Gliding enthusiasts, join the 99% in Minden, Nevada this June and send
a message to the wealthy and greedy 1% that gliding is a universal
right that cannot be abridged by any person or organization.

The cruel convergence of income inequity, the breathtaking cost of
gliders and equipment, and the blinkered narrow-mindedness of the USA
Rules Committee has forced many pilots to abandon traditional
sanctioned competitions for what is derisively referred to by some as
the OLC “kiddie comps” (or “comps for chumps”). The upshot is that
sanctioned comps have become the private playground of a shrinking
number of wealthy pilots and their servile SSA domestiques. We cannot
allow this to prevail! We, the 99%, shall join forces in a peaceful,
democratic brotherhood of protest and exercise our responsibility to
foster gliding and empower one another against this oppression and
injustice.

THE PLAN: America’s Open Class Nats will take place 12th-21st June in
Minden, Nevada. Ironically this Class is anything but “open”. The ne
plus ultra of motorless flight, it is the exclusive enclave of the
most extreme elements in gliding: viz., purpose-built aeroplanes of
stupefying wingspan and computerized kit that cost more than the
average American home and require powerful, petrol-guzzling tugs to
launch them and small armies of mercenaries to rig/de-rig and
manoeuvre them about on the ground. Open Class pilots exemplify the
elitist of the elite, the richest of the rich, the most favoured of
gliding’s aeronautical gentry with their 60+ to 1 glide ratios, their
$300,000 bespoke motorhomes, their hired crews, and their lavish,
decadent, aristocratic lifestyles.

But...a loophole in the Rules offers the opportunity for OCCUPY MINDEN
to make a profound statement! No need to own, borrow, or hire a state-
of-the-art Open Class glider. Pursuant to the Rules, the ONLY
REQUIREMENT IS A VALID AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATE. Similarly the ONLY
pilot experience requirement is having flown in an SSA-sanctioned
gliding comps within three years or in a “previous National soaring
contest”. Ergo, past participation at ANY nats, including those for
1-26s or hang gliders or perhaps even radio controlled models, will
provide the requisite credential.

Accordingly, OCCUPY MINDEN’s call to action is straightforward. All
amongst the 99% who are able should enter the Open Class Nats to
protest this inequality whilst enjoying a splendid gliding holiday at
one of the world’s premier sites with whatever glider they can
arrange.

Picture, if you will, a launch grid populated by a dozen Gliders of
Greed (read: competitive Open Class) interspersed amongst 30 or 40
People’s Gliders: e.g., brightly coloured 1-26s and elegant PW-5s,
with a smattering of Ka-6s, Dusters, Cherokees, Schweizer 1-19s and
2-33s, and even an exotic HP-11 or Standard Cirrus. What a statement
OCCUPY MINDEN shall make to those in power!

Lest the outraged 1% attempt to play the safety card with a thinly
veiled appeal to “separate but equal” status, there is ample precedent
for World Class, just to use one example, mixing safely with other FAI
classes at comps. There is no reason apart from snobbery and blatant
discrimination to prevent any glider and pilot with a modicum of
experience from enjoying the facilities at Minden this June.

Bring the family. Get the tents up, the sausages grilling, and the
beer chilling. It’s party time at OCCUPY MINDEN!! Let the caviar and
chardonnay crowd know that the walls of exclusion have been breached.

It must be conceded that the daily tasking will hopelessly outstrip
the ability of even Mr. Karl Striedieck himself to accomplish in a
1-26. But that is a trifling detail. Simply launch with one’s fellow
Open Class pilots and waft about for a few hours to explore the
amazing conditions. Then land ahead of the dust storms and retire to
the pub before the 1% return after many hundreds of kilometres,
depleted, hypoxic, and thirsty from their self-indulgent trials.

Notwithstanding the privileged class’s conspicuous consumption,
extravagant standard of living, and insular ways, we hasten to add
that we harbour no ill will toward them. We simply demand that they
contribute their fair share of gliding’s burden so that we, the 99%,
can continue to enjoy this magnificent pastime, too. To that end, we
envision Open Class pilots paying proportionately more to help defray
the expenses of those mired permanently in the Sports, Club, and other
workingman’s Classes. Why should a gentleman pilot with a state-of-the-
art $250,000+ self-launching Open Class glider pay the same SSA
membership dues, sanction fees, entry fees, tow fees, and teeshirt
prices as a hardworking 1-26er with three syndicate co-owners, a
mortgage, and a profligate wife? From each according to his ability;
to each according to his needs, we say.

Members of the 99%--unite with us at OCCUPY MINDEN! You have nothing
to lose but your second-class status.

SoarPoint
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