Soaring Club Culture

The Soaring Club of Houston is considering some changes in our operations to create more of a club atmosphere with ownership for the club equipment. Currently we have a scheduling system where a member can show up, fly the glider, and leave. It is the daily crews responsibility to get the glider ready and on the line, plus put it away at the end of the day. This does not create any ownership in the gliders and as such they are not cared for as they should. In fact some of us call it the rental car mentality.

It doesn't seem like we have much of a club culture but much more like a commercial operation.

What are other club operations and culture around the world like?

Thanks,
Tony
TS1

On 3/24/2014 11:13 AM, wrote:
The Soaring Club of Houston is considering some changes in our operations
to create more of a club atmosphere with ownership for the club equipment.
Currently we have a scheduling system where a member can show up, fly the
glider, and leave. It is the daily crews responsibility to get the glider
ready and on the line, plus put it away at the end of the day. This does
not create any ownership in the gliders and as such they are not cared for
as they should. In fact some of us call it the rental car mentality.

It doesn't seem like we have much of a club culture but much more like a
commercial operation.

What are other club operations and culture around the world like?

Thanks, Tony TS1


Good for y'all for actively considering this "non-measurable" aspect of your
club! Too often, in American culture, it seems as if because something can't
easily be measured, the decision, "...therefore it must not be important,"
tags along.

To your question, my club (the Soaring Society of Boulder [SSB]) could easily
(have) fall(en) into that situation...and in my experience beginning ca.
1980-ish, HAS (so far, always successfully) countered periodic whining about
something built into our Bylaws designed to foster "clubbishness" (in the good
sense). In broad brush, SSB allows ship scheduling on weekdays, with no daily
time limit; one ship/scheduled per-person per-day. There are "warm and fuzzy
words" to "not overdo it, and be considerate of your fellow Club members," but
it's a very generous policy all things considered.

Weekends re completely different. On weekends (when most Club members can make
it to the field), "convenience membership" is actively discouraged by the
simple expedient of a "tow list"...

Prior to "likely soarable conditions" priority for two-seaters and tows are
given to instruction, but after a given clock time (varies winter-to-summer;
memory sez the summer time is 11AM), "the tow list" applies. It's a sign-up
sheet for tows. First come, first-served, private ship or Club ship. The honor
system applies in that if you leave the field prior to towing, your name
vanishes from the list...no exceptions. If you want a particular SSB ship on a
weekend, you're encouraged to so note on the list, since it allows people
behind you to know when they might move up a slot because your ship is still
aloft. That said, "the list" is NOT a Club SHIP signup list, so anyone behind
a list signee who doesn't verify the member whose tow would be next isn't OK
with taking some other ship, is being presumptuous-to-rude. Each Club ship
seat has - weekends only - a time-limit per Club member (again, varies
summer-to-winter). IOW, a Club two-seater with both seats occupied, but only
one by an SSB member, gets half the time it would if both seats were occupied
by Club members. Memory sez summer weekend club-member-seat time is 2 hours,
so significant soaring can be done.

Variously, as the fleet has varied/grown, one of the single-seaters can be
pre-scheduled for badge work, thus overriding the seat-time limit.

The system actually works quite well, and is definitely a long-standing part
of SSB's culture. IMO, SSB's system DOES contribute to "(good) clubbishness."

Reason for claiming SSB could easily have fallen into "the convenience trap"
is we're based on a municipal airport, within the town limits, the latter
within which many Club members reside. Those that don't often have a
time-significant (hour+) commute to the field. Hence very real potential for
conflict between "a convenience clique" and others, exists.

SSB also has an annual workday/cookout on a pre-designated (w. rain date)
Saturday, on which no Club tows are permitted. Those choosing not to attend
the work portion of the day (for any reason) are assessed a nominal ($10, so
far) fee on top of regular monthly dues. SSB reimburses all documented
facilities/ship expenditures.

Good luck with your club's efforts!

HTH,

Bob W.

On Monday, March 24, 2014 1:13:17 PM UTC-4, wrote:
The Soaring Club of Houston is considering some changes in our operations to create more of a club atmosphere with ownership for the club equipment. Currently we have a scheduling system where a member can show up, fly the glider, and leave. It is the daily crews responsibility to get the glider ready and on the line, plus put it away at the end of the day. This does not create any ownership in the gliders and as such they are not cared for as they should. In fact some of us call it the rental car mentality.

I suspect that your club's problems go deeper.

My club uses a similar'daily crew' approach to maintaining an efficient launch schedule, but we have a very high level of volunteerism. Unscheduled people often help the 'daily crew' complete their tasks. Members volunteer for significant non-daily tasks like repainting runway lines and cutting many many acres of grass. We have 5 star gliders, tow planes, and airport.

The ability to schedule a specific launch time (and a prior commitment from a CFI-G if needed) was a primary reason that I chose this club over the other two clubs that are within driving distance.

Based on my experience with the other two clubs, having to spend the entire day at the airport hoping to get a lesson or a slot to solo was a complete drag. Sam Deeks has a whole podcast series that documents how he ultimately fails to solo under the common 'spend entire day at the airport' system. See http://ukglider.com/your-host/ Listen to the last episode to see how he finally gives up. That system works terrible for adults who have other commitments. We enjoy volunteering, but we don't want to spend the entire day hanging out at the airport. It is a very inefficient approach to coercing volunteer time.

We are a smaller club. We schedule the duty tow pilot, duty instructor and Flight Operations Officer. Who flies is first come first served and is responsible to get the glider on the line. Others always help. Last to fly for the day puts it away, others help. The "launch list" is maintained by the FOO and intermixed the club training flights with private owners. Summer launch priority to cross country fliers once the lift starts. Club gliders are limited time if someone is on the list waiting.

