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#11
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Hey
Sexy?
What could possibly be more sexy than flying around in a machine that, from the side, looks like a giant sperm? |
#12
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Hey
On Sun, 06 May 2012 22:21:06 -0500, Andrew Wood wrote:
Hi, Andrew, Just one comment on your post. I know Bob DeLeon personally (he's in our club here in Houston and is a very active member and supporter of all things soaring). Your assertion that this campaign exists to keep SSA staff occupied does not ring true to me. From talking with Bob it seems pretty clear that this is his baby. The SSA supports it, I'm sure, but from what I understand they didn't exactly contact Bob trolling for things to do to keep the staff busy. Bob came up with this idea (along with a few others whose names I do not know or I would acknowledge them here, too), did most or all of the work on the graphics and website, and the SSA's only real involvement is in coordinating the (optional) printing of the trailer stickers and handling the order processing. From what I understand if you want for some reason to cut the SSA out altogether, Bob will send you the graphics file and you get it printed yourself wherever you wish. Your comments about whether or not this campaign will be effective are another matter. I disagree with them personally, but obviously only time will tell whether this campaign will work. What I can say is that if most of us don't get behind it and get the stickers on our trailers/bumpers, etc., then it definitely will NOT work. As far as whether there is some built-in "soaring gene" or something. I have heard this argument before. What I don't understand is if it is true that people have some innate desire to fly and nothing can stop them, then why are the number of pilots declining even as the overall population is rising? It seems that if there is some (small) percentage of people who are just "wired" to eventually get into our sport, this percentage ought to be more-or-less constant over time. Genetics don't change so quickly. If this were the case, then our numbers would rise with the overall population. My personal explanation for the decline is several-fold, but to make this post short(ish), I think one factor is simply that there are SO MANY things competing for our limited attention, time, and money, that it is easy for niche activities (like soaring) to get lost among all the options. Yes, I am sure that many people are aware that this activity exists, but if they don't get a reminder, they may just continue along in their boring lives...golfing or watching TV or whatever, because they just hadn't yet experienced the "spark" that ignites whatever it is that causes them to come out to a glider club and start learning. Given the small number of glider pilots and glider trailers, it's unlikely that "Let's Go Gliding" is going to instantly arrest the decline in pilot numbers, but if we can start to add even a percent or two a year to our numbers, I think it is well worth the $115 and 1 hour of our time to put the stickers on our trailers. --Stefan Awareness is good. So I suppose trailer stickers are ok. But I have the sinking feeling, that like most things the SSA does, they won't do any good, and are more designed to justify the SSA staff and fill up some space in soaring magazine. If I saw a big trailer with a sticker "lets go cave diving" it would not cause me to contact my local cave diving club. I already know that cave diving exists, and I don't care. I don't have the passion for it, like most people feel about flying. The passion has to be there, and it won't be magically created by trailer stickers or coffee mugs or whatever. Those unfortunate people who do have the passion for gliding.....they are destined to spend a lot of time and money, and will already be bugging their parents, visiting airports, and on the internet looking for local gliding clubs. We could tear off all the trailer stickers, paint them in camouflage and string barbed wire around the airport, and they'd still sneak in. All we can really do, is make sure those new people can easily find us, and welcome them when they come. At 15:42 06 May 2012, Bob D wrote: Hi, Bob DeLeon here=85creator of Let's Go Gliding. There is but one objective to the campaign: AWARENESS. Our sport has resided way off the radar in comparison to the other recreational choices. So LGG is designed to elevate the awareness of this choice. This objective needs to look: exciting, adventurous, challenging, and the opportunity to be involved with a great group of people who love the sport. That's why I made the choices in how it's designed and what it says. That was the creative brief driving the imagery and words. Yea, it would have been fun to have imagery like the Cool Hand Luke scene previously described. But that would have been dis- ingeniune to what soaring really is. It would be a "hook" that once swallowed would have cut off a lot of support (female) and been regarded as fake to those who are the target audience. AWARENESS of this sport--and what it offers-- is the key. The more people see the campaign, the more they'll sense that the guy sporting the bumper sticker or showing the brochure will be a source to get their questions answered. And if not a person, then the web address (LetsGoGliding.com) will be the other source to influence their thinking and impressions. It's not likely that in the next two years we'll see a growth in the sport that will be ascending, but if worked enthusiastically by those who fly gliders, with the SSA's backing, we can arrest the descent of declining numbers and hold the line on those flying. Adding in numbers right now is that objective. Otherwise, the sport will slide into a category that will effect manufacturers of gliders and glider equipment, the ability of some clubs to remain active, and the value of your used glider. Trust me: no business or entity wants decline. You want some kind of growth. And getting active with a supported marketing campaign that puts a "cool" and inviting spotlight on the sport is the answer. And as previously stated, this campaign is going to need unbridled support from the soaring community. With this year's World Gliding Championship being held in the U.S. we have a superb chance to arrest the descent of glider pilot numbers in the U.S. -- Stefan Murry |
