This is the way to insure the future of our sport!

[WAVEGURU]

What an inspiring, well made video... And what a great club!

https://vimeo.com/105810456

Boggs

[Matt Herron Jr.]

On Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 8:08:22 AM UTC-7, Waveguru wrote:
> What an inspiring, well made video... And what a great club!
>
> https://vimeo.com/105810456
>
> Boggs

Agreed.

[Sean Fidler]

Killer video! Very well edited.

But...I must ask...is some of that footage a DRONE operating on an active airport? ;-). Naughty, naughty.

Lions and tigers and bears...oh my!

You know I am fine with it...but....be careful.

[[email protected]]

Brilliant!

[[email protected]]

On Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 11:08:22 AM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
> What an inspiring, well made video... And what a great club!
>
> https://vimeo.com/105810456
>
> Boggs

Awesome job! Seeing youth at the camp warmed my heart.

May I offer my two cents as to what it takes to attract youth? I noticed in the video that there was a soccer game, fishing pond, barbeque, and just plane (not pun intended) fun going on. Also, the youth were actively involved with some of the operation of the club.

I travel to Europe to fly gliders in the Alps on a yearly basis. I have visited many German gliding clubs as well. I notice a real difference in the culture of the clubs of Europe as compared to the USA. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing our infrastructure, just making a generalized comparison.

In Europe there is a concerted effort to afford activity for wives and children such that time at the airport is not just standing in boredom waiting for their elder family member finish his 4 or 5 hour flight in his high performance glider. There are activities promoted on or near the airport such that time waiting for flights can be filled with fun activity.

The airport I usually fly at in France has a swimming pool, showers, a small restaurant, and nearby diversions such as hiking trails, rivers to swim or fish, etc. There is a dedicated picnic area with a shaded gazebo, and usually a barbecue in the evening. Information about such activities are eagerly promoted at the check- in/administration desk. There is always a ten o'clock briefing of the weather and a discussion of the previous days flights. It is also a time when special events of the day are discussed, such as diversion trips for other members of the family. All people, not just pilots, are welcomed at the briefings.

I will say that our own local glider port, Ionia Municipal Airport, has sponsored a "Youth Glide" camp for many years. It is a dedicated two week instructional camp for soloing young people. This year, Ionia Michigan's municipal airport, with the concerted efforts of Tony Smitt and Benz Aviation soloed eight new youth glider pilots.

As the late Jerry Benz would say "we are planting seeds" for future cross country glider pilots. Most of the early recruits go on to more time consuming pursuits in their lives, but a few return when leisure time can be afforded. That was certainly the case in my life, when university, medical school, surgical training, and the following years of establishing a surgical career took precedent. There was a twenty year period when gliding cross country was only a dream to come. And that is the way for most individuals. Soaring is a time consuming sport that requires disposable income and disposable time for leisure. But having been exposed and experiencing soaring like a bird, the dream never faded. Indeed,"we are planting seeds".

I believe that retaining youth, or drawing youth to the airport must involve a group of young people. Young people want to experience new friendships and have fun. Youth tend to feel more relaxed and active when there are with other people their own age involved with the same activity.

Thank you for creating and posting the video. Again, it was heart warming! Well done!

[Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)]

On Sunday, August 23, 2015 at 2:43:04 AM UTC-4, gotovkotzepkoi wrote:
> I could not agree with you more Gary! These guys did a wonderful job
> putting this together and I am already trying to figure out how to get
> my son there when he is old enough.
>
>
>
>
> --
> gotovkotzepkoi

Yes, nicely done. Would be interesting to send to middle school/high school teachers (math and/or science) to spark some interest.
Followed by a copy of the Soaring article (recent, 2 months ago?) of a "STEM" teacher bringing kids from a CT school to Valley Soaring in NY for a day of learning & flying.

