My iPad sometimes tells me " this message has no content" I'm surprised it didn't in this case.
Mike > On 30 Jan 2017, at 2:33 PM, Richard Frawley <[email protected]> wrote: > > interesting, but in the end perhaps irrelevant. > > Analysis will show that the base driving interest that was present in the > primary age group during the halcyon period no longer exists and likely never > will again. There was in the people of that time an unsatisfied latent demand > to express themselves through control and command that flying gave purpose > to. What developed via clubs was in response to an inherent demand and > limitations of that time. > > That core need is no longer apparent in the wider community. Flying no longer > offers natural attraction but to a small number of our population, which by > observation is getting smaller and smaller. As such there is no longer the > need for response in the manner that was previously provided. > > As to what gliding will be in 20 years time will matter little in terms of > what the GFA does today. As needs change and new services are required then > those services will be provisioned if demand is sufficient, as that is the > way of things human. > > As new people do cycle into GFA management on a regular basis, that is a good > thing, as flexibility and adaption are likely to be the nett result which is > what i observed during my 3 years on the exec. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> On 30 Jan 2017, at 3:50 PM, emillis prelgauskas <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> Thank you all for the delightful conversation at ‘GFA negative advertising……' >> >> I thought I’d start fresh, on some items that move away from that thread >> above. >> >> It surprises me that the ‘but you are bashing the GFA’ legion didn’t pipe up. >> Perhaps it was because GFA are bashing themselves up in their Pravda list. >> >> There are diverse views across the glider pilot nation about what GFA is: >> - Some see GFA as being the whole of ’the sport'. >> - Some see GFA as an administrative benefit or necessity to the sport >> - Some (me) see this 67 year old organisation as having had its day and now >> being in its own generated death throes. >> >> For all the reasons already enunciated by others - self destructive, >> dictatorial, creating silos of irrelevant hierarchal positions which will >> never be filled because there aren’t enough volunteers left, and so on. >> >> The biggest hurdle for GFA is the loss within itself in its corporate >> knowledge - all the current incumbents came into a fully formed sport and >> try to re-imagine it in their own image without a skeric of understanding of >> how things came to be. (e.g. they don’t know what ‘the Valentine Curve’ is) >> ‘Those who don’t know their history are bound to repeat it’. >> >> With the benefit of longevity and a curiosity to track things (yes, I am the >> dude who did the quantitative measuring of successful and defunct clubs for >> the whole of Australia in the 1970s) I advise - >> >> - In 1949 the GFA was formed to be the barrier between glider pilots and >> ‘the Department’ >> - where glider pilots said ‘WE are the people who know how gliders work, >> they are not power planes, so we set rules appropriate to us >> - helped by the proposition (a la ‘The Castle’) that the Australian >> Constitution does not regulate aviation (which didn’t exist when it was >> first written), hence aviation is regulated federally only by the consensus >> of the aviation community >> >> - That original bottom up driven model of regulation of the sport by the >> sport, in the best examples of participatory democracy, lasted until 1981 >> - By then the sport had grown to 100 clubs, about 5000 pilots, and >> enthusiasm and volunteer inputs to ‘our sport’ which got it there and was >> propelling it even higher >> - So GFA has never been ‘the sport’, it has always been the external >> peripheral administrative element that we ‘needed to have’, and was thus >> always kept as small as possible. >> >> - So in 1981 the world changed, yes Richard, you are right. The system was >> re-written and has been re-written several more times since, by incumbents >> of their day who saw a great sport, and thought re-imagining it in their own >> image would both serve the sport and themselves well. >> >> - So gliding the sport declined to 2000 pilots in 50 or so clubs, with the >> unstated direction being the demise of the small clubs (less than 20 >> members), leaving commercial servicing, schools and big clubs. >> >> We are indeed on track in that direction. >> >> The barriers to achieving the goals of that objective (a more ‘professional' >> sport) is that it is being pressed onto the old model of volunteer cadre to >> achieve. >> And people not being stupid, say things (as per the previous thread) ‘ ‘why >> would I work at making my kind of gliding fail or be inaccessible?’, and >> stuff like that. >> >> Gliding is not a franchise that GFA owns. So people choose to bale out when >> the onerous impositions exceed the benefit to them, assessed against their >> definition of ‘the sport’. With many then going to other sport aviation; a >> barrier to hoped-for flow the other way. (Their tales of woe unimpress >> aviators from other sport) >> >> GFA does not control gliding, despite continuous threats and intimidation >> issued by it/them. Glider pilots agree to follow rules that make sense >> because these keep us alive. GFA is overlaying this with rules addressing >> ‘fear of litigation’ against themselves, to be shifted onto the volunteers. >> >> The current conversation, either in its form today or some future time, will >> result in the demise of the GFA. Glider pilots will find their own way to >> fly the kind of sport each group within the sport wants. >> GFA doesn’t have the budget to follow through the promotion and support to >> create the sport in their image. >> All the attempts so far (since 1981 to date) have thoroughly failed as noted >> above, and will continue to fail. >> >> Pilots and clubs (particularly the small ones) are right now debating >> internally what sort of sport they want. Paying lip service to ‘the >> authority’ and getting on with flying safely is a reality since 1924 (the >> oldest glider I have in my 2 dozen collection). >> >> Some pilots and clubs will decide to be ‘mucking about in boats’ style >> volunteering, and will attract like minded people. >> Some pilots and clubs will go ‘hire & fly’ with commercial support; and >> ditto. >> And all the other variants between. >> And really few pilots will aspire to the GFA view of itself. >> >> Welcome to the real world folks. >> >> Emilis >> (turn rant mode off) >> _______________________________________________ >> Aus-soaring mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