BT

At our club (Ostrów-Poland, EPOM) on high-season days it is pretty much assumed "wanna fly, be there all day". No rigid rules though, peer pressure seems to be enough, with much flexibility as long as it is not perceived someone is abusive. It is possible to schedule flights and show up only for that, but somehow those people do not last long if they keep to fly only in that mode. Glider assignment is mainly first come, first served, often with negotiations afterwards. In particular people yield to those who earlier planned significant XC or badge flights. Time is shared within reason, case by case (here there are so many cases, depending on for example a particular pilot's stage of training within current time-frame, that formal rules would be impractical, people seem to agree on informal ones). On very busy days it is probable that latecomers will not fly. People who prepare for competitions (maybe 6 pilots in 80+ membership) have absolute priority and usually have gliders assigned for an exclusive use.

What helps is that the FIs have (by custom and consensus) absolute and arbitrary authority to schedule and recall people.

It is expected that people stay until all operations are over and gliders stowed (or hauled back from outlandings as case might be). Of course not everybody always does, there is sometimes bickering about that, but on the whole it works.

What the system does in practice is that there is always a group of people sitting down for hours on a grass at the launch site (we have a field nearly mile long and about half across), talking shop or just socializing, waiting for their turn. People often come to just hang around (tows are expensive for us, young people in particular have tight budgets and often pass on middling conditions).

Privately owned gliders (perhaps 1/3 of the fleet) get tows mixed within the rest. Not everybody gets always tow at optimal time (double-seaters have priority, same also with some training solo flights) but on the whole it works. Practically all private glider owners are also longtime club members, they went through the system in their "student years", so there are no complaints, though sometimes the grid swells to some 16 ready gliders.

On Monday, March 24, 2014 1:13:17 PM UTC-4, wrote:
The Soaring Club of Houston is considering some changes in our operations to create more of a club atmosphere with ownership for the club equipment. Currently we have a scheduling system where a member can show up, fly the glider, and leave. It is the daily crews responsibility to get the glider ready and on the line, plus put it away at the end of the day. This does not create any ownership in the gliders and as such they are not cared for as they should. In fact some of us call it the rental car mentality.



I suspect that your club's problems go deeper.

My club uses a similar 'daily crew' approach to maintaining an efficient launch schedule, but we have a very high level of volunteerism. Unscheduled people often help the 'daily crew' complete their tasks. Members volunteer for significant non-daily tasks like repainting runway lines and cutting many many acres of grass. We have 5 star gliders, tow planes, and airport.

The ability to schedule a specific launch time (and a prior commitment from a CFI-G if needed) worked much better for me than the 'spend the whole day at the airport' approach. This might have something to do with my being an older student and an especially slow learner that needed a very high number of training flights.

Sam Deeks has a whole podcast series that documents how he ultimately fails to solo under the common 'spend entire day at the airport' system. See http://ukglider.com/your-host/ Listen to the last episode to see how he finally gives up. That system can be problematic for adults who have other commitments. We enjoy volunteering, but we don't want to spend the entire day hanging out at the airport in eager anticipation.

On Monday, March 24, 2014 1:13:17 PM UTC-4, wrote:
The Soaring Club of Houston is considering some changes in our operations to create more of a club atmosphere with ownership for the club equipment. Currently we have a scheduling system where a member can show up, fly the glider, and leave. It is the daily crews responsibility to get the glider ready and on the line, plus put it away at the end of the day. This does not create any ownership in the gliders and as such they are not cared for as they should. In fact some of us call it the rental car mentality. It doesn't seem like we have much of a club culture but much more like a commercial operation. What are other club operations and culture around the world like? Thanks, Tony TS1

Our club had a great deal of problems with making the "work schedule" concept work for us. We have a fairly small staff- 4 instructors(was one), 4 regular tug pilots, and a bunch of commercial pilots. We coordinate among ourselves to ensure coverage every day and expect that whoever shows up to fly will pitch in with line ops and record keeping.
First come- first fly
Stay all day- get more flying.
Training takes first priority in the morning.
Soaring launches have priority during peak launch time(rush hour) , usually from about 12-2, then training goes full bore again.
We run some training all day.
People seem to enjoy coming and hanging out. They understand that if they show at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon, they likely will only get 1 flight.
A lot is learned hanging around and helping.
If someone thinks they are too busy to work our way, we suggest they go to the commercial operator a few miles away that can accomodate them.
It works for us but sometimes the guys that show up early to tow and instruct aren't to happy if they also have to put stuff away.
The expectation that everyone should pitch in seems top work for us.
FWIW
UH

Our club provides a scheduled instructor, tow pilot and duty manager every Saturday and Sunday during the regular season. When joining we stress that in addition to serving as manager periodically, there is a degree of "sweat equity" input that is expected (periodic work parties, waxing, washing, etc). Club plane usage/receiving instruction is on a first come, first served basis; there is no extra fee for either of these. However, there are clear expectations that members should plan on spending half the day at the airport; either arriving early and help set up/start operations, or arrive midday and stick around until everything is put away at the end of the day. It is also expected that people using club ships will spend at least an hour post flight at the flight line, helping with launch and retireval operations, etc. This is in addition to general club members (private pilots, private ships) being expected to help as well. If there are extenuating circumstances and someone can't operate within these expectations on a consistant basis, we offer a variety of other tasks that need to be, and can be done, outside of normal club operating hours (stop by on a weekday afternoon and wash/wax a plane, mow the grass, clean out the hanger, etc). These guidelines have been fairly effective and in many ways, self reinforcing. Overall, there seems to be a very cohesive cooperative effort within the club.