skf1 wrote:
I think the target market are the 40 to 50 age group
Hmmm. Unfortunately, the statistics show that this group are more than likely to be overweight to obese and chronically unfit and it comes as a bit of a shock that gliding can be so physical. Not only that but decades of sedentary activity have ruined their reaction times, situational awareness skills, coordination skills and can suffer from information overload in new or different situations. So this age group seem to have a high dropout rate anyway.
Better to get 'em young when physical/mental skills are good and it tends to make training easier. I know that some of our instructors say that teaching the young is fly is so much easier than an older person that has lost the physical/mental edge. But is the cockpit the place to be re-educating the target market with these lost, or at least, reduced skills? I suggest not.
However, I also don't have any solutions to getting, or keeping the younger set.
On the other hand, until a couple of years ago, we had a member (he was also a member of Waikerie)who flew Kittyhawks in the islands during the war and only came back to flying in the mid-ninties. He was amazing. He really took to gliding and would disappear for hours at a time and despite his age, I don't believe the instructors had any concerns over his abilities. Unfortunately, he was tragically killed in a ground-bound accident at his shack on the River Murray.
We still miss him.
-- Leigh Bunting Colonel Light Gardens South Australia <Open Windows and let the bugs in>
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