#13
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Hey
On May 7, 8:27*am, "S. Murry" wrote:
As far as whether there is some built-in "soaring gene" or something. *I have heard this argument before. *What I don't understand is if it is true that people have some innate desire to fly and nothing can stop them, then why are the number of pilots declining even as the overall population is rising? *It seems that if there is some (small) percentage of people who are just "wired" to eventually get into our sport, this percentage ought to be more-or-less constant over time. *Genetics don't change so quickly. If this were the case, then our numbers would rise with the overall population. The thing with the 'glider gene' is people don't know they have it until they are made aware of soaring. (It doesn't take much - sometimes just a picture or short video will do.) As for why people aren't finding the sport on their own, I think it comes down to one word - ignorance. They don't know about us. They don't know what we do. They don't know how spectacular this sport is. They don't know they can become glider pilots too. Unlike "Cave Diving" which gets a fair amount of press, we've inadvertently done a great job of hiding. Very few people even know we exist much less what we do. I constantly talk to airplane pilot groups and I'm amazed at how little they know. Almost to a person, they think gliding is exactly that - tow up and glide down. Or maybe, on extremely rare occasions, someone finds a mysterious force called a "thermal" and stays up a few minutes longer. When shown what modern sailplanes can really do, and are doing on a regular basis, they're flabbergasted. Explaining the OLC is an effective way of convincing skeptics. It proves cross country flying in gliders is not a "fish story". Make them aware of us, tell them what we do and those afflicted with the "glider gene" will come roaring out of the woodwork. Bill Daniels |
#14
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Hey
On Monday, May 7, 2012 10:21:55 AM UTC-5, Bill D wrote:
The thing with the 'glider gene' is people don't know they have it until they are made aware of soaring. (It doesn't take much - sometimes just a picture or short video will do.) As for why people aren't finding the sport on their own, I think it comes down to one word - ignorance. They don't know about us. They don't know what we do. They don't know how spectacular this sport is. They don't know they can become glider pilots too. Unlike "Cave Diving" which gets a fair amount of press, we've inadvertently done a great job of hiding. Very few people even know we exist much less what we do. I constantly talk to airplane pilot groups and I'm amazed at how little they know. Almost to a person, they think gliding is exactly that - tow up and glide down. Or maybe, on extremely rare occasions, someone finds a mysterious force called a "thermal" and stays up a few minutes longer. When shown what modern sailplanes can really do, and are doing on a regular basis, they're flabbergasted. Explaining the OLC is an effective way of convincing skeptics. It proves cross country flying in gliders is not a "fish story". Make them aware of us, tell them what we do and those afflicted with the "glider gene" will come roaring out of the woodwork. Bill Daniels Have to agree with Bill on this one as my personal story matches this scenario. I took a demo glider flight 25 years ago in Durango CO and loved it but didn't have the time or resources to pursue gliding and so quickly forgot about it. A year ago, while searching YouTube for Radio Control slope soaring videos up pops one of Bruno Vassell's excellent videos. Over the next few days I watched every one of Bruno's YT videos and decided that I needed to give it a shot. The rest is history - I joined a club, started taking lessons in Feb, and completed my first solo flilght on Saturday. None of that would have happend without the "jog of awareness" provided by that YT video.. I'll bet I'm not the only one with this sort of story and I suspect the LetsGoGliding program will produce similar inspiration in others. Robert |
#15
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Hey
Andrew,
