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The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?



 
 
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  #21  
Old March 10th 21, 02:10 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Patrick McMahon[_2_]
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Posts: 1
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

@Eric, I consider gliding a leisure activity, like biking on city trails to get an ice cream.

Soaring is something closer to the Tour de France, or a mountain bike time trial.

Both share a fundamental skill, and you can't race in the Tour de France without being able to take a bike along a city trail to get ice cream.

I agree, a lot of overlap - is a 5h Silver duration flight soaring or gliding?

Floating may be gliding, flying away from home is soaring, task flying to me is a bridge (simplified). Too many clubs are averse to flying away from home and force gliding on their members who are looking for soaring. I empathize with them XC development is rife with risks.

I'm not right, but I don't accept that this sport needs to be in decline, and think that statement should be rebutted at best, or ignored/dismissed.
  #22  
Old March 10th 21, 02:12 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
John Foster
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Posts: 354
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

On Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 3:06:18 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Good morning,

My name is Douglas and I am a glider pilot here in the UK.

I would like to start a friendly discussion about the decline of gliding and whether this is an issue outside of the UK.

Within the UK gliding has been in decline for decades and according to discussion on gliderpilot.net this is down to a few key issues, which I may go into later in the thread if required.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts on this.

-------------
Douglas


I believe the key to reversing this trend is getting more youth involved. I have a dream to start a club at my local airport. However, I am going solo on this, as there is only one other glider pilot in my area. A friend of mine is the director of the local Boy's and Girls Club, a non-profit organization where kids can go after school while parents are still at work, and get help with their homework, or get involved in a number of other activities they offer. I have presented my idea to him of offering some kind of flight training to kids who are interested. It would involve a mix of ground school/theory, as well as practice using Condor 2 with VR goggles, and would be free to the kids. For those kids who are interested, and do well with this, we could then offer and transition them over into flying a real glider and taking real lessons. I believe this could be a tremendous feeder program for young people who are interested.

My trouble though is two-fold:
1. Money. I don't have the funds to purchase a 2-place glider that could be used for training. I'm saving up for something like this, but at this time it is out of the picture.
2. Experience. I'm still a low-hour glider pilot myself. I only have my private rating. I need to build time and experience flying around my local area, and after that I need to get my CFI-G.

I believe that if we can involve more young people, it will also draw parents in with them. And if we can structure it financially to where it is more doable for your low-middle class income family, it could really take off. Yes, people are more busy these days than they used to be, but some of the reason for that is that finances are tougher. And because the cost in general aviation has risen so much in the last 50 yrs or so, young people are writing it off before they even look at it. One estimate I saw was that on average it costs about $10,000 to $15,000 just to get your private pilot's license these days. However, if done carefully, a glider license could be done for under $4,000. However, if clubs are folding, and the only operations left are the commercial ones, then this number goes up dramatically, and becomes prohibitive for all but those born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
  #23  
Old March 10th 21, 04:17 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Mark Mocho
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Posts: 108
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

What a crock of horse****.
  #24  
Old March 10th 21, 05:21 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bob Kuykendall
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Posts: 1,345
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

On Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 7:17:08 PM UTC-8, Mark Mocho wrote:
What a crock of horse****.


Mark, I don't know if that's meant for me. But regardless, surely you must understand that it is not a particularly compelling rebuttal.

--Bob K.
  #25  
Old March 10th 21, 09:45 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Martin Gregorie[_6_]
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Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

On Tue, 09 Mar 2021 17:12:56 -0800, John Foster wrote:

I believe the key to reversing this trend is getting more youth
involved. I have a dream to start a club at my local airport. However,
I am going solo on this, as there is only one other glider pilot in my
area. A friend of mine is the director of the local Boy's and Girls
Club, a non-profit organization where kids can go after school while
parents are still at work, and get help with their homework, or get
involved in a number of other activities they offer. I have presented
my idea to him of offering some kind of flight training to kids who are
interested.

Sounds like a very good idea.

Have to thought about adding model flying to the mix? Here I'm thinking
about free flight models - uncontrolled, so flying them successfully
needs some knowledge of aerodynamics and trimming. Some suitable starter
models are shown on my website he

https://www.gregorie.org/freeflight/index.html

- I'm thinking primarily of the Easymini catapult glider: the rest of the
topics are more advances and show what yo can do with free flight.

