"Greg Arnold" wrote in message
news:VzMxb.7716$ZE1.5967@fed1read04...

IMHO, you're all a day late and a dollar short.

Back in the days when the summers lasted forever and I had a full head of
hair, I was minded to take up the sport of gliding. I stumbled along to
the Scottish Gliding Union where a crazy old German by the name of Ansgar
Samble (Hi, Ansgar. I still remember your full brake approaches, you
*******!) proceeded to try to teach me how to fly. Eventually, that task
was finished by the tiny but perfectly-formed Alan Middleton from Deeside,
and I became a fully-fledged glider pilot, ready to take on the world.

What happened next? I'll tell you what, me boyos! I'd spend days, weeks,
months, at the club working my ass off and maybe - maybe - as a reward get a
fifteen minute flight in a knackered Swallow, which taught me naught but the
folly of not owning my own piece of plastic. Sure, I could have beavered
away and in 3 or 4 years have accumulated a Silver C or some such nonsense,
but I'd also have had to dedicate my life and soul to the club merely to
have the opportunity to do so in a club machine. So I buggered off,
competed with varying degrees of success in a half-dozen other sports at a
quarter of the cost in terms of finance and time, and had a great life.

Fast forward thirty years. Youngest son sees glider in air and says, "That
looks like fun". "Ah", says I, "It is, but it requires that you commit
your entire existence to the sport or that you drain your meagre Trust fund
dry. Do either of these options appeal to you?". "Piffle", says youngest
son, "Point the car at the SGU and prove your lies!" So I did.

He'll find that times have changed, I hear you mutter. And you're correct.
They have a nice all-glass fleet, a subsidised youth training scheme, and an
ample supply of early solo machines. They even have a big cool-looking
ASH-25 thingie that looks just like the sort of thing you could fly for
1000's of k's. HOWEVER, it's still a sport that demands time, time and
more time. Time to learn to fly - you can't simply turn up and go, time to
rig or drag the beast out of a hanger, time to wait for a launch, time to
derig or hanger pack. And all before you ever get to the stage of
attempting to fly cross country.

What kid has the price of a PW-5, LS-4, or whatever sitting around in his
back pocket? Sure, they've enough for two weeks snowboarding in the Alps,
or for scuba diving in the Red Sea, but by and large they have neither the
cash, nor the desire, to commit a large amount of time or money to one
particular activity. In other words, it isn't the *type* of plane you fly
that makes the sport accessible or keeps people coming back for more, it's
the *structure*. Get that right and you'll be inundated with new pilots,
some of who will be wealthy enough to provide a buoyant glider market,
others will ensure that clubs will be able to afford a varied and healthy
club fleet.

Youngest son was impressed by the SGU, as was I, but is too young to start
training. So we're back to the usual round of karting (A full race
championship winning outfit can be bought for less than £3000. You turn
up, practice, race and go home. Over in two hours. The afternoon's still
free for swimming.), snowboarding and mountainbiking. I reckon he'll give
gliding a try, and I reckon he'll last as long as I did - i.e. long enough
to go solo, then walk away.

Gliding is an anachronism, a sport left over from a different age. I'll
give you guys your due, you haven't simply rolled over and died, but die you
must and die you will. And I suspect you'll do it all the quicker if you
spend your time obsessing over glider design rather than addressing the cost
or time constraints of your sport.


Roger.