I hope you don't take this wrong, but your post below motivated my 'response gene(!)'... On 5/6/2012 9:21 PM, Andrew Wood wrote: Awareness is good. So I suppose trailer stickers are ok. But I have the sinking feeling, that like most things the SSA does, they won't do any good, and are more designed to justify the SSA staff and fill up some space in soaring magazine. If that's the way you feel, that's the way you feel. So be it. However, reading this sort of comment immediately raises in my mind a 'targeting' question. Those who know me know I cut useless bureaucrats little (zero, some might say, dry chuckle) slack when it comes to justifying their existence. That noted, IMHO 'targeting' SSA's office staff vis-a-vis this particular promotion is woefully misguided. Serious Question: What else would you have paid staff DO to justify their existence when it comes to U.S. soaring's membership woes? ("Hey, staff!!! a newbie just showed up at our club 2,000 miles away from the office this weekend...c'mon out here and DO something!") 'Fixing' our low membership is NOT anything 'staff' can - or is a position to - do. (N.B. The preceding statement would be true regardless of the physical location of the SSA office, for those inclined to bash the Hobbs location.) Au contraire, Hobbs staff has made it easy for YOU (and ME) to obtain some large graphic 'grabbers', at cost, arguably potentially a useful thing. Serious Question: What else would YOU do if YOU were paid SSA staff? I'll argue any 'cure' will have to come from within SSA's membership, insofar as hands-on, nitty-gritty, 'license-obtaining' newbie interaction is concerned. If I saw a big trailer with a sticker "lets go cave diving" it would not cause me to contact my local cave diving club. I already know that cave diving exists, and I don't care. I don't have the passion for it, like most people feel about flying. The passion has to be there, and it won't be magically created by trailer stickers or coffee mugs or whatever. As at two respondents have previously noted, it's entirely possible to have the 'glider gene' without knowing it. I'm #3. Not until I exited college and bumbled into my very first officemate/gliderpilot did it dawn on me the silly sport was even an *option*! Prior to then all I knew was that every spare cent and minute of my time once I got a real job was gonna go to obtaining a pilot's license. That after a misspent youth of making and hand launching hundreds of paper/balsa gliders (too poor for Cox engines), and obtaining a degree in aerospace engineering. If a compulsive aviation reader (did I mention that before?) as myself was in complete ignorance of 'the real glider option' is it unreasonable to presume lots of others in the populace might be similarly ignorant? (Of course, I could be unusually stupid, but the degree tends to put a minor kibosh in that theory. Maybe!) Further, it took more than my first flight for 'the soaring hook' to be set. Somewhere along the months-long line of obtaining my glider license - which instruction I began solely because it was more convenient and less expensive than power at that time/location - it dawned on me soaring was sufficiently fun/of compelling interest (and future breadth) that I actively decided to put the obtaining of a power license on hold, because soaring was sufficiently scratching my itch. Never did obtain one, though about 8 years later, for a while I co-owned a C-150 purchased explicitly for that purpose. Took power 'things' all the way to being signed off for the practical flight test, too...then walked away from it with nary a pang. Soaring ultimately 'won.' Those unfortunate people who do have the passion for gliding.....they are destined to spend a lot of time and money, and will already be bugging their parents, visiting airports, and on the internet looking for local gliding clubs. We could tear off all the trailer stickers, paint them in camouflage and string barbed wire around the airport, and they'd still sneak in. All we can really do, is make sure those new people can easily find us, and welcome them when they come. A plausible hypothesis, but see above tale... In fact, I'll argue this is more likely a self-fulfilling prophecy than a meaningful hypothesis. - - - - - - Considering the question of why the U.S. pilot population is shrinking, history may be a useful guide. Remember WW-II? Hundreds of thousands of 'ad-hoc, instantly minted' pilots returned from it, and that AFTER the pilot population had already 'bubble-expanded' subsequent to Lindbergh's earth-compelling flight. In other words, for the USA, WW-II was an artificial pilot boosting/increasing event...and its effects likely linger today. To begin with, any student of U.S. light plane manufacturing history likely knows how thoroughly lousily light plane manufacturers misread future airplane demand from this 'war bubble.' (Kids, can you spell 'excess inventory'?) However, only a person utterly lacking in knowledge of human nature would seriously argue that some percentage of this 'war bubble' DID NOT 'have the flying gene' and DID do their best to convey it to their progeny, and that we may still be benefiting from their 'fortuitous' (can a war be fortuitous?) discovery in generational terms. All this took place withOUT a post-WW-II 'Lindberghian event' to help boost awareness. (Yes, I remember the - very short lived in general-public terms - excitement associated with Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager's round-the-world, unrefueled, non-stop flight. I *don't* recall their tickertape parade in NYC, and I dare say neither of them would be - as Lindbergh was until the day he died - 'instantly recognized' today by the vast majority of the general public. So no 'bubble event' here!) My point here is WW-II skewed the U.S. 'natural pilot base' for a L-O-N-G time. Meanwhile, who knows what percentage of population at any given point in time might have 'the pilot gene'? Not me! But I'd bet Real Money fewer of that group also contain 'the glider gene', simply because gliding/soaring lacks any obvious utility (unlike power flight), and, individual ignorance (my case). I knew I had 'the pilot gene' but did NOT know I had 'the glider pilot gene'...and it took me a long time to leearn I did. So far as I can tell the ONLY reason I discovered gliding was being cubicled with an already hooked nutcase. Exposure is good. Follow-up by 'local feet on the ground' WILL be necessary (arguably, crucial). Regards, Bob - genetically odd - W. At 15:42 06 May 2012, Bob D wrote: Hi, Bob DeLeon here=85creator of Let's Go Gliding. There is but one objective to the campaign: AWARENESS. Remainder of Bob DeL.'s sensible post snipped... |
