rec.aviation.soaring
P. L. McWhorter
Is anybody getting anything on this?
MarkGrubb
Depends what you mean by anything, Judge.
I believe you are seeing the results of the SERIOUS decline of soaring as
reflected on the Internet.
I see it at the aerodrome in the lack of pilots, the declining numbers of
ships, the profoundly reduced enthusiasm of the remaining participants, the
closing of flying sites, the amount of gray hair and trifocals in the
cockpits, the profound absence of teen aged Ramp Rats with that gleam in their
eye, the erosion of the "body" of soaring knowledge and pilot skills that I
took for granted a few years ago.
How to stop it and revitalize soaring in the U.S.A.? I thought that maybe we
could dissolve the SSA and become the Western Arm of the British Gliding
Association.
I believe we are approaching the minimum critical mass of pilots.
Perhaps the solution is to do as you did, buy a motorglider and not worry about
it. However, as bonafide "Glider Trash", I would like to see a new Golden Age
of Soaring but am at a complete loss on how to effect it. I DO like my BGA
solution, though.
Steve Peltz
In article <19980105110...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
MarkGrubb <mark...@aol.com> wrote:
>I see it at the aerodrome in the lack of pilots, the declining numbers of
>ships, the profoundly reduced enthusiasm of the remaining participants, the
>closing of flying sites, the amount of gray hair and trifocals in the
>cockpits, the profound absence of teen aged Ramp Rats with that gleam in their
>eye, the erosion of the "body" of soaring knowledge and pilot skills that I
>took for granted a few years ago.
We continue to see a lot of interest in soaring at our club. What we're
lacking is more people with both money and time.
Tor Olav Steine
There is a thin balance here.... In our company we have this philosophy:
We are in business for fun and profit.
We shall not have so much fun that there is no profit.
We shall not have so much profit that there in no place for fun...
Our trouble seem to be this:
People with money may have little time to spend gliding.
People who loves gliding and does it a lot, does not have the money to
pay the costs.
Maybe this is a sport for the exceptions among us?
--
Tor Olav Steine
_______________________________________________________________
[========> Personal homepage: http://home.sn.no/~tos <========]
[____ Ultrafast Vector Map Engine - http://www.flexim.com ____]
Mike Culver
Is it really declining? I submit that the answer is not the same in every
region. A few good promoters who offer sailplane rides for gifts, and clubs
that aren't "old boys clubs" help promote the sport.
The SSA also deserves a lot of credit. Where would we be today (in terms of
decline) without them? Smaller, for sure.
I haven't been very active in the sport. Too busy writing computer code. But
my 10-year-old son loves soaring, and the two of us are going to make more
time for it this year.
Mike
Fred Steadman
> Steve Peltz wrote:
>
> We are in business for fun and profit.
> We shall not have so much fun that there is no profit.
> We shall not have so much profit that there in no place for fun...
I like it!
Mike Culver
And by the way, when (not if) Patrick gets his pilots license, he'll be the
fourth generation in the family, dating back to my grandfather who
barnstormed.
Mike
Geoff Groube
[This followup was posted to rec.aviation.soaring and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]
In article <19980105110...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
mark...@aol.com says...
>
> I see it at the aerodrome in the lack of pilots, the declining numbers of
> ships, the profoundly reduced enthusiasm of the remaining participants, the
> closing of flying sites, the amount of gray hair and trifocals in the
> cockpits, the profound absence of teen aged Ramp Rats with that gleam in their
> eye, the erosion of the "body" of soaring knowledge and pilot skills that I
> took for granted a few years ago.
>
>
> I believe we are approaching the minimum critical mass of pilots.
> Perhaps the solution is to do as you did, buy a motorglider and not worry about
> it. However, as bonafide "Glider Trash", I would like to see a new Golden Age
> of Soaring but am at a complete loss on how to effect it.
>
Hmmm, interesting.
This posting captured my attention because over here in Australia, (some
places, anyway) the same thing is happening. I see it when I go out to
my local club. Actually, my local club folded... so now I gotta go
someplace else. Not that I mind. The two hour drive isn't that bad, and
besides, it's good therapy.
I'm a Software Engineer (like Mark Culver; at least, like Mark, I write
Computer Code, plus doing lots of other stuff). Soaring has become, for
me, an out. It's lots of fun not having to stare into a VDU on weekends.
Funny thing is, though, there aren't too many people my age out on the
airfield (I'm just about to go through the 30 barrier). About seven
years ago, while I was still in Uni, a whole bunch of us used to go
regularly. Haven't seen any of them for a while, and don't know if they
still fly.
I think I know why, too. It has everything to do with what people like
me have created of our world over the last 20-30 years. Seems to me,
most people in my generation work REAL hard (no different from anybody
else, just different work), but then want to be entertained REAL hard
when they're off work. Think about it. How many people do you know who
seem to spend a large chunk of their off-work lives in front of the TV,
in a bar, on the Internet, stuff like that?
It's just my opinion, and it's worth what you paid for it (zip), but it
sure seems to me that Generation X has forgotten how to have fun without
somebody else entertaining them (You could also say that we've forgotten
how to think for ourselves, but I feel that's a slight exaggeration).
I'm learning soaring for two reasons. #1, I like flying. To me learning
to fly in sailplanes is common sense (something about that
word called airmanship). When I worked on fishing boats I was real glad
for the time I spend in racing yachts, because I learnt seamanship
without depending (falsely) on an engine to get me out of trouble. I see
soaring in exactly the same way. When I eventually go and get my
commercial ratings, my sailplane experience WILL make me a better pilot,
just like my sailing experience made me a better seaman.
#2, it's cheap. End of story.
Sorry this first posting is so long. I'll keep 'em shorter in future :)
Geoff Groube
geo...@uq.net.au
Martin Usher
>Funny thing is, though, there aren't too many people my age out on the
I've noticed the decline of interest in many types of 'particpant'
activities. I don't think its due to the lack of
attention_span/morals/whatever of any particular generation but the lack
of time. Its very difficult to have a decent paying job these days (in
the US) where that job doesn't make excessive demands on you - typically
where I work a 10 hour day is fairly short, 11 quite common, more
appreciated if not demanded. Add to that the needs of a family and its
not surprising that the only activities that prosper are 'canned fun'
types of things.
It takes a real effort to do anything else. But its worth it. So we have
to keep on trying.