Importance Of Community

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Aron - Soaring

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Nov 3, 2024, 11:46:07 AM11/3/24
to Upstate NY Free Flyers, RAF, r...@wind-drifter.com
Last night at the FSF meeting I made reference to club communications, and tried to convey a bit of Richard Cobb's perspective on community and club communications...Richard has served the flying community in many ways for many years!

Thanks Richard for this excellent piece on the importance of community in the flying clubs.

It seems we have been enterentering a challenging time again for flying clubs and keeping this stuff in mind can help keep things going:





The following thoughts are based on my experiences over 40 years in
the flying community. Many of those years were different times than
now, for sure.  Things that worked well in my time may not apply now,
but I think there are also some universal things that are timeless.  I
leave it to y'all to decide which are relevant to you.

While there are some big centers of pilots, like Chattanooga and Kitty
Hawk, the vast majority of pilots in our Eastern region have always
been part of small clubs.  With the exception of a few years or clubs
here and there, much of the time it is only a small handful of pilots
in a club that are actively flying.  Many, maybe even the majority,
are able to fly only sporadically because of family or work
obligations, and may even drift in and out of the clubs.  Yet more
than once I've watched in wonder as clubs/groups I thought were on the
verge of extinction have continued to hold on, even if by a seeming
thread.

At two different times I have talked small groups of active pilots
into dividing up titles of officer positions and 'electing' me
secretary.  As secretary, with a list of as few as 5 USHPA members, I
was able to submit paperwork to USHPA to form or renew inactive
chapters.  Although just a handful of pilots, as a chapter we had
become a USHPA entity and a focal/contact point - something to
coalesce around.  It can help other pilots to find you, and provides
more gravitas when talking to landowners.  You're not just some random
folks, but part of a national organization, with paperwork and
insurance.  This 'club' would give pilots something to join, and thus
on some level maintain their identity as a pilot, even if they weren't
actively flying.  With a little more effort a newsletter mailed out
perhaps once a year (this was before there was internet), with a list
of club members' contact information, provided a means of getting in
contact with each other.  Perhaps not much had changed - the same
group of active and inactive pilots, but now more formally part of a
community.  Currently inactive pilots had their dreams of flight kept
alive by contact with and tales of still active pilots.  Instead of
drifting away for good, some would find their way back to flying after
the kids had grown or other factors became more favorable.  I think a
key part of keeping a larger number of people engaged is to give them
the sense of being in a community, because I believe community is a
timeless human desire.

That is essentially the story of the Skywackers.  In the late 70's and
early 80's the Roanoke Valley Hang Gliding Association was very active
with half a dozen sites that were flown regularly.  By 1983, when I
first flew with them, activity had started to wane, but they were
still active.  But they had let their USHGA chapter status lapse and
weren't having regular meetings.  When they finally had a meeting in
1985 I volunteered to be Secretary, and put out a one page newsletter
later that year.  By the 1986 meeting the lost bylaws had been found
(they were needed to renew chapter status) and I submitted the
paperwork to restore chapter status.  Which was sort of ironic, as the
majority of RVHGA pilots had stopped flying.  But I had been training
some students in Blacksburg, and there were still a few active
Skywacker pilots (Big Walker area), so we were able to maintain
chapter status with new names.  The next meeting was in 1988, where
big changes were made - including loosening the previously strict
member requirements and changing the name to Southwest Virginia Hang
Gliding Association to reflect the wider area of pilot members.
Because of the rich history and the fame of the Skywacker group, that
was also adopted as the unofficial name.  This 'new' club drew members
from Lynchburg to Bland along with some eager new pilots.

I moved away in late 1988 and another enthusiastic set of officers
took over.  The club was healthy and active through the early 90's.
When I returned to the area in late 95 flying activity had started to
ebb again.  There was no active instructor in the area, and a number
of pilots were 'aging out'.  It was getting down to just a few active
pilots again, when Chris and Tammy Bowles started Southern Skies,
teaching paragliding.  Almost overnight Big Walker was filled with
eager pilots, flying those newfangled contraptions.  It was sort of a
mixed blessing at first - while we welcomed new pilots and their
enthusiasm, we also spent a lot of time pulling them out of trees.
Like any new thing, time, experience and equipment development greatly
reduced those events.

By then regular meetings were no longer being held and chapter status
had expired.  In 1999 a meeting was held to elect new officers and
change the name of the club yet again, this time to add Paragliding to
the name.  A more detailed history of these periods can be found here:
https://skywackers.org/merger.php which includes links to the
newsletters and minutes.

This put the club on another surge into the early 2000s, this time
because of the influx of paraglider pilots.  At the 2000 meeting I was
again elected Secretary (and Treasurer), which I continued until Luke
took over the job at this year's meeting.  Most of the Roanoke area
sites had fallen into disuse, and Big Walker became the primary flying
site, with activity also at Tobacco Row in Lynchburg.

Then in early 2002 Big Walker suddenly ended when the launch landowner
died and his daughter revoked permission.  Flying in the area nearly
ended, except a paraglider pilot, Joe Bartnick, opened a sketchy
launch on Crawford mountain at the same time Big Walker closed.  This
launch location was short lived, but eventually two new launches were
opened adjacent, and the beginning of Eagle Rock as it is now known
was born.  That history is here:

Meanwhile the LZ landowners at Big Walker missed "their pilots".  Jim
Bogle hatched a plan with the Forest Service to put in a road on top
of the mountain to reach his property.  The road had to be built, and
a new launch cut.  This was a massive undertaking, and over $10,000
was raised to rent equipment and other expenses, along with a huge
amount of volunteer labor.  Photos and details of that are included in
this link: https://skywackers.org/bigwalker.php and in a photo book we

It was late 2003 before the new launch was flyable.  But two flying
seasons at Big Walker had been lost.  For a lot of pilots for whom Big
Walker had been their primary site, that was the final straw that
pushed them from the sport.  And the Roanoke area pilots, who had been
making the long drive to Big Walker, now had Eagle Rock close by.

