Several people are working very hard on the problem, but collectively we are missing the point. Which is, that there is a plentiful amount of interest in gliding, yet we manage not to capitalize on it. My strong belief is that the real issue is that all these young and not so young people who come to gliding, do their ab initios and go solo, then qualify for various single seaters for local soaring, then have nowhere to go.
There is nothing in our system that provides them with a structured path for development beyond the circuit. No cross country, no competitions. There is nothing to engage the interest of the able individual looking for intellectual and physical challenge, looking to develop their skills, looking to have fun. Predictably these people, who represent the priceless potential for the future, go elsewhere. The GPC is intended to address this, but so far in my experience it has not been welcomed with open arms. Everyone seems to focus on grabbing the interest of yet more newcomers. Not much point on focusing on the cadets for instance, if you dont have a plan for what to give them, beyond going solo. How about doing more with those who are already interested? An important principle in business is that it is several times more costly to recruit new customers than to keep existing ones. It pays to gain an understanding of what the customers really want, and then provide it. Id say that this principle is being overlooked in gliding, particularly in our state of NSW. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dave Boulter Sent: Friday, 27 August 2010 2:27 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a Movement Like yourself and Paul and many others I know, I do something every week and every day to grow gliding and get more members. I happen to be a member of said Sydney Club and I talk with people actively and dont just "take their money". I know a whole bunch of people who do similar at my Club. Say what you like about NSW Gliding, but we are doing stuff now and will continue to improve that in the future. With more arms and legs we could probably do even more. Sometimes you have to pick your battles, you know that. The Sydney Club in question has more than ten scholarships in progress at present and would offer more. These kids get their flying for free (yep members pay for it) and the kids pay launches. We would take more if more were there. It is good to see Clubs doing stuff at grass roots levels, as I said previously. On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 2:13 PM, harry medlicott <[email protected]> wrote: Paul, You are right. It is rather sad that the gliding club close to the largest city in Australia does not seem to convert many of its large number of its AEFs to gliding. Do they hand out pamplets or preferably videos etc.? It seems that many instructors get their flying free from the back seat of a DG 1000 and tugpilots gets theirs launching but do they have a real interest in converting AEFs to members?. Re air cadets. LKSC has done somehing to make gliding affordable for air cadets. I have personally at no cost to the club built a winch powered by a Chevy 454 ci motor using Dyneema rope which gives high safe launches. I have also just bought a Winch launch Assistant which shows the speed of the glider being launched on a display in the winch which will hopefully give even higher, safer launches. We are subsidising juniors membership to $40 which does not even cover the capitation fee associated with our lease, half glider hire rates and membership by a generous donation of $100 pa per cadet aged 15/18 yo. Total of club membership and GFA is $76, which, coupled with a winch launch charge of $12 which gives a launch of 1,800/2'000 ft. We hope it is an offer to good to refuse. There are 90 AAFC cadets in our area and the hope is we will build up a cadre of young pilots . When AAFC cadets come to our club to fly an AAFC sponsored flight they tell us that aerotow etc. makes gliding unaffordable for them. Hopefully our initiatives will change all that. What disturbs me is that LKSC has approached both GFA and NSWGA asking for help to reduce the GFA membership charge commensurate to our clubs contribution and so far only got a flat no. The generous donor currently subsidising junior membership can't be expected to continue The future of our dying sport must be in attracting new members, preferably young ones, so the refusal of GFA and NSWGA to help is pretty dismal. The future of our sport is the responsibility of us all. How many writing emails are actually doing something really constructive? Certainly Paul Mander who wrote the following email but how many others, Harry Medlicott ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul <mailto:[email protected]> Mander To: 'Discussion of issues relating to <mailto:[email protected]> Soaring in Australia.' Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 8:37 AM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a Movement There is a club near Sydney that has become so dependent on joy rides that they have 32 listed instructors but just 125-ish flying members, no cross country or competition curriculum. They run a full time operation yet cry poor. I may be overstating it, but not by much. Is this what youre talking about? What should be a worry for our sport is that they are the first point of contact with gliding for nearly ¼ the population of Australia. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of gavin wrigley Sent: Friday, 27 August 2010 7:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a Movement I couldnt agree more, Ian. In addition to 'chivvying' those who have already evidenced some interest by taking a flight, lets get a bit more smart about those we pitch our market to. I have already revealed my disinterest in the treadmill of gift companies/grandpa's birthday/air experience flights. Fine, dont refuse them, but they wont create new members. Lets make it easy for other pilots to try (or re-try!) gliding. Include model aircraft enthusiasts, hang gliders, RAA and GA pilots. They have already revealed their susceptibility. And dont just plod through 'effects of controls', perhaps done by a relatively new instructor....unless that instructor has initiative, enthusiasm, some soaring skills and the ability to demonstrate the 'Joy of Soaring'. Show what is possible after plodding through the 'effects of controls'...gliding IS different! For that matter....what about schoolchildren? If anyone wants to know more about the highly successful 'Flying' course that is PART OF THE SCHOOL PROGRAMME for all of the year 10 students at a school on Darwin then I am happy to give details, and a professionally produced DVD is available. Quite a number of established/confirmed/advanced glider pilots have shown interest in the fact that such a programme exists, and has done for ten consecutive years now. But not one, to my knowledge, even though they expressed great approval for the idea, has tried to introduce anything similar in their locality. Its pissing with rain here in the UK. Thats my excuse for so many posts in such a short time! _____ Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:26:50 +1000 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a Movement Gary+ others, Meant to say think we (GFA and CLUBS) need to convert try and convert as many as possible 3 month into 12 months memberships. Thus I think 3 month members should get a letter one month out explaining their options for the future and I would do a McDonnalds "we have a special for you upgrade your 3months to 12 months by paying $xxx (about $150 or whatever) but you must do it by expiry date of say Oct30" One week before they get email reminder and on the day send a SMS to UPGRADE TODAY. These days I insure with Bingle (online version of AAMI at 2/3 the price) and at 12noon of exp day I get an SMS and go on line and it is paid. It works for AAMI. So my thoughts are McDonnalds upgrade, or do you want to buy this weeks special at Supercheap or top up your phone credit before a certain date to keep your credit. Even Woollies fuel is spend $5 on 2 milk and get another 4c/lit off so milk costs $1 a litre Importantly lets all do something rather than sit on our hands till the last person has to turn out the lights Any other ideas out there? Ian McPhee _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring -- This message has been checked by EnBox Email Security and is believed to be clean. _____ _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _____ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3094 - Release Date: 08/26/10 04:34:00 _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring -- Sent from my Mosquito VH-FQD Try Gliding www.gliding.com.au -- This message has been checked by EnBox Email Security and is believed to be clean.
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