[AS]

On Sunday, August 23, 2015 at 6:27:13 AM UTC-4, wrote:
> On Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 11:08:22 AM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
> > What an inspiring, well made video... And what a great club!
> >
> > https://vimeo.com/105810456
> >
> > Boggs
>
> Awesome job! Seeing youth at the camp warmed my heart.
>
> May I offer my two cents as to what it takes to attract youth? I noticed in the video that there was a soccer game, fishing pond, barbeque, and just plane (not pun intended) fun going on. Also, the youth were actively involved with some of the operation of the club.
>
> I travel to Europe to fly gliders in the Alps on a yearly basis. I have visited many German gliding clubs as well. I notice a real difference in the culture of the clubs of Europe as compared to the USA. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing our infrastructure, just making a generalized comparison.
>
> In Europe there is a concerted effort to afford activity for wives and children such that time at the airport is not just standing in boredom waiting for their elder family member finish his 4 or 5 hour flight in his high performance glider. There are activities promoted on or near the airport such that time waiting for flights can be filled with fun activity.
>
> The airport I usually fly at in France has a swimming pool, showers, a small restaurant, and nearby diversions such as hiking trails, rivers to swim or fish, etc. There is a dedicated picnic area with a shaded gazebo, and usually a barbecue in the evening. Information about such activities are eagerly promoted at the check- in/administration desk. There is always a ten o'clock briefing of the weather and a discussion of the previous days flights. It is also a time when special events of the day are discussed, such as diversion trips for other members of the family. All people, not just pilots, are welcomed at the briefings.
>
> I will say that our own local glider port, Ionia Municipal Airport, has sponsored a "Youth Glide" camp for many years. It is a dedicated two week instructional camp for soloing young people. This year, Ionia Michigan's municipal airport, with the concerted efforts of Tony Smitt and Benz Aviation soloed eight new youth glider pilots.
>
> As the late Jerry Benz would say "we are planting seeds" for future cross country glider pilots. Most of the early recruits go on to more time consuming pursuits in their lives, but a few return when leisure time can be afforded. That was certainly the case in my life, when university, medical school, surgical training, and the following years of establishing a surgical career took precedent. There was a twenty year period when gliding cross country was only a dream to come. And that is the way for most individuals. Soaring is a time consuming sport that requires disposable income and disposable time for leisure. But having been exposed and experiencing soaring like a bird, the dream never faded. Indeed,"we are planting seeds".
>
> I believe that retaining youth, or drawing youth to the airport must involve a group of young people. Young people want to experience new friendships and have fun. Youth tend to feel more relaxed and active when there are with other people their own age involved with the same activity.
>
> Thank you for creating and posting the video. Again, it was heart warming! Well done!

To reinforce the above post, please go to http://www.segelflug.de/segelflug_de.html
randomly pick 10 clubs and take a look at their websites. Most of them have a tab 'Jugendgruppe' (Youth Group) and it shows the club's kids either running the operation or what else they are up to when not flying.
I have flow contests for many years at Caesar Creek and my son soloed there in a very similar youth encampment about 10 years ago. That club has it going on and they do a marvelous job getting the youth involved and retained - hats off to them!
In contrast, I flew at another US-club that shall remain unnamed, which had a flight instructor who wanted to ban members under 21 since he saw them only as a liability. Fortunately, this attempt got defeated but it shows the difference in attitude.
Keep it up, Caesar Creek!

Uli
now AS

[Andy Blackburn[_3_]]

On Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 8:08:22 AM UTC-7, Waveguru wrote:
> What an inspiring, well made video... And what a great club!
>
> https://vimeo.com/105810456
>
> Boggs

Wow! Super-professional aerial videography (and and great use of drone video). Did club members shoot/edit this or did they use a pro (or both)?

Also seems to be a very well organized and run youth program.

Well done!

9B

[[email protected]]

Wow - so well done! The video did such a great job of telling a compelling story and the drone clips added to the story, not just saying we are now using a drone...

Again, just a fantastic video. I wish more of us (including myself) could do this kind of quality of story telling to help share our sport!!!

Bruno - B4

[John Seaborn (A8)]

By far the best soaring starter video ever. Really a class job. Lets play a 30 second clip in every movie theater in the US along with the other advertising. Cheap, can be targeted and hits em where they live.

[Andy Blackburn[_3_]]

On Sunday, August 23, 2015 at 3:25:05 PM UTC-7, John Seaborn (A8) wrote:
> By far the best soaring starter video ever. Really a class job. Lets play a 30 second clip in every movie theater in the US along with the other advertising. Cheap, can be targeted and hits em where they live.

And...we could all post it to our social media accounts and ask our friends to repost it.

Free!

[Sean Fidler]

The SSA should have a webpage set up with all the YOUTH SOARING INFORMATION and all the YOUTH SOARING CAMPS so that when we share this link we can also link to all the great camps and commercial operations they can contact.

Hmmm.

