How about hanging by the neck until (you, us,we,they)cheer up? JR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Borgelt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 2:05 PM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Where to from here?
> At 01:36 PM 22/10/2008, you wrote: > >But Mike, in the land of the free, where they do everything you espouse, > >they are suffering from a declining gliding population too, so your > >proposals do not address the issues either. > > Last I heard the SSA had increased its membership(it is purely > voluntary as there is no legal coercion to join). Their magazine > seems vastly improved and since the arrest of the last bent SSA > official, morale seems high. > My contacts tell me that there is increased interest in soaring as > fuel costs have gone up. It is much easier for power pilots to > transition to gliders as the licence structure is the same (and I've > never heard a word from anyone in the USA suggesting the SSA go to > the Australian/British/NZ self administration model). > > On a per capita basis soaring has never been as popular as power > flying in the US compared to elsewhere probably because of the > previous easy accessibility and relatively low cost of power flying > in the US. I suspect that much the same holds here as you only need > to look at the rapidly growing recreational sector here. Most seem to > want to just get off the ground. They don't care if there's an engine > out front but my point is that for those who do want to fly gliders, > better, faster training will get them there quicker and more likely > retain them even if much of it isn't done in sailplanes. This has the > potential to take the training load off the club scene which > currently is a vast effort and expense for essentially little to no > gain. Just don't expect people who have had the freedoms of a PPL or > RAAus certificate to be impressed by the GFA nanny state. > > If you've got a better plan let's hear it. The "floggings will > continue until morale improves" isn't a plan. > > Mike > Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments > phone Int'l + 61 746 355784 > fax Int'l + 61 746 358796 > cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784 > Int'l + 61 429 355784 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > website: www.borgeltinstruments.com > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
