You probably have hit the nail on the head, all without mention of OFITTH's
I believe there are parallels with snow sports: Skiing is a dying sport - there are too many barriers in the way of becoming a good skier, as it needs a lot of time and money invested in lessons. Not many people are prepared to do that, and it shows. That's why snowboarding is growing: no need for a lesson, just hire a board and get a mate to show you the basics, and you can be hooning out of control down the slope with your mates in no time at all. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of DMcD Sent: Friday, 27 August 2010 10:49 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] *SPAM* RE: Death of a Movement >>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. This seems to be a bit of a blinkered discussion. Guess it would not be the Aus-soaring group without that. If you are a young person wanting to go gliding rather than power flying, you have three choices. PG, HG and sailplanes. HG is in a similar position to sailplanes. static or falling membership. PG is growing well. Why is that? Why not think of reasons why, apart from the fact that there are a lot of other young people flying paragliders, that kids would prefer to do this version of gliding rather than fly sailplanes? It's not the money. it's probably cheaper to train to fly sailplanes than it is to fly HG or PG. Perhaps it is precisely because the approach is casual and unstructured (just like most young people,) that it appeals to young people. Perhaps, if you are at school or have just left, the idea of another seemingly endless session of learning would be a big turn-off. The GPC is well-meaning but it simply extends what is already a very long period of training compared with the few minutes you might spend pre-solo in a paraglider or a hang glider. There's no real concept of "independent operator" in these alternative versions of gliding. Nothing that says that when you go solo, you can't decide where and when you fly and where you land. No daily check flights when you turn up at the club. No annual flight review with it's dubious safety checks. And once you have gone solo and got the relevant rating, you can fly anywhere in the world. >>Show what is possible after plodding through the 'effects of controls'...gliding IS different! In fact, you can demonstrate this quite easily to an HG or PG pilot on a good day. The performance and general ease of flying a sailplane and the ease of going cross country is a big selling point to anyone who has already flown another type of glider, but to do this you need to do more than a 30 minute local soaring flight at some outer suburban site. I don't think for a moment that gliding is dead. There are just more forms of it now and more choices. What can we do to make our version more attractive than the others? And more attractive to young fliers? D _______________________________________________ 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: 271.1.1/3096 - Release Date: 08/27/10 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
