How Have Our Soaring Vendors Fared?

The sport of soaring is, of course, a relatively small community and what might impact our suppliers and dealers can affect us all. Curious as to how the US and non-US suppliers have fared so far during the pandemic. In any case, may 2021 bring them a better New Year!

On Tuesday, December 29, 2020 at 10:20:27 AM UTC-8, wrote:
The sport of soaring is, of course, a relatively small community and what might impact our suppliers and dealers can affect us all. Curious as to how the US and non-US suppliers have fared so far during the pandemic. In any case, may 2021 bring them a better New Year!

The elephant in the room is when will restrictions be lifted. Right now it would be impossible to hold a glider meet or contest, and the lifting of restrictions will be driven more by politics than by science. Hell, the scientists like Fauci are lying to us. I don't expect widespread availability of the vaccine to occur before late spring or summer. And there will be lengthy delay between widespread vaccination and a drop in hospitalization numbers, which seems to be driving most political decisions. This makes planning an event, and I am in that position, difficult to impossible. I think 2021 will be another write-off year, personally (hopefully I am wrong and the vaccines get distributed faster than they have been). Thank God I fly a motorglider and am not dependent on tows.

Tom

Happy New Year (almost)! Although 2020 was difficult, it is heartening how many of us have adapted to this virus. The first day of the Senior Soaring Championship was the same day the President called Covid a National Emergency. We did not have a single case within 100 miles of the gliderport. The contest staff met several times to change the format of the contest. No meetings, gloves, sanitizer, take away food at dinners, and staying socially distanced. We completed the contest but that was at the beginning of the virus. At Seminole-Lake we suspended all training and rides but did provide towing services. You had to hook up your own glider and pay via electronic means. During the summer, Florida gradually opened up and we adapted again. We started training, limited rides, and normal towing services. We did have one of our staff get Covid and he recovered without going to the hospital. The student and instructor quarantined and our procedures checked again.

Our business in early summer was off year to year but around June it started back. Now we are doing OK. We have slightly less students and flight training than last year, but with the challenges over the last 10 months, we are doing extremely well.

In October we decided to go forward with the Senior Soaring Championship for 2021. Right now we have over 53 pilots signed up with several who will be registering in the next couple of days. Our contestants are over 55 years old and most are over 60 years old. We have a Covid mitigation plan, reviewed it with the county health department, and are trying to arrange testing for all competitors upon arrival. Hope may not be a strategy in sailplane racing (thanks DB), but it is a trait Americans are born with. Looking forward to a better 2021 and hope you and your families are safe and healthy. If you need a new glider rating, we would love to see you at Seminole-Lake Gliderport!

Cheers,
Richard Owen
Vice President
Seminole Flying & Soaring

could on-site rapid testing be implemented for all SSA sanctioned contests this year? I realize its better to get tested 5 days prior and then quarantine, but its better than nothing.


On Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 9:21:12 AM UTC-8, Richard Owen wrote:
Happy New Year (almost)! Although 2020 was difficult, it is heartening how many of us have adapted to this virus. The first day of the Senior Soaring Championship was the same day the President called Covid a National Emergency. We did not have a single case within 100 miles of the gliderport. The contest staff met several times to change the format of the contest. No meetings, gloves, sanitizer, take away food at dinners, and staying socially distanced. We completed the contest but that was at the beginning of the virus. At Seminole-Lake we suspended all training and rides but did provide towing services. You had to hook up your own glider and pay via electronic means. During the summer, Florida gradually opened up and we adapted again. We started training, limited rides, and normal towing services. We did have one of our staff get Covid and he recovered without going to the hospital. The student and instructor quarantined and our procedures checked again.

Our business in early summer was off year to year but around June it started back. Now we are doing OK. We have slightly less students and flight training than last year, but with the challenges over the last 10 months, we are doing extremely well.

In October we decided to go forward with the Senior Soaring Championship for 2021. Right now we have over 53 pilots signed up with several who will be registering in the next couple of days. Our contestants are over 55 years old and most are over 60 years old. We have a Covid mitigation plan, reviewed it with the county health department, and are trying to arrange testing for all competitors upon arrival. Hope may not be a strategy in sailplane racing (thanks DB), but it is a trait Americans are born with. Looking forward to a better 2021 and hope you and your families are safe and healthy. If you need a new glider rating, we would love to see you at Seminole-Lake Gliderport!

Cheers,
Richard Owen
Vice President
Seminole Flying & Soaring

If you have onsite instant testing at a contest and a pilot pops positive, what do you do? Send them the poz pilot home and launch everyone else who was around them to spread the 'rona to farmers? Cancel the whole contest? Who is going to show up knowing notoriously unreliable testing could end their race wasting time and travel expense?

On Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 6:34:03 PM UTC-5, Gregg Ballou wrote:
If you have onsite instant testing at a contest and a pilot pops positive, what do you do? Send them the poz pilot home and launch everyone else who was around them to spread the 'rona to farmers? Cancel the whole contest? Who is going to show up knowing notoriously unreliable testing could end their race wasting time and travel expense?

The best protection is still social distancing, wear a mask, and wash your hands before putting anything near your mouth. Oh, and get a vaccination as soon as possible.

It's my understanding that there are now several rapid tests available that generate results in less than an hour, can be self-administered and have sensitivity of 95-98% and selectivity of 97-100% (false negative of 5% and false positive of 3%). Obviously you'd want to set up testing such that there is no cross-exposure of pilots, staff, etc. prior to getting a test result. You could give out little green "good to go" badges to everyone with a negative test. Seems like unless we can get everyone vaccinated, this is the main method available to provide higher confidence to everyone involved. A mixed combination of vaccinations and testing is a likely outcome given the pace of vaccinations and the age of pilots (older with higher priority to get a stick), volunteers, etc. With the new more infectious strain now circulating in the US it seems like some extra care would be in order. Early season contests are likely to face more concerns than later, but it's really too early to forecast much.

Things are still very much in flux, but at least the trajectory on vaccines and testing - if not hospitalizations - are headed in a positive direction..

Andy Blackburn
9B

On Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:34:03 PM UTC-8, Gregg Ballou wrote:
If you have onsite instant testing at a contest and a pilot pops positive, what do you do? Send them the poz pilot home and launch everyone else who was around them to spread the 'rona to farmers? Cancel the whole contest? Who is going to show up knowing notoriously unreliable testing could end their race wasting time and travel expense?

What are our European friends doing for contests this year? Any cancelled or postponed?

On Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 1:46:05 AM UTC-5, wrote:
It's my understanding that there are now several rapid tests available that generate results in less than an hour, can be self-administered and have sensitivity of 95-98% and selectivity of 97-100% (false negative of 5% and false positive of 3%). Obviously you'd want to set up testing such that there is no cross-exposure of pilots, staff, etc. prior to getting a test result. You could give out little green "good to go" badges to everyone with a negative test. Seems like unless we can get everyone vaccinated, this is the main method available to provide higher confidence to everyone involved. A mixed combination of vaccinations and testing is a likely outcome given the pace of vaccinations and the age of pilots (older with higher priority to get a stick), volunteers, etc. With the new more infectious strain now circulating in the US it seems like some extra care would be in order. Early season contests are likely to face more concerns than later, but it's really too early to forecast much.

Things are still very much in flux, but at least the trajectory on vaccines and testing - if not hospitalizations - are headed in a positive direction.

Andy Blackburn
9B

As I understand the latest claims the vaccine does not prevent the vaccinated from getting or spreading covid just lessens their personal symptoms. Launching a fleet of vaccinated pilots is still potentially sending out angels of death upon the world.

On Sun, 10 Jan 2021 17:02:39 -0800, Gregg Ballou wrote:

On Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 1:46:05 AM UTC-5,
wrote:
It's my understanding that there are now several rapid tests available
that generate results in less than an hour, can be self-administered
and have sensitivity of 95-98% and selectivity of 97-100% (false
negative of 5% and false positive of 3%). Obviously you'd want to set
up testing such that there is no cross-exposure of pilots, staff, etc.
prior to getting a test result. You could give out little green "good
to go" badges to everyone with a negative test. Seems like unless we
can get everyone vaccinated, this is the main method available to
provide higher confidence to everyone involved. A mixed combination of
vaccinations and testing is a likely outcome given the pace of
vaccinations and the age of pilots (older with higher priority to get a
stick), volunteers, etc. With the new more infectious strain now
circulating in the US it seems like some extra care would be in order.
Early season contests are likely to face more concerns than later, but
it's really too early to forecast much.

Things are still very much in flux, but at least the trajectory on
vaccines and testing - if not hospitalizations - are headed in a
positive direction.

Andy Blackburn 9B

As I understand the latest claims the vaccine does not prevent the
vaccinated from getting or spreading covid just lessens their personal
symptoms. Launching a fleet of vaccinated pilots is still potentially
sending out angels of death upon the world.

Citation please.

Which vaccine does this apply to?

A surprising number of vaccines, for which initial and stage 2 trials
have been completed, have been developed in various countries. Knowing
which vaccine you are posting about is important because there are
significant differences between these vaccines, consequently an efficacy
claim is meaningless unless the vaccine it applies to is named.



--
--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org