On Feb 14, 11:58 am, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
I suspect that the rise and rise of mass air travel might have something
to do with this. Its managed to convert the wonderful experience of
flying into a humdrum experience that's almost indistinguishable from
traveling by rail or bus. Wait, there is one differentiator: all
passengers having a view out is usual in road and rail travel.

Hot-air ballooning avoids that trap.
There's 100 times more adverts/events/etc for hot air
ballooning than for gliding. Why? Perhaps the Bristol
balloon festival and clouds of balloons drifting across
the city centre during rush hour have something to do
with it! I wish I could think of something similar for
gliding.


The other problem, of course, is that the Noise Police have managed to
drive all GA activity well away from towns: out of site == out of mind.

I certainly agree with "out of site == out of mind", and that's
something that might be changeable.

I'd be interested to whether putting the glider on display in
Canary Wharf (S&G passim) has resulted in any long-term
benefit.

My club took a glider to a local airshow (all of 4 miles away!),
and it resulted in at least one new member. Sure, the audience
was already aviation aware, but so what?

Another club displaying a glider to the Airbus composites
facility in Filton, and they got a decent spread in the local
newspaper. By and large the local newspapers are pretty
interested in any local story that is even slightly different
to the usual stuff.