Well, ultralights are just barely regulated by the federal
government, and their numbers are perhaps roughly the
same as soaring. The difference is that they hand out
"Basic Flight Instructor" certifications much more
readily.

If there is one part of the FAA regulation that has really
confounded this whole thing, it has been the barriers to entry for
instructors. And the barriers to Airplane instructors are
important too, because there is a lot of instructor spillover.

Sport pilot fixes this, some.

Befo
------------------
Airplane SEL Private Pilot Practical Test
Airplane SEL Instrument Practical Test
Airplane SEL Commercial Practical Test
Airplane SEL Instructor Practical Test
Glider Private Pilot Practical Test
Glider Commercial Practical Test
Glider Instructor Practical Test

Airplane SEL Private Pilot written test
Airplane Commercial written test
Airplane Instrument written test
Airplane Instructor written test
Glider instructor written test


After Sport Pilot:
------------------
Sport, Recreational, or Private Practical Test in any cat/class
Sport Pilot Instructor Practical Test in any cat/class

SP written test in any cat/class
SP Instructor written test in any cat/class

Add any new cat/class to your Sport Pilot instructor privileges
by flying with 2 CFIs and having them endorse you.

Seven practical tests with a DPE, and five written tests?
vs.
2 practical tests and two written tests.

There's a lot of crossover from airplane instructors to
glider instructors, so this is relevant.

If you're reading this and you can't see how reducing
the number of tests to about one-third is a significant
reduction to barriers to entry, then I'm surprised.

I for one see this as an opportunity to get the
younger crowds who like less "hassle" into flying.
And in slow, easy to fly aircraft, it doesn't bother me
a bit that they won't go through 12 FAA mandated tests to
get there.

Grow your pool of instructors! If you have to, snatch them
from the 80,000 airplane CFIs, and transition them to glider instructors
under the sport pilot rules without taking a practical test.
And get them a 2-33 or SZD 50-3 to fly.

I know, I know, it's kind of like asking the grass to grow faster

In article ,
Nyal Williams wrote:
At 16:30 30 January 2005, Plasticguy wrote:
In another thread it was noted that Television
drives (apparently) many sports. The sad fact
is that unless there is an extreme element to it,
most of those 'sports' have reached critical
mass as far as participation levels are concerned.
The exceptions, indoor motocross freestyle jumping,
street luge and such all seem to have a few common
threads. You can get seriously messed up doing it,
there is
a way to know,attach yourself to the participant and
get a rush vicariously thru the actions of others.

Soaring needs TV time. To get it it is goint to
have to compete with stuff like I mentioned until
it gets to a critical mass of participation.

I can think of no better example then PROFESSIONAL
DART TOSSING, live from Ceasars Palace....

Why on earth does this work? Because of the HUGE
installed base of 25cent a game dart boards in almost
any bar/pool hall I've seen. There are a BUNCH
of people doing it.

Soaring doesn't have this installed base of viewers,
so it needs
to get extreme or edgy. REVIVE the Smirnov derby.
Cross country
racing gliders is really no different than cross country
racing antique
cars.
There is the equipment story, the pilot story, the
where an I going to land
story all of which can be twisted into TV drama. THATS
what needs to
happen to get the exposure. Give an advertiser a vehicle
to hook a
viewer to sell his stuff.

Sorry to be so long winded.

Scott,

You should go back and read John Shelton's posts.
He tried very hard to take us down that path and he
hit a stone wall.

My own observation is that those sports are not overseen
by the FAA or other governmental agencies. We can't
get too edgy and yet proclaim to the world and the
bureaucracy that we are a safe, sane sport that doesn't
need to be regulated out of the sky. Those sports
are localized within boundaries that everyone recognizes
(if you are threatened or frightened by them, stay
out of the building). We fly over the heads of an
unsuspecting public and they get paranoid and demand
that the politicians protect them from us.





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Mark J. Boyd