>In my experience, long-term members are people who always wanted to learn how >to fly, but never knew they could do it as accessibly as gliding. Kids, >sailors and motorcycle riders tend to be disproportionately represented.
I think it has been mentioned before, that posters for the local gliding club could be put up at sailing clubs or other represented group. The other group of people to target are those who have been more active in gliding or other aviation related activity in the past. The task would be then to reignite their passion and interest. It would be interesting to know the retention rates of Air Training Corp Cadets. My own experience: I was fascinated with flight ever since I hopped on a TAA T-jet in 1974 (Adelaide to Melbourne flight). As a kid, I built planes out of lego, made a balsa wood and doped paper throw glider, even considered getting into radio controlled stuff. (i.e. I always wanted to learn how to fly) Just before I started Uni, my Dad had told me that he thought there was a Uni Glining Club. A work colleague of my Dad was a tow pilot at Waikerie and had told my Dad about the Adelaide Uni Gliding Club (i.e. lucky word of mouth) So when I started Uni, at O'week, I actively sought the Uni Gliding Club and signed up. At that time (prior to joining up), I thought that gliding was a poor cousin to power flying (just glorified paper darts), but any flying was better than no flying. My first day on field comprised 3 circuits off a winch launch in a Bergy (GZM) at the end of the day. I was hooked. So either fortunately or unfortunately (depending upon your opinion of me..;-) ), I am still keen on gliding some 21 years later. Mind you raising a young family and having chronic illness in the family has tempered my participation over the last couple of years (my priority is to my family), but I anticipate that my activity in the sport will increase as my kids become interested (they are only 4.5 and almost 3 years old) and health problems settle. The challenge for the gliding movement in Australia is seeking out those who wish to fly for pleasure, versus those who want to do it and move on as they they tick the "been there and done that" box. _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
