Grow soaring thru entertainment

"Marcel Duenner" wrote in message
m...
wrote in message ...
Have to ask yourself if this really is the kind of people you want to
involve in soaring... Fair-goers awaiting some new source of
entertainment-

Admittedly, I want people interested in the sport that are willing to
work
toward a goal, not be given something that is easily
obtained and cheaply advertised.

It's a great sport, an amazing gift-
I don't want it taken for granted by those seeking entertainment, I want
it
enjoyed by those seeking joy-


Of course we don't really want that kind of people. But don't worry -
they won't stay. And don't forget that not all fair-goers are soaring
pilots but some might be if you give them the opportunity.
I think the idea was to get lots more people to know about our sport
and have a little taste of it. As John said: throw enough people into
the air, and some of them might stay up.
As a side effect we get positive publicity which is another thing the
sport needs desperately.

Not exactly the same audience but with a higher success rate:
At our club we offer an introduction to soaring for about 80US$ three
to five times a year, depending on demand. It includes an evening of
theory and a day of gliding. One aerotow and one or two winch launches
per person. Depends on weather and on how long the flights turn out to
be. We take 6 to 10 people a time and require a minimum age of 14 so
if they like it they can start next year. We get about 1 or 2 new
members each time.

Marcel

Why walk when you can soar?

We offer a three flight mini-course, $200US, which has been a reasonably
successful recruitment tool. I can't recall anyone taking a scenic flight
that's ever returned for instruction.

At one of my former UK civil clubs, we used the longest day of the year for
fund-raising by offering an Air Experience Flight (1500ft winch launch) for
14UKP. We did 130 between 7AM and about 8PM on a two drum winch run. It
was a lot of effort and generated no members, but that wasn't the goal
either.

Frank