Soar Oshkosh 2006

There is a little misconception evident in Robert Mudd
and Diogenes's comments on the soaring booth which
will be at Oshkosh this year.

Robert wrote '..non-SSA Chapter clubs will not be mentioned..'
and Diogenes replied 'Basically the SSA is in the business
of promoting the SSA, not soaring per se - though that
can result in soaring also being promoted. I thought
the organizers solicited donations from many sources
- perhaps if a non-SSA-affiliated club donated they
also get on the list.'

As a practical matter, there is no easy way to contact
all non-SSA affiliated clubs. One of the advantages
of being an SSA affiliated club is that you are then
included on the 'where-to-fly' map. And as an organizational
matter, since the SSA is the sponsoring organization
and the booth renter, EAA expects and demands that
only SSA members can be actively promoted from it.

That said, the declared purpose of the booth is SOARING,
sponsored by but not restricted to the SSA. We would
be more than happy to include non-SSA clubs in an auxiliary
list of places to soar, and mention them to interested
potential recruits to the sport. We would also be
very happy to have non-SSA glider pilots come by and
see what's happening. And those manufacturers of soaring-related
products who are not SSA members but have their own
separate booths at Oshkosh ? We would like to cooperate
with them by directing prospective customers to their
booths and in exchange having them direct their contacts
to the SOARING booth.

The SSA today is in the process of shedding some old
habits and becoming more responsive to the real needs
of the entire soaring community. The SSA needs the
support of the whole community, and the whole community
does benefit from the activities of the SSA - if it
didn't already exist we'd have to invent it.

Ian