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.

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

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.

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!

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!

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

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

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 -

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.

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-