Simple economies of scale. Less pilots, less soaring sites, more regulation, less of a lobby effort before the FAA, fewer companies to supply insurance, repair services, higher insurance costs, fewer tow planes, fewer manufacturers of sailplanes ...in short less of everything we need to go soaring. Yes, we DO need more pilots. Both younger pilots and women as pilots will help grow our sport. I was out of soaring for 13-14 years and was shocked at how much it has contracted in that time. Within a four hour drive the 6 soaring sites are now 3. On a weekend instead of twenty private pilots there are only a hand full. Pilots need camaraderie to stay interested. It is fun to share the time both on the ground and in the air with friends. Not sure how you arrived at your conclusion that soaring does not need to grow much, but you could not be more wrong. There is a maxim "Strength in numbers".



On Friday, September 4, 2015 at 4:47:46 AM UTC-7, wrote:
I don't think soaring needs to grow much. We don't need, and don't have the capacity for lots of pilots. What we need are a handful of obsessed pilots. Obsessed soaring pilots make the wheel go round. Said this before the big recruitment hurdle is cultural, men no longer command their recreational time. Pool to chose from is never married chaps with no girlfriend or kids or old guys with grown kids.