Tom Gardner wrote:
On Feb 23, 5:47 am, fredsez wrote:
Over here on this side of the pond, how should I advertise or tell my
friends (yet to meet) that I fly something like an aircraft without an
engine running?
If I say Glider, I often hear "Oh, you fly hang gliders?"
If I say I fly sailplanes, I hear "What is that?"
If I say I am going soaring, I hear "what is that?"
If I say I'm going gliding, I hear "You mean hang gliding?"

That's not a problem, that's an opportunity!

It certainly is!

When they utter the words "hang gliding", it gives the perfect
intro to a sales pitch along the lines of

I also mention the things below:

- no, real gliding...
- up to 150mph,
- 10,000 ft and 500km aren't unusual,

I leave the following out in the beginning, because it will distract
from the main message with training details that most people don't want
or will misinterpret, requiring more details that further distract ...

- mandatory aerobatic training before you are allowed to go solo
- full aerobatics, loops, spins, wing overs, etc

If the person is already a pilot or seems particularly keen on physical
excitement, and expresses an interest in the details, then it's worth
going into it; otherwise, I'm careful to avoid it.

and then show them a sexy aerial photo of your plane
that you have produced a picture of the glider from your
wallet.

The picture is *crucial*, because words just won't bring the right image
to their minds; after all, that's how the conversation got started!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org