Speaking from the standpoint of someone relatively new to soaring (September
2003), I can offer these observations:

1. SSA had *nothing* to do with my becoming involved in soaring. Not only
that -- during my days as a student pilot (and newly licensed pilot), it was
never suggested me to join SSA. In fact, when I eventually did join SSA, it
was to become a member of the ASA, so I could fly their club Grob. Four
months later, I can testify that being an SSA (and ASA!) member has
important things to offer that I was not aware of before, and I now
encourage other student and new pilots to become a member because of the
critical functions SSA performs for the protection and furtherance of our
sport. (Can you say *airspace*? I knew you could.)

2. I *did* become involved in soaring after (a) witnessing a soaring
operation at Wiener-Neustadt, Austria while attending a skydiving
competition in summer 2002, and (commercial operations take note!) (b)
having an aerobatic glider ride given to me as a birthday gift in February
2003 by a friend who heard an advertisement by Turf Soaring in Arizona. I
had always had an interesting in soaring, but those two events stand out.

3. I recall reading somewhere, pardon for not remembering specifically, that
a large part of the popularity of soaring in the 1960s, '70s and '80s was
due to the large number of military-trained pilots, trained for WWII, Korea
and Vietnam, who after their service turned to soaring as an economic
alternative for getting in the air. Quite simply, these pilots have been
retiring while the military has been down-sizing. It's logical that this is
at least part of the current decline.

4. I also read this somewhere, and it made sense too: access and exposure to
general aviation (small-market airports) by the average middle-class family
is much less than it used to be. Many small airports have been closed or
blocked off to walk-up spectators. We are simply not being seen as much as
before, and being seen is key.

5. The litigious turn our society has taken since the 1970s, especially in
the aviation industry, has simply priced too many people out of it.

-tcw
H304CZ "2NO"