly
the whole weekend and never realize the local club
had a sailplane on static display. Any of us (Manfred,
Brett, Steve or I) would be happy to help out.

Don't expect people to line up at your club the following
weekend. Keep your club visible as often as possible.
(You don't see Coca Cola advertising only once a year,
then sitting back and expecting huge sales.)

And most importantly, don't underestimate the effect
you have on the kids! These are the people who will
keep us flying 20 years from now. Convince them they
can fly before the naysayers brainwash them into thinking
flying is too dangerous. I often do school presentations.
They are fun and I really believe some of these kids
will become pilots one day partly as a result of this
influence.

Just my $.02 worth.

Bob Carlton
Silent Wings Airshows
Albuquerque, NM USA
www.silentwingsairshows.com



At 12:30 13 January 2005, Dave Martin wrote:
Our club tried this several times at local events.

It required high time investment and a glider out of
use for several days loss of flying time/income. Lots
of poeple sat in gliders, loss of photocalls and brochures
handed out

The returns were very small if anything and for a small
club I would suggest the input return/comparison made
it impracticable.

Dave Martin


At 12:00 13 January 2005, Ray Lovinggood wrote:
The one time we did it, nothing came of it.

Back in the early 90's, the Raleigh-Durham Intl. Airport
(RDU) held a 'static display' airshow. It included
military, air carrier, and GA aircraft. Plus one LS-4,
'J7.'

We roped it off and manned it with, I think, four people,
including one young, pretty, blonde lady.

I had a poster made with all the specifications for
the glider and supported it on an easle.

We had informational packages to hand out to tell about
learning to fly and where they could learn to fly.

I think we would let small groups of people into the
roped off area for a closer look. We might have let
some sit in it, but I don't remember.

We also gave them a chance to enter their name into
a drawing that would give the winner a free flight
in a glider (a 2-33, because that was the only two-seater
the commercial operation had. The 2-33 was not at
the show nor were photos of it.)

While hundreds came by, the commercial gliding business
who set this up realized no new customers.

I still wonder what we did wrong.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA




At 06:30 13 January 2005, Dnewill wrote:
OK Gang - the airshow season is about to start - so
what are the 'ten things
to do / not to do' if our club gets involved in a summer
airshow?
What is the best thing your club or commercial operation
did? Worst?

Thanks
dave newill

F.L. Whiteley wrote:
You did nothing wrong. Although I enjoy these venues personally, the
immediate results are very dismal. In five years of mall shows, school
venues, airport open houses, and EAA regional fly ins, my club gained
exactly two members, a father and son that were power pilots that lasted
about six months. Soaring belongs to the seeker. However, planting the
idea in the minds of the young people that pass by may yield long term
dividends. I aim for the 12 and 13 year olds. Most of our newer members
have come from the ranks of rated pilots who've decided to learn to soar
however.

If you have the time and an inside contact, colleges and universities seem
to be the most fruitful recruiting grounds. Students are looking for new
experiences, but often have little money.

Frank Whiteley

I remember a few Mall displays from when I was a kid (at least 12) in
Colorado Springs. I was all wide eyed. I also remember the guys there
were fairly unenthusiastic about talking to me, and I was the kid that
would ride my bike a dozen miles each way just to watch the gliders at
Black Forest GP. Lost chances. Mixed result for me though. I didn't
start flying until I was 28, but it got me started in cycling at age 14.
:-)

Shawn

When I read all your postings, it strikes me that you've
forgot one thing.
Nowadays everything are about interactivity. We don't
always want to listen and watch - we want to try it
for ourself.

I started building a hardware Simulator 6 years ago,
and i'm still working on it.
In this way we can let people try soaring interactive.

There are a 2 'games' which is perfect for the job.
SilentWings and Sailors of the Sky.

take a look what i've made together with some other
guys and be inspired. We really got focus on our club,
and I believe that we've got some good results from
our hard effort.

https://www.pfg.dk/pub/index.php/use.../view/full/138

And yes - we are about to make a 6 DOF full motion
simulator.
In this way we can promote the sport in a safe and
fun way and let people get a glimpse of the great sport
we all like.

Best regards
Kristoffer Raun
www.pfg.dk

When I read all your postings, it strikes me that you've
forgot one thing.
Nowadays everything are about interactivity. We don't
always want to listen and watch - we want to try it
for ourself.

I started building a hardware Simulator 6 years ago,
and i'm still working on it.
In this way we can let people try soaring interactive.

There are a 2 'games' which is perfect for the job.
SilentWings and Sailors of the Sky.

take a look what i've made together with some other
guys and be inspired. We really got focus on our club,
and I believe that we've got some good results from
our hard effort.

https://www.pfg.dk/pub/index.php/use.../view/full/138

And yes - we are about to make a 6 DOF full motion
simulator.
In this way we can promote the sport in a safe and
fun way and let people get a glimpse of the great sport
we all like.

