"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 think it might well lower the churn rate. Unlike the PW5, I think many
clubs would want one.

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.

I don't think so either. It's the effort involved. IIRC the economic input
to Maine(?) from snow mobiling activities is $800M/year. A couple of family
snow mobiles on a trailer give nearly instant thrills (and the possibility
of mayhem) without the effort of learning and licensing. In the summer,
substitute jet skis.

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.

I think golfing here runs more than soaring, especially at the local country
clubs. They pay a lot for water.

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

Memberships on the few lakes we have locally are easily more than I spend on
soaring all year. But this is a desert and lakes are rare. Can't land a
float plane on water in Colorado either.

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.

Soaring scholarships. Interesting topic. I know of one glider club that
gave soaring scholarships, it generated several members from the local
school and parents, created animosity, but was, in the end, rather
unsuccessful in achieving the desired goals. It was also the organizational
effort of a single member, with funds from several members. That member was
taken out of soaring by his SO, and the program stagnated. Another club has
a performance based program. Apply, get accepted, work for credits, perform
or get the boot. By perform, get license, get commercial, give rides, get
instructor rating, instruct, be the future. I think this may be the better
way forward, a mentored, value-added approach.

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.

It's been my experience in two countries that people who take rides also are
likely to have taken a balloon flight, perhaps a dual parachute jump, and a
spin in on a performance race car track. They may have even take a glider
flight 20 years ago, but they are not prospects. Our 3-flight mini-course
acts as sort of a pre-screening process. Those who are really interested
try these. Unlike a power sampler, where a given result is repeatable, you
might need those three flights to set the hook. A single flight is
generally a bit of a blur. Our chief instructor thinks we should just give
the three lessons, but I think one flight should really be an extended
soaring opportunity. That's what brings them back. I'm the only exception
I know for sure. I took a one flight sampler 30 years ago, but the pilot
kept us up for 55mins in very marginal conditions. Had she other customers
waiting, we'd have been back sooner. Had it been a sled ride, I might never
have returned, however I'd already read of Striedeck's flight in NG and
Wolter's Once Upon a Thermal, so I was already a seeker. When I finally got
around to seeking training, I was attracted by a simple black on pink A4
poster in the RAF Mildenhall post office that stated simply, "If you can
drive a car, we reckon you can fly a glider", with a graphic of the SHK I
later flew.

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.

Flying has also been de-mystified in the jet era, as many of these same
youth have flown internationally. Many tune into the movies and never even
look out of the window. However, yes, clubs can be run be, and are, run by
their junior members.

We need a new approach.

Old fart greybeard, with glider on display, jumps out in front of a group of
likely looking college undergrad snowboarders, points, and states
emphatically, "Soaring will change your life". At least one of that group,
after going from ab-initio to switched on glider instructor, has now
completed BPT for the USN and is headed for next school and carrier duty.
He has never forgotten that day, and soaring has changed his life.

Frank Whiteley