It was a rather dramatic change - the previous launch had seen pilots
waiting in line to find a space to set up on a good day.  Now there
was a large setup area, and almost no one was using it.  Jim had put a
lot of effort and expectations into the site, and the pilots he had
expected weren't coming.  He also expected us to maintain the site, as
before.  A few of us put in a valiant effort over a period of years,
but there weren't enough of us to keep up with it.  Frustrated on many
levels, Jim took the site "private" in 2012 to form the SoarBigWalker
club.  That left the Skywackers with mainly Eagle Rock and a few other
less used sites, like Tobacco Row and Peters mountain.  Presently
Eagle Rock is the only site that the club officially has.

We are at another ebb period in the club.  Ten or fifteen years ago we
had well attended fly-ins and a lot of members at meetings.  But
normal attrition with a lack of instruction in the area has taken a
toll, which was made worse by the Covid years.  Still, I have seen
these periods before, and we have new energy at the helm with Luke and
Phoenix, so I am hopeful.

I told this long winded story to make the point that a sense of
community is key to keeping a club alive.  We entered a golden period
with the advent of email groups where plans could be made and flight
reports shared.  Those who were flying only sporadically could still
be aware of ongoing plans and enjoy reading the reports.  I've often
heard such pilots say they don't get out much anymore, but they love
reading the reports.  Sometimes it may be weeks or months after a
flight that they read about it.  But they stay as members, pay dues,
and perhaps even come out for a maintenance day now and then.

While many things have changed, I think needing that sense of
community beyond just the current active flyers is vital to club
survival.  But I see the things that hold a community together getting
whittled away.  For example, it used to be that clubs maintained their
sites through work days with weed eaters and saws and sweat.  They
were hard work but satisfying and often brought out a lot of members
who weren't actively flying, but wished they were.  In recent years
hardly anyone has shown up for these, and those that did were too old
and slow to get much done :-)  So now that is hired out.  I certainly
don't mind the convenience of that, but it is a loss as far as being a
community builder.

I still routinely get requests to join the Google and Facebook groups
from out-of-area pilots (who may be thinking of moving here) or who
are interested in becoming a pilot and wanting to learn more.  In
earlier years all plans and flight reports were available to read and
get a sense of the club and what kind of flying was available.  Anyone
coming to those pages could find a wealth of information.  This year,
especially, they have gone nearly dead - a casual observer would
conclude the club was nearly dead.  In fact, I thought so myself, even
though I knew about the Whatsapp group.  I had thought that was only
for immediate retrievals, etc, not the new default mode of
communication.  I recently had one long time member write to me
off-list and say that they had "missed a summer of flying" because
they didn't know about the Whatsapp group.  That has been at least
partly fixed - the club web page now has a link on the main page
notifying newcomers of the Whatsapp group and providing a link to
request to join.

But not everyone has a strong attachment to their phone (or may only
have a very basic one), or just not be inclined to add another
app/group to keep up with general info.  I'm on the Whatsapp group
now, and I see the discussions about the upcoming Kitty Hawk Kite
gathering next month.  I believe those sorts of discussions should
also be on the list serve, as they aren't involved in current
logistics.  If someone were to join the group today, and might have
been interested in that event, they have no way of finding the
information just posted as it would be hidden from them.  Same with
things like flight reports and videos - put those on the listserve
and/or Facebook group (Luke has been doing some of this).  If they are
sent to the WhatsApp group, they will exist only on the phones of
individuals, and likely soon deleted.  They are like a dandelion fluff
- there for an instant and then gone.  When I put together the history
of Eagle Rock for the link above, I was able to access messages and
photos from over 20 years ago in the Yahoo group archive.  Now I can't
even find information about the recent Flyin, since I joined the group
after it was over.

A response I received several times is that "all the flying groups are
using Whatsapp" now.  I see the very real usefulness for flying-day
communications.  But I also see another case of what was once a
community builder being lost to convenience.  Which concerns me no
less because it is a widespread practice.  Our sport is facing ever
greater challenges with loss of sites, fewer members, and rapidly
increasing costs.  Without widespread local community support, I don't
see how our sport will continue to exist.  It has never been just the
active pilots who have kept our clubs alive.

OK Boomer. Get off my lawn.  I know many younger folks, if they even
get this far reading this, will dismiss it as the ruminations of a
fossil.  I don't deny the fossil part.  But I think some things are
timeless.  Flying was a keystone of my life for over 40 years.  My
flying years are over, so it wouldn't directly affect me if the sport
died tomorrow.  But I loved the flying and the community, and I hope
they continue on.  A slick magazine and innovative initiatives by
USHPA are not what will keep the sport alive - there need to be a lot
of smaller dedicated communities to do the hard work of support on the
local level.  It won't be that many years before I fly that one last
Wonder Wind into the sunset.  Whatever will be will be with our sport,
but I would feel remiss if I hadn't shared the things I have learned.

Boo Waa

Richard

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Thank you Richard for sharing this with your clubs and including Hyner club as well - it was too important not to share it with FSF and RAF

Let's go flying!  www.soaringroadtrip.com
Youtube.com/@soaringroadtrip

Aron

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