Best regards
Kristoffer Raun
www.pfg.dk

Bob C wrote:

And most importantly, don't underestimate the effect
you have on the kids! These are the people who will
keep us flying 20 years from now. Convince them they
can fly before the naysayers brainwash them into thinking
flying is too dangerous. I often do school presentations.
They are fun and I really believe some of these kids
will become pilots one day partly as a result of this
influence.

I think the posts in this thread may be unduely pessimistic about the
effect of airshow displays. Sure, people don't show up the next weekend
for rides, but it may have an effect over a longer time period (though
too small to notice).

But I think Bob Carlton really makes the important point, which is that
airshows are a way to educate people (especially kids) about soaring. I
have displayed a glider at maybe a show a year over the last 6 years.
I presume the people who attend airshows are somewhat more savvy about
aviation in general, and soaring in particular, than your average person
on the street. Yet many airshow attendees apparently never have never
heard of gliding. They are amazed that there is such a thing as a plane
without an engine, and have no idea how such a contraption might be
launched into the air.

With such a lack of knowledge, it isn't surprsing that soaring isn't
very popular. If soaring were as well known to the general population
as say, scuba diving, I bet we would have a lot more soaring pilots.
Currently, there could be many potential pilots who go through life
without ever knowing about soaring.

I do disagree with Bob Carlton about one thing. At an airshow, you have
the noisy planes with smoke coming from their wingtips, and then the
quiet glider with smoke coming form the wingtips. For my money, if you
are going to be watching a plane do aerobatic maneuvers, you want it to
be as noisy as possible. I find glider aerobatics pretty boring from
the ground. Also, I think airshow attendees who are not familiar with
gliding may get the impression that it consists of crazy people who get
towed into the air and then fly upside down, which may actually hurt our
recruitment rather than help it.

I may be getting away from the point; however, is growing the sport the only
reason we should attempt to keep soaring in the "public eye?"

The local EAA Chapter have been very interested and supportive in my HP-14
restoration. Isn't there value in publicly showing that we are part of the
greater aviation community?

Wayne
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder

Wayne Paul wrote:
I may be getting away from the point; however, is growing the sport the only
reason we should attempt to keep soaring in the "public eye?"

The local EAA Chapter have been very interested and supportive in my HP-14
restoration. Isn't there value in publicly showing that we are part of the
greater aviation community?

A positive perception of GA and soaring in particular is a great reason
to keep us in the public eye. If the only time the public perceives us
is when we crash or generate noise complaints, there will be little
support when airspace or airports are threatened.

Shawn

Greg Arnold wrote:
Also, I think airshow attendees who are not familiar with
gliding may get the impression that it consists of crazy
people who get towed into the air and then fly upside
down, which may actually hurt our recruitment rather
than help it.

I agree. To those who are not familiar with flying *and* even to some
who are familiar with powered flight but NOT with gliders, flying
something without an engine seems crazy enough, let alone doing
*aerobatics* in such a thing!

I think there should be glider representation at airshows ... just one
or two aerotows so that people can see that an aircraft without an
engine doesn't just fall to the ground the minute you release from the
tow, and that it can make a normal, controlled pattern and landing on a
designated runway. I work at a flight school (powered), and it's amazing
that even some CFIs think a glider pilot has little or no choice about
where to land, and they can't imagine making every approach without the
option to do a go-round! JMO, but I think there is substantial potential
for soaring by just educating power airplane people, especially those
who are instructing.

I have been especially frustrated the last couple of years at an annual
local airshow that focuses on aircraft that played a part in the wars,
without *a single mention* of or even a display of *pictures* of
gliders. I have cordially brought this to their attention, and they
wholeheartedly agree that gliders played a vital part in the war and
deserve a rightful place alongside the powered classics. But despite
their lip service and more than one offer on my part to do the research
and legwork so that appropriate glider representation could be included,
I have never been given the green light to even just bring them
something to consider.

Bottom line, many really don't take it seriously if there isn't a fan on
the nose.

While not anything like an airshow, one of our club
members is letting his 301 Libelle be used at the Gubernatorial
Inauguration Ball. (North Carolina, USA, Governor
re-elect: Mike Easley)

Folks from the Governor's office (I guess) visited
our airfield looking for the 'glider guys.' They wanted
a glider to suspend from the ceiling of the Raleigh
Convention Center. They ran into the owner of the
301 and he has agreed to let them display it above
the heads of the dancing democrats.

The Ball is Saturday evening, 15 JAN 05. I wonder
if anyone will start thinking about how lovely the
Libelle is and thinking about learning to fly?

I hope the owner gets good photos!

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

I understand that was a joke but....
....we did a static display at an airshow with both a PW5 and an ASW 27.
In several cases we told folks about routinely making flights of 120-150
miles or so in the PW and they were extremely impressed. We then said "go
ask him (the ASW 27 driver) how far he goes and what his average speeds
are".
The range of capabilities (and associated costs) was interesting to them.

We had a member who used to regularly do glider acro demos at airshows--that
really got their attention.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Do: hire nubile females to pretend to be glider groupies or pilots.

Don't: display anything manufactured by Schweizer or PZL-Swidnick

Do: Give out free beer.
Don't: demonstrate the use of the glider's relief tube.