FAI, soaring and Olympic Games

Soaring runs on obsessed pilots with the rare combination of money and time.. You need more of those before you have the trickle down resources(excess money and time) to run large youth programs. I'm not saying discard youth programs or not start any, just that we don't have the resources to make big ones. We need to recruit soaring pilots from the ranks of bored trustfunders. Another thought on youth programs, people don't like going back to sports they did when they were young if they are unable to perform at the same level. Soaring might not have this issue and I think any flight training for young people is a positive life enhancer whether or not they go on to be regular pilots. But training up masses of kids that don't become obsessed regulars is spent energy with possibly very low return to soaring. Noble certainly, but soaring doesn't have the resources for large scale nobility at the moment. Soaring needs more wealthy pilots(time, money, energy, and desire) if you want large youth programs.
PS Sean do you have your CFI?

Good points Gregg. It's going to be very hard, but this must be the SSA's "OBVIOUS" top priority. I'm not seeing very much in the way of even "light chatter" on this topic unfortunately.

No CFIG yet but I am planning on earning one. Maybe next spring. I just need to find some time.

I have been training/supporting a couple fairly famous photographers (one sports focused and the other a pure nature artist) to fly some very advanced custom drones (which help design and build to carry their ridiculous cameras) safely and efficiently ;-). That has been incredibly fun and rewarding.. I get to work with ESPN, NBC, America's Cup, etc. I plan on continuing with that.

For soaring, I would mainly be interested in a CFIG for teaching & promoting cross country soaring.

No trust fund here unfortunately.

Sean

At 16:26 08 November 2016, Sean wrote:
Good points Gregg. It's going to be very hard, but this must be
the SSA's
=
"OBVIOUS" top priority. I'm not seeing very much in the way of
even
"light=
chatter" on this topic unfortunately.

No CFIG yet but I am planning on earning one. Maybe next
spring. I just
n=
eed to find some time. =20

I have been training/supporting a couple fairly famous
photographers (one
s=
ports focused and the other a pure nature artist) to fly some very
advanced=
custom drones (which help design and build to carry their
ridiculous
camer=
as) safely and efficiently ;-). That has been incredibly fun and
rewarding=
.. I get to work with ESPN, NBC, America's Cup, etc. I plan on
continuing
=
with that.

For soaring, I would mainly be interested in a CFIG for teaching &
promotin=
g cross country soaring.

No trust fund here unfortunately.

Sean


You could volunteer to be on the SSA Youth Education Committee.
You might possibly even get to be the chairperson. Maybe you can
promote your social media skills to the SSA board, and maybe come
up with an SSA sponsored youth initiative which will be more
appealing to young people than what is out there right now. It is an
all volunteer thing, so the loudest complainers will be given the
chance to actually do something about it if they really want to....

RO

On Monday, November 7, 2016 at 7:50:07 AM UTC-6, Sean wrote:
I would think that clubs and the SSA would subsidize this to reach critical mass per a strategic plan.

College kids are perfect. High school programs also make sense.


Have you seen what AOPA is up to?

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...htens-hundreds

But I ask yet a third time, how are you going to sell Soaring so that it sticks? Read:

"Bremerton, Washington’s Linda Hupka, a career director for that school system, said she was excited to learn more about the science and math angles of a high school aviation program, but she wanted to make sure her kids “would have a clear path to pursue it� after they graduated. “It’s not just about pilots. We are letting the kids know that there are multiple areas that need to be filled in the future, like mechanics and engineers."

Is anybody else on this list following this?

High schools already ruin the great books, we don't need them ruining soaring.
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 6:46:41 PM UTC-5, N97MT wrote:
On Monday, November 7, 2016 at 7:50:07 AM UTC-6, Sean wrote:
I would think that clubs and the SSA would subsidize this to reach critical mass per a strategic plan.

College kids are perfect. High school programs also make sense.


Have you seen what AOPA is up to?

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...htens-hundreds

But I ask yet a third time, how are you going to sell Soaring so that it sticks? Read:

"Bremerton, Washington’s Linda Hupka, a career director for that school system, said she was excited to learn more about the science and math angles of a high school aviation program, but she wanted to make sure her kids “would have a clear path to pursue it� after they graduated. “It’s not just about pilots. We are letting the kids know that there are multiple areas that need to be filled in the future, like mechanics and engineers."

Is anybody else on this list following this?

On Tuesday, 8 November 2016 16:41:26 UTC+11, Sean wrote:

Just look at Britain, Australia, France, Germany, etc. They seem to have great youth energy and participation (at all levels). Many have several national youth competitions, each with 50+ youth pilots each (plus instructors, etc). Imagine 3 or 4 seniors full of Juniors. Great parties for the kids, fun, etc. A great vibe. Healthy, active social media, video (youtube), twitter, snap-chat, etc.


Sorry to say, same problems as you down under! Our club runs a youth scholarship program and very little retention is seen. Although that's no worse than the retention rates from other recruitment sources!

Cheers Ben