Matt Tabor writes:

There are inexpensive marketing efforts that the USHPA could
invest in and in fact the BOD voted to engage in these activities -- provide
funding etc. It didn't happen because the plug was pulled by either the previous
executive committee or the ED. I don't really know. I feel that there is a lack
of confidence within the BOD that the money will be spent responsibly


- - in fairness probably with good reason. I still feel that the USHPA needs to
engage in press releases and other marketing endeavors that are inexpensive that
create awareness and visibility.


Roy's statement "If you have a manufacturing process with 2% yield, you don't
try to fix that by "getting the message out" in order to increase the supply of
raw material. Fix the manufacturing process first. After that, working on the
supply side might have a more significant impact.


Is important because the USHPA needs an effective referral program in place to
be able to guide potential members to a place that will in fact teach and mentor
these individuals. I feel we have a strong need to re-establish the certified
school -- call it whatever you want for liability reasons -- there needs to be a
modicum or minimum level of professionalism and service provided to be able to
turn interested individuals into new members and good, safe pilots.


Yes, we need more instructors, preferably younger instructors than the current
average age instructor. Instructors need to see (be coached) how to make a
living teaching or at least make it worth it for them to teach. I feel one of
the big reasons that we have so few active instructors currently is because of
the age of the average pilot/instructor. If you look at what an average
instructor makes and has made through out the years teaching hang gliding -- the
joke is that you take the vow of poverty to teach hang gliding. The exception to
this may be the tandem instructors. The age of many instructors is a factor
because with family commitments and family monetary requirements as well as the
length of time that they taught -- all are reasons to move on. Yet we have a
minimum of young instructors moving up that have no family to support and
participate with -- that can live, eat and sleep the sport -- like many of us
did -- and loved it. This I feel -- more than any other reason answers the
question as to the lack of active instructors. It is amazing how many 50 year
old instructors there are. Compare that with the 80s...


If the goal is turn interested individuals into pilots I strongly recommend
against the first flying experiences being a tandem flight. I believe this is
too much input for most individuals to be motivated to take the next step. From
1997 to the spring of 2005 we stated in our brochure and on our web site that it
all starts with a tandem discovery flight. Our new novice solo pilots have
dropped from 145 new soloed from our mountain or aero tow in 2000 down to 60 in
2004 and 65 in 2005. In desperation of trying to figure out why the new pilot
numbers were so bad we increased the advertising and we looked hard at what we
had changed and why. Our Tandem upgrades --even with a ground instructor,
simulator and the tandem instructor spending a lot of time each student were
horrible -- less than 2%


In the spring of 05 we changed the way we do things and now if you call and ask
for a tandem flight we will tell you that our best and most popular one day hang
gliding experience is our intro flight experience -- you will discover how to
launch the glider and then get five opportunities to surf the slopes of our
small hills in a controlled environment with an Instructor guiding you step by
step -- break for lunch and then building on what you learned during the mooring
session you will fly to an altitude of 2000' with an instructor at your side
where you will have a lot more air time to practice flying. This has increased
our real student numbers hugely and to date we have safely soloed around 85 new
pilots so far in 06. It is key to allow the student to fly as much as possible
and it is amazing that just five flights or attempts to fly have yielded more
than a 20% upgrade to a learn to fly lesson packages. Scooter tow may work
better than training hills to accomplish the five flight part of our one day
intro flight experience. We are also experimenting with this method of training.
Having the student pilot know that they can fly and demonstrating to them that
they can fly is a very big deal and is a pivotal experience. Just flying the
tandem is not pivotal for most.


I feel that the USHPA should spend $$ creating awareness about our invisible
sports through inexpensive marketing -- website, press releases etc you name it
there are many good ways and ideas.... The USHPA should also show leadership by
providing materials on how to set up a school, provide or make available the
necessary teaching materials and should work toward providing motivation to
create professional instructors. There needs to be the creation of minimum
requirements to be on a referral list for the USHPA -- these schools and
instructors should be recognized as certified or recommended
schools/instructors. The ED's financial rewards should be based strongly on
membership growth and retention -- that way the focus is clearly and correctly
placed. We need many more young instructors. As a group we should recruit and
subsidize the teaching of young pilots. Finally -- the way we use tandem
discovery flights should be discussed, researched and a group consensus as to
the purpose should be defined. I know for us at Lookout Mountain Flight Park it
has changed, Please do not confuse this with tandem instruction. Not long ago I
felt that tandem discovery flights were the key to reaching the masses -- in
some ways I still feel that way -- I feel that if we want to convert interest
into pilots/members we need to add scooter tow solo flight instruction or
training hill instruction first as a package with the tandem flight. This will
not be for everyone or anyone that is interested, however for most individuals
that are capable I feel that it is much more successful.


LMFP has had a 30% increase in new solo pilots -- new members that joined the
USHPA this year. The ten year goal of the USHPA doubling the membership is a
realistic and I feel quite attainable -- I believe the LMFP will double our new
member growth within the next 3 years.


BTW when I was membership and development chair -- the figures for where new
pilots came from was closer to 80% schools -- compared with about 20% individual
instructor. Wills Wing's Rob Kells says that glider sales are also about 80/20
or more for schools vs. individual instructors. Unlike the chatter that came up
with the 50% number I actually had hard numbers to analyze to get to the 80%. It
is a shame that the USHPA has still not understood the importance of knowing
exactly where new pilots/members come from. Unless you know how do you make a
decision other than guess?? This seams fundamental to me in running a
business... At one point the BOD voted unanimously to require the tracking of
this number -- the reason given for not tracking this number is the new data
base does not support it. -- I say fix it... or manually track it like we did
before.


What the number says to me is that the USHPA needs to be a better business
partner with instructors and schools. The instructors and schools are the front
line sales force for the USHPA for all new members/business.