#16
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Hey
I've edited Bill's comments below because in many ways I'm the poster-
child for his comments. I started in power-flying. Got my license and was starting to get bored after only 70 hours of flying in straight lines. I had a dream of someday building my own airplane and joined the EAA. I wanted to visit some build projects and fortuitously Brad Hill invited me up to his shop to look at his "Glidair" and HP-24 projects. I was curious about the long wings and the things he was saying, so I went out to the gliderport on his suggestion and took a ride - and was instantly hooked. (SIDE NOTE: Luckily my ride was in a DG-1000 not a nasty-ass ratted- out 2-33. I appreciate the economics of a 2-33 but giving people rides in 2-33's or worn-out Blaniks is a sure way to turn them off to the sport. They're 50-year-old technology and it shows. They are OK for training - the Blaniks more than the 2-33's - but these aircraft have NOTHING to do with modern soaring and do not give people any sense of what's possible) The point is, I was a motivated inquisitive pilot. I've been obsessed with flying since I was a kid (I grew up just a couple of hours from Mojave and followed Rutan's projects from afar with young eager eyes). Yet with all my curiosity and motivation, I didn't have a CLUE about soaring or what was possible. Many of the soaring pilots out there just don't have a clue how extremely far Soaring is from the public consciousness. Its just not even on the radar. IMHO, in decreasing order of public awareness you have: Airline crashes, flying in Airliners, Small airplane crashes, Skydiving (partly because so many TV ads use skydiving), Flying computer games, Flying R/C airplanes, Hang-gliding & Paragliding, Small piston airplanes, and then wayyyy down at the bottom you have Sailplanes & Ultralights in some kind of jumble. Again, as Bill pointed out, even power pilots just don't know or understand. I gave a talk last fall to the Washington State Pilots Association and out of 100+ people in the audience maybe 10 knew that we could stay aloft for more than an hour and go "cross-country". And it makes sense - all they ever see is the local training Op with takeoffs and landings happening repeatedly throughout the day, and students circling and circling (and circling and circling and circling) right close to the airport. The ugly truth is that the people involved in the sport let things stagnate over the last 25 years. Things got really comfortable and the sport failed to adapt or refresh itself (in terms of new blood into the organization). As a result, we're now way "behind the curve" and have to put in EXTRA effort, just to halt the decline. Its an especially deep hole that we have to dig out of, because a lot of the experts are old and burned out - making things that much harder. But despite these challenges (or perhaps because of them) - the effort HAS to be made. Frankly, I'm tired and fed up with all of the naysayers who claim that this effort (or others) will never work. Your negative attitude is PRECISELY WHY the soaring pilot population is declining. You don't have to love the SSA or everything it does to see the value in promoting the sport and trying to get the word out. If you're rooting against the "Let's Go Gliding" campaign then you're nothing more than a selfish *******, and you are a detriment to the sport. Each pilot is a "lone wolf" in the cockpit of a sailplane; but the sport only works if there's a critical mass of people involved. Even a selfish pilot has a vested interest in maintaining that critical mass - if nothing else than for your own ability to continue flying (and secondarily, so there's a market of people to buy your sailplane when you finally sell it). --Noel On May 7, 8:21*am, Bill D wrote: The thing with the 'glider gene' is people don't know they have it until they are made aware of soaring. *(It doesn't take much - They don't know about us. They don't know how spectacular this sport is. inadvertently done a great job of hiding. *Very few people even know we exist much less what we do. I constantly talk to airplane pilot groups and I'm amazed at how little they know. *Almost to a person, they think gliding is exactly When shown what modern sailplanes can really do, and are doing on a regular basis, they're flabbergasted. *Explaining the OLC is an |
#17
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Hey
On May 7, 1:04*pm, BobW wrote:
In response to Bob W excellent post. I have no fear the 'SSA staff' will do their jobs as will a host of unpaid SSA volunteers. Actually, what I fear most is the possibility the 'glider gene' comes with other, less desirable traits such as a Social Phobia. Scenario: Person stops at glider operation and leans on fence watching the activity. Someone suggests to a glider pilot they should walk over and talk. The reaction: The suddenly ashen faced, wide eyed pilot says, "Who, who, me?" "Nooooo". Get over it. Walk over and talk. There's a reason the visitor is there. It just could be someone looking for a reason to take up soaring. If you ignore them, we all lose. |
#18
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Hey
I've bought a set of stickers for my trailer. I think the promotion needs some tuning, like more depth on the Let's Go Gliding website, since it goes from a lively site directly to deep links in the SSA site, but it's a start and we can work on it.
