[Genghis the Engineer]

I went into London yesterday for the Ann Welch lecture (making it by the skin of my teeth having started the morning in Oban. How do people who can't fly themselves cope?)

The lecture was very well delivered, if embarrassingly poorly attended (and with a mean age of the audience at least double the mean age of the presenters!). It was however I think one of the most important presentations I've been to in a while, as it was all about what the BGA has been doing to bring young people into gliding and keep them there. It appears to be working, and they are, frankly, leaving most of the rest of aviation behind.

Please forgive bullet points, but it's really intended to start off a discussion...

- Social Media. It matters: Facebook is the single best tool, followed by YouTube.

- It's vital to have events going throughout the year, so that people don't drift off.

- It's important to aggressively pursue inclusivity: within the age group [14ish-25ish in gliding's case] everybody should feeling that flying has something for them.

- The embuggerance that is child protection legistlation was getting in the way. The solution was the creation of junior gliding centres.

- Mentoring is important. The mentors MUST be young themselves, either in the junior bracket or not far out of it.

- Link into "future fliers and fixers": have the routes into flying linked to careers, other flying options, through-life aviation involvement.

- Build links outside of gliding as well.

- Get clubs to think in terms of benefits to all of gliding / flying, and not be parochial. The mindset "why invest time in them, they'll move away when they go to university anyway" is destructive.

- Make activities family friendly. People have partners / boy/girlfriends, may be starting families. An airfield with nothing for them, won't attract pilots either.

- Make it about more than just the flying - aviation activities should equally be about the social scene, career linkages, unflyable-day-stuff...


I thought that last night's lecture was one of the most valuable bits of wisdom about benefiting light aviation overall I've ever seen. We should all be listening to what was said.

G

[Flyin'Dutch']

General Aviation and Gliding are their own worst enemies.

The reluctance to change and embrace the changes in society are the death knell.

We recently had a discussion on here about the suggestion that other training regimes than those for a particular licence could be worthwhile. It was shouted down by some naysayers pretty quickly - the reasons why?

'we have always done it like this so that is the way it needs to be'

Similarly gliding. Set up invariably means that kids need to spend whole days and ideally two days a weekend on the glider site.

Sorry that is not how modern kids operate, they have to spend a lot of time working hard for school - as that is ultimately where they have to excel, and in addition to that are the pressures of being teenage kids i.e having to hang out with their mates etc etc.

[Genghis the Engineer]

That's a valid point, and the co-ordination with studies in particular was something not discussed last night.

When I decided circa 1990 as a university student I wanted to fly, the point you make about co-ordinating studies and flying was valid to me then. That's why I got into microlighting: as "Group A" was too expensive, and gliding too time consuming.

G

[nallen]

Just to say that if you want to do youth-oriented social media, you really need more than facebook: Instagram and Snapchat seem to be essential right now, plus Twitter, and doubtless other apps will pop up, and fade away (based on an unscientific sample of four stepdaughters aged 12-23).

[Genghis the Engineer]

Just to say that if you want to do youth-oriented social media, you really need more than facebook: Instagram and Snapchat seem to be essential right now, plus Twitter, and doubtless other apps will pop up, and fade away (based on an unscientific sample of four stepdaughters aged 12-23).

Of course, if you actually have the young people running the schemes for young people themselves - as BGA appear to be doing - all of that *should* just happen?

G

[davef77]

Please forgive bullet points, but it's really intended to start off a discussion...

I hope you don't mind, I reposted your excellent post to the British Aerobatics email group. We too are trying to encourage more young people to take up our sport.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Do feed back their opinions, I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear them.

G

[davef77]

Do feed back their opinions, I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear them.

G

Wilco

[PaulisHome]

General Aviation and Gliding are their own worst enemies.
....
Similarly gliding. Set up invariably means that kids need to spend whole days and ideally two days a weekend on the glider site.

Not necessarily, and I think that's the OP's point.

At my gliding club for example, we have booking training by the half-day. We long ago recognised that a lot of people were time-poor. And (partly) as a result, we have a thriving cadet and junior group, along with a strong university group. But I'd say that that's a minor point compared with the other things that are done to encourage those groups.

The junior gliding programme is pretty impressive though.

Paul

[davef77]

Do feed back their opinions, I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear them.

G

It just got picked up by the American aerobats, the IAC, too.

I will pass on any discussion from there too (if any).

[Genghis the Engineer]

I'm so glad that I took notes

G

[Flyin'Dutch']

At my gliding club for example, we have booking training by the half-day. We long ago recognised that a lot of people were time-poor. And (partly) as a result, we have a thriving cadet and junior group, along with a strong university group. But I'd say that that's a minor point compared with the other things that are done to encourage those groups.

The junior gliding programme is pretty impressive though.

Paul

I think that proves my point!

The majority of gliding clubs have not yet seen the light and from what you write - when they do it pays off!

[cockney steve]

The lecture was very well delivered, if embarrassingly poorly attended (and with a mean age of the audience at least double the mean age of the presenters!).

Well, the organisers fid a sterling job of hiding their light under a bushel (as they used to say in olden days when I were a lad)

I thought I had a pretty good feel for UK GA........apparently not! I've never even heard of "Ann Welch lecture" until G's post.
I know several young 20's very well. They are a complete blank, where GA is concerned. Dad's cousin is currently flying 3-axis Microlight.....as far as 2 are concerned...."oh, cousin J is flying aeroplanes again " I am treated as an oddball, by the family, but usually prove able to "walk the walk" and the kids respect that.

How you get through to them, I don't know. One lad was an enthusiastic Brass Bander, until he discovered girls! AFAIK he hasn't picked up a Cornet in at least 4 years and seems to have lost contact with the rest of the band.

All youngsters seem to be constantly fiddling with these hand-held computer-phones.....you can post all you like on the media,it's wasted if the target-audience don't pick up on it, but teen-magazines, youth clubs....seem to be part of a bygone era.

[Genghis the Engineer]

For Steve's benefit (and anybody else who hadn't heard of the late, and extremely great, Ann Welch).

https://www.aerosociety.com/events-cale ... h-lecture/

https://members.gliding.co.uk/2017/04/2 ... h-lecture/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Welch

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/d ... ies.gender

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... Welch.html

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archi ... -ann-welch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilots-Weather ... =ann+welch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gliding-Know-G ... =ann+welch

G

[cockney steve]

Thank you for the links G. I have learned a bit about a remarkable lady.
I note the pre- lecture publicity was "preaching to the converted." Therein lies the nub of the problem.

Advertisers want, normally, to reach a targeted audience, but new ground needs to be tilled in order to attract new adherents to an activity.I see no easy route.