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#21
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SSA Convention
On Jan 28, 8:39*pm, Greg Arnold wrote:
Any reports from the Convention? *Jet sailplane on display? *NK vario? Interesting talks? *Etc. Many fine, interesting talks. For me, if I had to choose ones that caught my fancy the most, I'd have to start with Bill Collum's "The Future of Soaring" (some AWESOME things / possibilities coming in the future!) and several talks that Mark Maughmer was involved in. Uri Schwenk's presentation on the Grand Prix in Chile showed how awesome and pleasant an international meet can be. Numerous other talks reinforced what we already know / should know. Had to miss a few I really wanted to see, but were scheduled at the same time as another I wanted to see... so I can't comment on them. Life is full of choices. Only a very few duds in the entire 3 days. A well done, very worthwhile 3 days. Thanks to the hard workers at SSA and everyone involved in putting on the event! The weather was really no big deal. The event was inside, and getting about outside was no big deal. Its just winter. And attending the event, and seeing everyone, made things much warmer. Summer IS coming. |
#22
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SSA Convention
On 1/30/2010 8:44 PM, Jack Hamilton wrote:
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:10:41 -0800 (PST), wrote: And how is attendance? The attendance appeared to be pretty low. The ice storm was pretty bad and the roads were terrible. There were a few people that I was really wanting to see, but they were not able to fly in because the LIT airport was closed. The convention hall was very large and the only time there was a crowd was when a ticket was raffled off at the Craggy Aero display. I asked because an editorial in Soaring said the SSA they will decide to go back to yearly conventions based on the attendance this year. And it's low. Perhaps they will take the weather into account when the make the decision, or perhaps they took a financial hit that will make it impossible. Does low attendance imply that the convention should be held every year, or that a radical rethink is in order on where and when it is held? If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend. -- Mike Schumann |
#23
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SSA Convention
Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather
in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter. Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno convention? And there's always skiing/boarding. The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011 symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels close to an airport with hangars... Jim On Jan 31, 6:14*am, Mike Schumann wrote: If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend. |
#24
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SSA Convention
For those of you who missed the Concordia presentation....it was
great. It was so exciting to hear the first half of a "story that is in the writing" as multiple elite aersospace engineers are coming together to build a glider that is another quantum leap into the future. Dick Butler will no doubt kick some tail when this glider is up and running. I will be cheering him on as he blows past all of us at 75/1 L/D. It is truely the story of an American Dream coming true. This glider is so dang bad to the bone, that I firmly believe when it shows up for contests in the future, all other glider pilots will throw in the towel and forfeit immedately upon first glance at this motorless-rocketship. Other than that Moffat had a speech about his days when he was burning the gelcoat off the wings. The Perlan exhibit was exciting as they are attempting to set a rediculously high altitude record of 90,000 feet over the southern tip of South America on a wind condition that only happens 3 times a year. The Perlan pilot was a wingman with Steve Fosset. It was my first time to attend a convention and it just adds salt to my wound in the fact that we still have a few more weeks of cabin fever to endure before we set off on more cross country flights. Spring is almost here and I can't hardly wait! |
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SSA Convention
On Jan 30, 8:24*pm, Deadstickdon wrote:
On Jan 30, 1:29*am, delboy wrote: On 30 Jan, 05:19, Frank Whiteley wrote: Many inbound and departing flights were canceled today due to the ice storm. * Global Warming? Derek Copeland Nope. Climate Change. It cracks me up every time! |
#26
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SSA Convention
Leah and I had a really good time. The only talk I made it to was
Allen Silver's presentation about bailing out, which was very good in my opinion. I really had a blast visiting with people on the convention floor and at the SSF Booth. Too bad there won't be a full convention next year. Hopefully whatever they come up with will be able to encourage attendance by more than just the SSA Die Hards. I find the social aspect of talking to pilots from around the country by far the best part of the convention. Tony |
#27
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SSA Convention
On 1/31/2010 1:55 PM, JS wrote:
Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter. Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno convention? And there's always skiing/boarding. The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011 symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels close to an airport with hangars... Jim On Jan 31, 6:14 am, Mike wrote: If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend. I would suggest Naples, FL as a great venue for 2011. Don Ingraham's winch experiment down here is a rousing success, and will hopefully become an annual event. Besides winching, Immokalee offers lots of other options, including an Acro box, etc....., not to mention golf, beaches and warm weather!!! -- Mike Schumann |
#28
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SSA Convention
Host it the week before the Seniors and you will have a terrifc
attendance! Bob 7U On Feb 1, 12:57*pm, Mike Schumann wrote: On 1/31/2010 1:55 PM, JS wrote: Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter. * *Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno convention? And there's always skiing/boarding. * *The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011 symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels close to an airport with hangars... Jim On Jan 31, 6:14 am, Mike wrote: If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend.. I would suggest Naples, FL as a great venue for 2011. *Don Ingraham's winch experiment down here is a rousing success, and will hopefully become an annual event. *Besides winching, Immokalee offers lots of other options, including an Acro box, etc....., not to mention golf, beaches and warm weather!!! -- Mike Schumann- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
#29
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SSA Convention
On Feb 1, 10:57*am, Mike Schumann
wrote: On 1/31/2010 1:55 PM, JS wrote: Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter. * *Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno convention? And there's always skiing/boarding. * *The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011 symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels close to an airport with hangars... Jim On Jan 31, 6:14 am, Mike wrote: If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend.. I would suggest Naples, FL as a great venue for 2011. *Don Ingraham's winch experiment down here is a rousing success, and will hopefully become an annual event. *Besides winching, Immokalee offers lots of other options, including an Acro box, etc....., not to mention golf, beaches and warm weather!!! -- Mike Schumann I hear Don arrived with the Arcus early this morning, but it rained all day. |
#30
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SSA Convention
On Feb 1, 9:31*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Feb 1, 10:57*am, Mike Schumann wrote: On 1/31/2010 1:55 PM, JS wrote: Reno 2012, sounds promising. But of course there can be nasty weather in the Sierras too! Most locations are a gamble in winter. * *Perhaps there will be a wave camp before and after the Reno convention? And there's always skiing/boarding. * *The posts about winch launching seem to indicate people would spend extra time on that, if a site would support it. Perhaps the 2011 symposium can be somewhere warm and close to the gliderport. It only takes a hotel with a banquet room to host such an event, or motels close to an airport with hangars... Jim On Jan 31, 6:14 am, Mike wrote: If you want to get more attendance from glider pilots who are not "hard core", then it might be useful to think about co-locating the event with some other venue or attraction that would entice more people to attend. I would suggest Naples, FL as a great venue for 2011. *Don Ingraham's winch experiment down here is a rousing success, and will hopefully become an annual event. *Besides winching, Immokalee offers lots of other options, including an Acro box, etc....., not to mention golf, beaches and warm weather!!! -- Mike Schumann I hear Don arrived with the Arcus early this morning, but it rained all day.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Hi Frank - indeed, you are correct. Do you have a network of spies? We arrived in Naples at about 5AM after driving for 15 hours straight from Little Rock. The Arcus/Cobra pulled like it wasn't even there behind Barry's F150. MPG went from 18 (no trailer) to about 15! That seems extremely good to me, especially given that the Arcus is over 1000 LBS. At one point a guy on a motorcycle slowed next to the truck and gave us a big thumbs up and then took his hands off the grips and drove ahead on cruise control with his arms out like wings banking gracefully back and forth from lane to lane ahead of us. We laughed pretty hard. Everyone was too terrified to pass him for about ten miles. We slept hard for about five hours after we arrived and then washed the trailer and tucked it into a hangar at the Immokalee Airport (KIMM). Barry has business back in Mpls (I just took him to the airport), so we won't fly it until he returns on the 12th. It feels a bit like waiting for Xmas. There's still enough space on the winching schedule for a half dozen winch endorsements/BFRs the last 10 days of February down here in sunny, warm, palm-tree lined, breezy, sandy, beachy Naples. :-)) Then we go up to Seminole and the Seniors. Here's the winching schedule - http://plus.calendars.net/xcsoaring - SIGN UP and WARM UP! Sure was fun seeing everyone at the convention. -XS- |
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