I've put a lot of effort into promoting soaring over the last few years and with some success bringing many new members into our club. One of the challenges is that people expect instant gratification. Take a glider to an Airshow and get 5 new members. It doesn't really seem to work that way. The conversion rate is really, really low. You've got to set the expectation that you'll talk to 100 or 200 or 300 people to get maybe one person to come out and try it. And of those people, only a small percentage will stick with it. It makes it seem like an impossible task, but the reality is that you can have an impact if you get out and talk soaring. I've found that having some good bragging rights about yourself or just other club members is a great eye opener. Points that really light up the eyes of Power Pilots: * I flew to 17,999 in wave last month * I fly 120hrs a year on about 25 gallons of AvGas * I flew over 5000 miles of XC last year * I average 100mph over the ground for an hour and a half last week. Sharing stats in power pilot terms is a real way to grab attention. It's a way to say, we aren't an alternative to power flying, we're better. You can fly more for less. Power pilots already know aviation costs money, but give someone the option to fly for a much lower rate than they are currently paying and you can attract new pilots. It's still tough and a small number that you'll convert, but it is possible. Morgan |
#19
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Hey
On May 7, 1:37*pm, Morgan wrote:
I've bought a set of stickers for my trailer. *I think the promotion needs some tuning, like more depth on the Let's Go Gliding website, since it goes from a lively site directly to deep links in the SSA site, but it's a start and we can work on it. I've put a lot of effort into promoting soaring over the last few years and with some success bringing many new members into our club. *One of the challenges is that people expect instant gratification. *Take a glider to an Airshow and get 5 new members. *It doesn't really seem to work that way. *The conversion rate is really, really low. *You've got to set the expectation that you'll talk to 100 or 200 or 300 people to get maybe one person to come out and try it. *And of those people, only a small percentage will stick with it. It makes it seem like an impossible task, but the reality is that you can have an impact if you get out and talk soaring. I've found that having some good bragging rights about yourself or just other club members is a great eye opener. Points that really light up the eyes of Power Pilots: * I flew to 17,999 in wave last month * I fly 120hrs a year on about 25 gallons of AvGas * I flew over 5000 miles of XC last year * I average 100mph over the ground for an hour and a half last week. Sharing stats in power pilot terms is a real way to grab attention. *It's a way to say, we aren't an alternative to power flying, we're better. You can fly more for less. Power pilots already know aviation costs money, but give someone the option to fly for a much lower rate than they are currently paying and you can attract new pilots. *It's still tough and a small number that you'll convert, but it is possible. Morgan It may also help to stop calling them "power pilots". I think they would prefer to be called "Airplane Pilots". The term "power pilots" either has no meaning to them or seems strange and redundant. "Airplane" implies an engine is installed. |
#20
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Hey
Hi Stefan and Bob
thanks for your messages. My post was rather abrasive, so its especially good of you to reply so politely. I do not wish to criticize any volunteers, only to express my opinions. I hope the trailer stickers will help the movement, but as I tried to explain, I don't think so. And I think a 30ft long trailer might excite more curiosity if its blank and mysterious. And my trailer never leaves the hangar anyway (I have a motor glider and the engine never fails). About the SSA: it can't be a secret, that a lot of dissatisfaction exists. andrew At 14:27 07 May 2012, S. Murry wrote: On Sun, 06 May 2012 22:21:06 -0500, Andrew Wood wrote: Hi, Andrew, Just one comment on your post. I know Bob DeLeon personally (he's in our club here in Houston and is a very active member and supporter of all things soaring). Your assertion that this campaign exists to keep SSA staff occupied does not ring true to me. From talking with Bob it seems pretty clear that this is his baby. The SSA supports it, I'm sure, but from what I understand they didn't exactly contact Bob trolling for things to do to keep the staff busy. Bob came up with this idea (along with a few others whose names I do not know or I would acknowledge them here, too), did most or all of the work on the graphics and website, and the SSA's only real involvement is in coordinating the (optional) printing of the trailer stickers and handling the order processing. From what I understand if you want for some reason to cut the SSA out altogether, Bob will send you the graphics file and you get it printed yourself wherever you wish. Your comments about whether or not this