I do not think we do anyone any good if we try to portray soaring as
some benign activity that’s about as risky as playing a game of
checkers on the front porch. Let’s face it, soaring is dangerous
and people should stop trying to put the spin on it for public
consumption in the hope of luring in the unwary. People need to come
into the sport with no illusions.


Thank goodness you have nothing to do with public relations!! There
is a huge difference between creating a false sense of security by
candy coating/spinning reality and doing what happened here. For most
people that read this, it will be their first (probably last) exposure
to gliders/gliding. For reasons that have nothing to do with safety or
a realistic representation of the soaring, what they are supplied with
for their first impression is a (likely permanent) visual mental image
of a coffin with wings. Death, possibly coupled with associated grief,
is now associated with sailplanes in the minds of the readers. FAIL!
Next they get pilots that think they're god, and then by deduction
should perhaps begin worrying about a glider falling out of the sky on
them, since after all when the air pockets get scarce pilots simply
have no choice where they crash their plane next...

While I'm sure the reporter is responsible for most of the awkwardness
of the article, the coffin line is a killer. I'm pretty sure articles
like this are more likely inspire people to avoid sailplanes
altogether, not make them come into the sport with no illusions.

-Paul

ps. this has nothing to do with PC, just basic psychology.