Hi all Allan said
"But on the topic of performance, it pays to know your history. In the mid-70s, hang-gliders had a glide angle of maybe 3:1. In 30 years the performance in terms of glide-angle has improved 5-fold.Whereas in gliding, the glide angle has not quite managed to double." It certainly does pay to know your history, how about we compare apples with apples here, the first 30 years of gliding in sailplanes from the Wright brothers (5:1 or less?) to Germany pre WW2(30:1?) brought about a huge increase in performance, of a similar or even greater magnitude to that experienced by Hang gliders in their first 30 years. The modern sailplane simply does not have room for large improvements as it is pretty well optimised already(Boundary layer Suction excepted, but that is never going to work, the holes will keep getting blocked). I wonder how large the HG performance increase been in the last 5 years, as the same diminishing returns principle will apply, It will be very difficult to double Hg's performance in the next 30 yrs as sailplanes have done. "Old Otto would be astonished and delighted to see a modern hang-glider!" But not as delighted as he would be with a modern sailplane, a triumph of modern engineering!(-: Mark said: "The dedication, attention to detail and intensity of focus is almost autistic in its extent." Too right, this is the expectation that the training system has. The system in place makes it very unlikely that any other character types will stay involved. Like it or not here is exactly the reason why membership is falling, the "system" itself, designed by these types is selecting these types by its nature. A self fulfilling prophecy. In the original article that preceded this discussion, the comment that I found most interesting was about the way the pilots on the course were treated by their instructors, can't remember the exact words but the inference was that it was like going back to school with an old fashioned school teacher, and being "Told off" like a child. There is a unstated attitude in gliding that could be summed up as "When training, I put up with all the hassles and delays and waiting on a hot dusty airfield so everyone should have to to prove their commitment by doing so". This is OK for the types Mark mentions above, but as evidenced by the high ongoing drop out rate, unacceptable to most newcomers. When I brought my son to gliding I spoke to him about it at length, to prepare him for the almost perverse training process. I dont think on the bad impression that old trainers such as the Blanik give to trainees is really a factor, as far as I can tell the clubs with modern looking glass trainers, (though some are 30 years old they still look quite modern) have the same sort of membership problems as those with Blaniks/Puchatek etc. Simon, I am sure that the pre worlds was a great experience, but how much time did it take to be in a position to have that experience? Not many people are persistent enough and motivated to do so(Never mind afford to) to eventually have such an experience Good luck with the introducing Mark to non geeky people thing-you'll need it. Regards -- David Lawley Computer Systems Manager Elizabeth Park Primary School Elizabeth East Primary School _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
