(Apologies for the truncated earlier post...the 'draft' and 'send' buttons are
adjacent...)

Most U.S. glider pilots know of Tom Knauff, creator and long-time proprietor
of the well-known Ridge Soaring Gliderport in Pennsylvania. Probably fewer are
aware he has an intermittent electronic newsletter, which has as its most
persistent theme the utterly boring, sometimes irritating, theme of 'safety.'

Now I don't know Tom (have seen him once [maybe twice]), so please don't
misread any of what follows as something, somehow, having some nefarious
commercial relationship to his 'sideline' of creating safety-based books,
presentations, and general opinionating, because it doesn't. What follows
*does* represent my own thinking on the utterly boring, sometimes irritating,
'safety theme' as it applies to glider pilots. True, it's a U.S.-centric view,
but it wouldn't surprise me if much of it applies worldwide, simply because
it's based upon one man's perception of human nature.
- - - - - -

Background: Knauff has recently published a 'Young Driver Safety' book,
targeted (he says) at the kids' parents and guardians, and not limited in its
applicability to driving, but encompassing 'the dreaded safety mindset.' I've
used quotations because I've not yet read the book - someone else may
characterize it differently - but I'm guessing it's a generally accurate
representation.

The book came out no more than several months ago, memory says.

Since then, Knauff's newsletter has more than once expressed (serious!)
frustration at pilots' resistance to doing the few things he deems necessary
to fundamentally improve the sorry (especially this season), persistent,
little changing, U.S. glider safety record. (His frustration includes an
apparent resistance to buying the - inexpensive - book!) A day or two ago,
almost in passing, he ended one short newsletter with a comment to the effect
that he suspected there was one sure way to motivate (complacent? resistant?
otherwise disinterested?) glider pilots into have a more genuinely serious
outlook on their own, individual, piloting safety, specifically the improving
of, in the future.

The beautifully simple little idea was: self-insurance of gliders. (Think
about it!)

Having been a private owner who has (though not always) self-insured for hull,
and, a member of a club who also was 'forced' to do so for a number of years
not too long ago, the idea made me smile for its pertinent cogency and power.

Now, this very morning in his newsletter, Knauff expanded a bit on the idea,
and I quote...

Begin quotation

I recently received a note from a subscriber in Europe as follows:

Many years ago, a large glider club in Europe found itself confronted
with a steep increase in insurance premiums after a series of glider
accidents. The proposed insurance premiums would have exceeded the total club
subscription revenues, so the club was at risk of folding.

The chairman of the club read the Riot Act (much needed today) to the
members and said they were no longer going to rely on the insurance
company, but were going to self-insure. (The statement is recorded in
the club newsletter.)

Anyway, that dramatic response to the crisis worked.

Accidents were dramatically reduced, and with further changes to
practices and procedures, the club survives to this day.

As have a lot of people who might otherwise have been killed!

The message is clear: If the current accident rate is going to be
reduced, it will take the attention and cooperation of all glider
pilots, who will develop a new approach to being involved and watching
out for their fellow pilots.

Tom Knauff

End quotation

"What Tom says." Let the hand-waving begin...

Bob W.