On Friday, December 2, 2016 at 2:46:39 PM UTC-6, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Just goes to show, you just can't please everyone. Great article and great photography. If one is trying to sell gliding as a sport then the visuals are important.


In my previous post I wrote: "...that's a great article." (referring to CP's piece in AOPA). In case that's not clear enough, I was VERY pleased with the article. My comments were not meant as criticism of CP's beautifully written and photographed article. I wish every media outlet in the world would pick up on it or something like it.

I certainly agree that "...visuals are important". However, much of the promotional media for soaring reinforces the popular misconception that soaring is only done in remote and exotic locations. This is not a great way to sell soaring to the general public. The most common comment I get from people (pilots and non-pilots) when they find out that I fly sailplanes locally is "Oh, I thought you could only do that in the mountains." Where do you suppose people get that idea?

The purpose of my comment was not to register displeasure with CP's article.. What I hoped for was to encourage some discussion of how we promote soaring as something accessible to the average person.