campaign will be effective are another matter. I disagree with them personally, but obviously only time will tell whether this campaign will work. What I can say is that if most of us don't get behind it and get the stickers on our trailers/bumpers, etc., then it definitely will NOT work. As far as whether there is some built-in "soaring gene" or something. I have heard this argument before. What I don't understand is if it is true that people have some innate desire to fly and nothing can stop them, then why are the number of pilots declining even as the overall population is rising? It seems that if there is some (small) percentage of people who are just "wired" to eventually get into our sport, this percentage ought to be more-or-less constant over time. Genetics don't change so quickly. If this were the case, then our numbers would rise with the overall population. My personal explanation for the decline is several-fold, but to make this post short(ish), I think one factor is simply that there are SO MANY things competing for our limited attention, time, and money, that it is easy for niche activities (like soaring) to get lost among all the options. Yes, I am sure that many people are aware that this activity exists, but if they don't get a reminder, they may just continue along in their boring lives...golfing or watching TV or whatever, because they just hadn't yet experienced the "spark" that ignites whatever it is that causes them to come out to a glider club and start learning. Given the small number of glider pilots and glider trailers, it's unlikely that "Let's Go Gliding" is going to instantly arrest the decline in pilot numbers, but if we can start to add even a percent or two a year to our numbers, I think it is well worth the $115 and 1 hour of our time to put the stickers on our trailers. --Stefan Awareness is good. So I suppose trailer stickers are ok. But I have the sinking feeling, that like most things the SSA does, they won't do any good, and are more designed to justify the SSA staff and fill up some space in soaring magazine. If I saw a big trailer with a sticker "lets go cave diving" it would not cause me to contact my local cave diving club. I already know that cave diving exists, and I don't care. I don't have the passion for it, like most people feel about flying. The passion has to be there, and it won't be magically created by trailer stickers or coffee mugs or whatever. Those unfortunate people who do have the passion for gliding.....they are destined to spend a lot of time and money, and will already be bugging their parents, visiting airports, and on the internet looking for local gliding clubs. We could tear off all the trailer stickers, paint them in camouflage and string barbed wire around the airport, and they'd still sneak in. All we can really do, is make sure those new people can easily find us, and welcome them when they come. At 15:42 06 May 2012, Bob D wrote: Hi, Bob DeLeon here=85creator of Let's Go Gliding. There is but one objective to the campaign: AWARENESS. Our sport has resided way off the radar in comparison to the other recreational choices. So LGG is designed to elevate the awareness of this choice. This objective needs to look: exciting, adventurous, challenging, and the opportunity to be involved with a great group of people who love the sport. That's why I made the choices in how it's designed and what it says. That was the creative brief driving the imagery and words. Yea, it would have been fun to have imagery like the Cool Hand Luke scene previously described. But that would have been dis- ingeniune to what soaring really is. It would be a "hook" that once swallowed would have cut off a lot of support (female) and been regarded as fake to those who are the target audience. AWARENESS of this sport--and what it offers-- is the key. The more people see the campaign, the more they'll sense that the guy sporting the bumper sticker or showing the brochure will be a source to get their questions answered. And if not a person, then the web address (LetsGoGliding.com) will be the other source to influence their thinking and impressions. It's not likely that in the next two years we'll see a growth in the sport that will be ascending, but if worked enthusiastically by those who fly gliders, with the SSA's backing, we can arrest the descent of declining numbers and hold the line on those flying. Adding in numbers right now is that objective. Otherwise, the sport will slide into a category that will effect manufacturers of gliders and glider equipment, the ability of some clubs to remain active, and the value of your used glider. Trust me: no business or entity wants decline. You want some kind of growth. And getting active with a supported marketing campaign that puts a "cool" and inviting spotlight on the sport is the answer. And as previously stated, this campaign is going to need unbridled support from the soaring community. With this year's World Gliding Championship being held in the U.S. we have a superb chance to arrest the descent of glider pilot numbers in the U.S. -- Stefan Murry |
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