[Tony[_5_]]

Hi Sean,

I'm the current SSA Youth Committee Chairman. You're right, everything should be better than it is now. www.SSA.org/youth is the current homepage. It isn't great but its a start.

My tenure is coming to a close. Other commitments just haven't let me do as much as I originally hoped with the job. The SSA has a good foundation for a youth program with Cadet Intro Memberships, Kolstad Century Badges, local and national scholarships, contest rebates, and the Junior Team.

If you or someone else is interest in taking over the helm for the SSA Youth committee, let me know.

[Charlie Papa[_2_]]

My club, York Soaring Association (www.yorksoaring.com) has been teaching youth camp students to fly for 40 years. These have been in the form of Youth Camps, two week flight courses, where the students stay at the club while learning, (our accommodation has evolved from the 'chicken coop' which not so imaginatively got its name from the building original use, to the York Hilton, - a semi trailer converted into a bunkhouse, to the current cabins and a few trailers.

Weather permitting, they take two consecutive flights, in 2-33's, in the morning, and a second set in the afternoon, with ground school and practice exams during the day. Almost 100% complete their license in this time period. These have run the first two weeks of August and the first two weeks of July.

In the last decade we added, and expanded follow-up scholarships to advance their skills beyond mere gliding in a 2-33 towards soaring, a Bronze Badge and beyond. Scholarship recipients are awarded $500 contribution to their flying accounts by Youth Flight Canada Education Fund, a Registered Canadian Charity (US pilots, think 501.3.c), in two tranches, with the second to follow after the required 10 hours of volunteer time has been recorded. This is 'dirty' volunteer time, not just running wings etc. and additionally, they pay out of their own pockets (or Dad's) $5 for each flight.

They are strongly encouraged to get an early checkout on the 1-34's (hey, - Schweitzer legacy), and then mentored in a structured fashion. This take the form of another post-license Pilot Training Record for the Bronze Badge, with scheduled class-room presentations on the theoretical (Advanced Thermalling, Advanced Instrumentation, Off Field Landing field selection and circuits, etc.) and then practical mentoring, usually in a Youth Flight owned Grob 103 or one of the other glass twins, where Ideally, the mento in the rear seat, an accomplished X/C pilot, will do 90% of the talking, while the scholarship recipient in the front seat does 90% of the flying. We practice and coach on reading clouds, finding thermals, centering the core, etc. as well as testing out the Android XC Soar and final glides. My favourite is always the De-rigging onto a trailer, and then the practical driving skills (backing up may shake their confidence in their skills).

Youth Flight Canada has endowed funds of over $250,000, the income from which ensures 20 scholarships are available. They are awarded to licensed pilots age 16 - 22, most of whom are graduates of our own club's training program, or from the Royal Canadian Air Cadets (think CAP), who teach to license app. 300 members of that organization each summer. Their skills meet the minima required, and thermalling is for the most part forbidden.

So the encouraged approach is four points:
- read suggested material from the club's Member's Forum (Speed Bank and Yaw, Dick Johnson on Thermalling) and posters in the classroom
- Briefing at the white board to ensure the reading has been done and deal with any confusion
- mentoring flight in a glass twin (2 103's, K-21, DG 500), all phases of flight: T/O, air manoeuvres, landing)
- apply the lessons in practice in the 1-34 with one of the Fly with CE position recorders

Progress is rapid, and self esteem blooms.

We know we will lose them as active members at some stages of their life, - young married w kids and job and mortgage, but in the 15 years we have run this, we have seem a gratifying number return to teach, and continue to learn themselves. Our LS 4 is used most extensively by pilots under 35, may former recipients of the scholarships. And the club is a better place with the energy of the young as a large part of the culture.

[Frank Whiteley]

On Monday, August 24, 2015 at 8:59:37 AM UTC-6, Tony wrote:
> Hi Sean,
>
> I'm the current SSA Youth Committee Chairman. You're right, everything should be better than it is now. www.SSA.org/youth is the current homepage. It isn't great but its a start.
>
> My tenure is coming to a close. Other commitments just haven't let me do as much as I originally hoped with the job. The SSA has a good foundation for a youth program with Cadet Intro Memberships, Kolstad Century Badges, local and national scholarships, contest rebates, and the Junior Team.
>
> If you or someone else is interest in taking over the helm for the SSA Youth committee, let me know.

And Bultman Award.

[Sean Fidler]

Tony,

Send me a email with an overview of what's going well and what is still needed, who's involved, roadblocks, etc.