SSA as sub chapter of AOPA

I'm sorta torn here.

Been an AOPA member for more than 20 years, mostly because of lawyer backup as a " commercial/instructor" person in gliders/sailplanes and hoping to not need it.

I agree that AOPA sorta looks down on us but believe it helps me (actually, they're helping me with an issue now..).

Any voice is better than no voice, at least in the US.

On Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 9:42:00 PM UTC-6, wrote:
This topic has been discussed before but should be revisited. If the gliding community was brought within the umbrella organization of private pilots (ie., AOPA),.............

Horrible idea. Arguably one of the worst ideas to come up on RAS in quite some time. A problem, Perhaps THE problem is that Non-Profits have become big business and AOPA is no exception. From multi million dollar salaries (And severance packages) to tie ins with all manner of consumer goods and services many of these companies are centered around revenue and the little guy member looses. Except of course if you consider a mail box full of junk mail soliciting everything from time shares to Wine of the month a tangible benefit.
Years ago we had a complex airspace issue with the FAA in my area. SSA was helpful, AOPA was not.
There is nothing that AOPA provides that you can not get elsewhere.

Always blows me away there is 0 coverage about soaring in mainstream aviation publishing except for, "get your glider add-on, it'll make you a better pilot" when as we all know at the root of all this aviation stuff is gliding/soaring. Thing is, there's little money in it and few to none who're willing to spend money to advertise. So the mainstream press and their organizations (AOPA) won't touch it.

Oh, you mean hang gliders, no!? Oh, those sperm thingys. That has been the conversation I have had with 98% of the power pilots. I fly power too but, mainly I fly, and I would rather not have an engine up front.

On Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 11:53:54 AM UTC-7, Bill Polits wrote:
Always blows me away there is 0 coverage about soaring in mainstream aviation publishing except for, "get your glider add-on, it'll make you a better pilot" when as we all know at the root of all this aviation stuff is gliding/soaring. Thing is, there's little money in it and few to none who're willing to spend money to advertise. So the mainstream press and their organizations (AOPA) won't touch it.

On 11/1/2016 6:43 PM, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
snip ...and I would rather not have an engine up front.


Get a Stemme - the engine's in back!

But seriously, I've been able to fly on many more days than I could have
before getting the self-launcher. Moriarty sits pretty much in the
center of a valley and often times we have blue skies for 10 miles
around with wonderful clouds just out of reach with an air tow. There
have been occasions where I ran the engine an extra 5 minutes to gain
the extra altitude and distance from the airport where I could either
get up and away or return safely. I never imagined the usability before
I had it.
--
Dan, 5J

I happen to be teaching gliding to one of the VP’s at the EAA (an old college friend) and his 13 year old son. They both plan to solo on his son’s 14th birthday next May. I know the EAA was a big part of pushing for the changes to allow a 14 year old to solo on their birthday. They are the ones that wrote the petition that pushed the FAA to change the policy.

Maybe the question should be:
How do we turn EAA, AOPA and FAA employees, who make the decisions that shape our sport,(or their kids) into gliding enthusiast?

This way we do not have to worry so much as to whether they are looking out for us or not. Since many pilots in European countries typically start out flying gliders this may explain why they are already very well integrated with the power flying pilots, as was pointed out in the original post.

On Friday, November 4, 2016 at 2:51:31 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I happen to be teaching gliding to one of the VP’s at the EAA (an old college friend) and his 13 year old son. They both plan to solo on his son’s 14th birthday next May. I know the EAA was a big part of pushing for the changes to allow a 14 year old to solo on their birthday. They are the ones that wrote the petition that pushed the FAA to change the policy.

Maybe the question should be:
How do we turn EAA, AOPA and FAA employees, who make the decisions that shape our sport,(or their kids) into gliding enthusiast?

This way we do not have to worry so much as to whether they are looking out for us or not. Since many pilots in European countries typically start out flying gliders this may explain why they are already very well integrated with the power flying pilots, as was pointed out in the original post.

You make a very good point. I also think the SSA should work more closely with AOPA going forward as it is with EAA.

On Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 9:06:06 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Friday, November 4, 2016 at 2:51:31 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I happen to be teaching gliding to one of the VP’s at the EAA (an old college friend) and his 13 year old son. They both plan to solo on his son’s 14th birthday next May. I know the EAA was a big part of pushing for the changes to allow a 14 year old to solo on their birthday. They are the ones that wrote the petition that pushed the FAA to change the policy.

Maybe the question should be:
How do we turn EAA, AOPA and FAA employees, who make the decisions that shape our sport,(or their kids) into gliding enthusiast?

This way we do not have to worry so much as to whether they are looking out for us or not. Since many pilots in European countries typically start out flying gliders this may explain why they are already very well integrated with the power flying pilots, as was pointed out in the original post.

You make a very good point. I also think the SSA should work more closely with AOPA going forward as it is with EAA.

There are some new initiatives in progress with the EAA. Jack Pelton was working on his glider rating when he was made chair of EAA. He's been so busy that I'm not sure he's had time to finish.

Frank Whiteley