"tango4" wrote in message
...
The 'which glider should we make cheaply' , 'glider classes' and some of
the traditional 'winter threads' seem to be based on the premise that if
we
could build a 40:1 sailplane for some nominal amount then the steady
decline
in worldwide sailplane pilot numbers can be stemmed.

I am yet to be convinced that aircraft cost is the major threshold to
entry
into the sport of soaring. I remain firmly convinced that even if we came
up
with a near zero cost aircraft we would do little more than temporarily
halt
the decline.

In the UK annual membership of a golf club costs about the same as joining
a
gliding club and flying club ships for the same period.

Ditto for a dinghy sailing club - based on joining a club and renting
dingies.

Our club runs a 'scholarship' incentive for a number of student pilots
each
year, basically they fly for free, their bills being carried by the rest
of
the membership. We don't have hundreds of applicants for the scholarships,
just sufficient.

Most operations have a continuous stream of intro riders, the conversion
rate to sailplane pilots is astonishingly low though, in the order of a
few
percent.

Todays youth have more disposable income than most of us could ever have
dreamed of at their age and in the future they are likely to have more
leisure time and even more money. Flying has to become something that
youngsters 'want to do' it has to become cool. Rather than sticking with
the
old way of doing things perhaps we should fire every club committee member
on the planet over 30 and let the youngsters with backwards baseball caps,
wrap around shades and baggy pants drag soaring into the 21st century. Us
old farts are not doing too good a job of stewardship if you ask me.

We need a new approach.

Ian


I'll second that.

Maybe take a look at what the Europeans are doing. They seem to attract a
lot of youth to soaring.

Bill Daniels