The FAI membership report makes interesting reading: http://www.fai.org/gliding/membership
"Our sport has two basic problems - the two same problems that have been around for 50 years. Gross time wastage and costs." I wonder if the Australian numbers really are going up or if the GFA is counting an increased number of visiting pilots on temporary memberships toward the total? I guess I fall firmly in the 30/40s with some disposable income crowd. As a relative newcomer to gliding I've stuck with it thus far because I really wanted to fly and gliding seemed cheaper/more fun than GA and safer than ultralights/microlights/hang gliders/paragliders. I haven't got stuck on any road-blocks to having fun so far, but that isn't to say they don't exist within gliding clubs. I have been fortunate enough in some cases to have had the help of other club members to help push them out of the road when they appeared. Perhaps I am too close to being an OFITTH myself to mind them that much. Yes "air mindedness" has declined, aircraft are just a fast way of getting to your holiday destination for most people now. Perhaps gliding needs a shakeup to survive. Some throwaway wild random thoughts: Abandon aerotowing entirely. Winch launch on polyprop rope (instead of yucky piano wire) for lower cost training flights. Buy new fleets of lightweight, lower cost self launchers or motor gliders like Silent 2, Apis M, Taurus, Sinus etc. (Oh no the expense, the maintainence headaches! It's not real gliding. It's not made in Germany, it can't be any good. It's not JAR22, it will have to be registered as an ultralight ) Solar charged electric self launchers, Apis E. ASK 21 Mi trainers, no need for ground crew, just the instructor and student, training any day of the week. Support the World Class glider (PW-5) instead of bashing it. Sparrow Hawk. Russia AC-4C. Greg O'Sullivan [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
