Well said!
On Mon., 30 Jan. 2017 at 8:10 pm, James McDowall <[email protected]> wrote: > I first came into contact with gliding in the early 1960's when my father > took up gliding to satisfy an itch dating back to the late 1940's when he > helped build a glider that ultimately ended up with the fledgling ASC. > In those days, many people would spend their weekends (or perhaps do a two > week course) sitting on the side of the airfield in all sorts of weather > waiting for the chance to do a few circuits or if they were really lucky a > soaring flight. Time wasn't an issue and no one thought too much about > spending their Saturday nights in primitive accommodation. > Fifty plus years later society has changed and flying for most is regarded > in the same as taking a bus trip. The wonder of flying has been lost on > most. Our WW2 pilots who formed the backbone of post war GA and > recreational flying are gone as is the connection with their exploits - how > many kids today will rub shoulders with a RAAF pilot, let alone one who has > seen active service? > Many sports are struggling to attract newcomers - especially in country > areas which were the backbone of gliding. Tennis courts are ploughed under, > football clubs merging to stay afloat and even bowls clubs closing. > Whilst there are many reasons one only has to talk to fathers with school > age children. Their weekends are driven by activities planned around the > kids. These activities are so highly organised to be risk free and > non-competitive you really wonder if there is any long lasting benefit to > anyone as their seems to be no sense of achievement. Throw in the thuggery > of social media and non-conformance is not tolerated. Taking the kids to an > airfield to sit on the edge of an airfield all day would probably be > regarded as a form of child abuse! > But the biggest factor governing human behaviour today is TIME. Whether it > is true or not the community is convinced that it is time poor - so poor > that we cant even cook for ourselves for example. Everything we consider > buying is now presented as so many dollars per week or month - we live in > pay by the month society. This is not conducive to a discretionary spend > like flying. Add to this that there has been no real increase in wages for > about a decade there is little doubt that or many in the community who > would have been attracted to gliding fifty years ago can no longer consider > it on economic grounds alone. > Unless gliding restructures itself to reflect the time constraints of > society it will most certainly die. Unless students can make an appointment > to take a lesson for example the completion rate of students will decline. > Unless gliding aligns its independent operator rules with RA-Aus and RPL > requirements and lets motor glider operations occur beyond the club system > it will lose those people. It must embrace self launching and see any other > form of launch as ancient history. > The future of gliding requires the GFA to look into the future and at the > society around them, and recognise that the club, state association and > national association model is dead and re-model the relationship between > itself and the gliding fraternity. OR if that is too hard hand the whole > lot over to RA-Aus or ELAAA if they will have the disfunctional mess. > > > On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 6:29 PM, Richard Frawley <[email protected]> > wrote: > > i suggest you have a reader failure then, do try a reboot. > > > > > On 30 Jan 2017, at 6:08 PM, Mike Borgelt <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > 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 > _______________________________________________ > 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 > -- Mark Fisher Managing Director Swift Performance Equipment Unit 2, 1472 Boundary Rd Wacol 4076 Australia Ph: +61 7 3879 3005 Fax: +61 7 36076277 www.spe.com.au
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