The only fly in this ointment is that the Chinese are currently causing a
world balsa shortage, having bought many of the balsa tree plantations fo
use making wind turbine blades.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

  #26  
Old March 10th 21, 01:39 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Mark Mocho
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Posts: 108
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

Mark, I don't know if that's meant for me. But regardless, surely you must understand that it is not a particularly compelling rebuttal.

Yes, it was meant for you. Your argument is not particularly compelling either. I'm surprised you didn't blame the worldwide decline of gliding on Trump. Or is that your next point?

  #27  
Old March 10th 21, 02:10 PM
Walt Connelly Walt Connelly is offline
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First recorded activity by AviationBanter: Aug 2010
Posts: 365
Default

[quote=Dan Marotta;1039944]The following statement came right off the FAA website:

If you are going to pilot a balloon or glider, you don't need a medical
certificate. All you need to do is write a statement certifying that you
have no medical defect that would make you unable to pilot a balloon or
glider.

So it would appear that if you have lost medical certification, you
can't legally fly a glider. If you never had a medical certificate,
it's up to you to decide. If you think you might fail your next flight
medical exam, consider dropping to Basic Med (USA only).

Dan
5J

That is one interpretation. As I understood it, to fly a glider you need to self certify using the "IAMSAFER" acronym. I know more than one airline pilot who has had a myocardial infarction with incapacitation. A couple of these pilots are now flying gliders quite well and openly.

Is it a matter of having had a medical, experienced an event they knew would cause them to fail the next medical and went right to gliders? Seems a bit implausible to me. I've done hundreds of Thallium Stress Tests and many of them on pilots who have busted their medical. Lots of guys walking around out there with shunts too, an event not involving a MI. While scar tissue in the myocardium will always be scar tissue, some are able to rehab themselves to a reasonable degree and live a normal life. I assure you there are many glider pilots with EKGs which would not pass a medical and yet they live and perform adequately. It would not be unreasonable for someone in this condition to self certify. JMHO.

Walt Connelly
Former Tow Pilot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot.
  #28  
Old March 11th 21, 09:33 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Douglas Richardson
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Posts: 19
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

I think that we have discovered a workable solution between us.

Causes of the decline as identified by ras members:

1. Money
2. Playstations
3. iPhones
4. Lack of proper advertising
5. Fear of dying by catching the virus behind a worldwide pandemic
6. Gliders not having an engine and thus not making a "vroom-vroom" sound
7. People like opening pickle jars

How to combat the decline:

1. Advertising
2. Don't run a ground school because it's boring and unnecessary
3. Nurture a positive culture
4. Publicly execute people who don't pay tax

  #29  
Old March 11th 21, 12:08 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
R[_4_]
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Posts: 27
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

On Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 3:33:23 AM UTC-5, wrote:
I think that we have discovered a workable solution between us.

Causes of the decline as identified by ras members:

1. Money
2. Playstations
3. iPhones
4. Lack of proper advertising
5. Fear of dying by catching the virus behind a worldwide pandemic
6. Gliders not having an engine and thus not making a "vroom-vroom" sound
7. People like opening pickle jars

How to combat the decline:

1. Advertising
2. Don't run a ground school because it's boring and unnecessary
3. Nurture a positive culture
4. Publicly execute people who don't pay tax

  #30  
Old March 11th 21, 12:28 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
R[_4_]
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Posts: 27
Default The decline of gliding - a worldwide issue?

On Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 6:08:25 AM UTC-5, R wrote:
On Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 3:33:23 AM UTC-5, wrote:
I think that we have discovered a workable solution between us.

Causes of the decline as identified by ras members:

1. Money
2. Playstations
3. iPhones
4. Lack of proper advertising
5. Fear of dying by catching the virus behind a worldwide pandemic
6. Gliders not having an engine and thus not making a "vroom-vroom" sound
7. People like opening pickle jars

How to combat the decline:

1. Advertising
2. Don't run a ground school because it's boring and unnecessary
3. Nurture a positive culture
4. Publicly execute people who don't pay tax


Good LORD...now that is hilarious....love the summary, Richardson.
My small food for thought is back when I started in '73 Soaring was magical as was flying, NASA. Now, seems constant hyper-stimulation from all directions has reduced the amount of time allowed per time slot to do fun RELAXING activities. In other words, people are not willing or have a hard time separating themselves from the stimulation they get all day. To many, flying an aircraft is boring. They lost touch looking for the magic in doing.
So Richardson , add Walking Dead.
R
 




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