If it were up to you?.....

[Bundy]

I think the biggest issue is that the general public are not aware of LSA/Trikes schools and airports.

Someone interested in Aviation would go to Rand,Grand central , Lanseria or Wonderboom to try and find out about gaining a license.

Not one of these places would advise the person to get a National pilot license or to fly trikes or 3 –axis microlights. All of them would say that you have to do your PPL.

The magazines on the stands does not advertise LSA airfields or clubs.

My suggestion is to sell the Missa magazine at the same shops that sell the SA flyer and African Pilot.

Mmm... now there is something that could really make a difference!

[Jean Crous]

Guys, i think t-bird hit the nail on the head...........come now MISASA ,what say the powers that govern MISASA
Jean Crous.

[John Boucher]

Gents...

There is a cost factor here that one has to consider and other legal issues I am sure Alan Mac will be able to answer that. At the moment many complain about their MISASA fees and we do offer real value for money in that department by providing 4 magnificent mags and plus some freebies with that.

I look at other issues such as creating awareness... look at this thread.... viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17080

17 votes in total out of 141 views. What am I to make of that? So should we just leave it? Is it going to come down to a couple of guys working there arses off to satisfy the masses that might not even be there?

I look back at the response I got when asking for details of flight schools, what do they offer etc. the response I got then was dismal. The flight schools also need to pull their finger out of you know where if they expect us to assist and create awareness.

[Low Level]

Someone interested in Aviation would go to Rand,Grand central , Lanseria or Wonderboom to try and find out about gaining a license..

Absolutely true. At the gyro day last year, I took a schoolboy up, who saved his pocket money for almost a year, to pay for an intro flight at Wonderboom. When I told him about LSA, he was stunned. Never heard about it. Organized him an intro in a Thunderbird. He is hooked. He visited Rhinopark twice after that on his bicycle.

With his limited budget he is going to do his LSA - fixed wing - now.

[ZULU1]

Actually Bundy, it is up to us ! I have been canvassing for a while for a "Flying show" in South Africa. The UK has the Flying show at the NEC, Birmingham next week and the Popham fly in and trade show. Now we all know the UK weather, costs are double what they are here, regulations are just plain stupid but they still do them, with support and run from the BMAA. The french have the Blois show.

Anyway enough of what they do, why cant we also do something similar but link with the Gyros, PPG and others...we actually no longer have a local trike, Solo wings are exporters now and hopefully Rainbow start selling again in some volumes. Basically the fleet is starting to show age (even though dusty).

My hopes are on our February flying show at Tedderfield, its organized so lets all support this event, maybe next year do a Cape number or even better still do both ?

If its not supported by us, what hope have we for getting the public to attend ?

Zulu1

[Tumbleweed]

AS much as we love our mag, average Joe soap won't buy it. As it is the only flying mag decently distributed is the SA Flyer and sells less per month (in my store) than the dog, cat and bicyle mags.

I agree with exposure and think the guys with everything to gain i.e. the flight schools, flipping operators and airplane agents need to contribute seperately to someone like a Misasa commercial dept who will cross advertorial with the life style mags like Mens Health, SA Caravan, Stywe lyne, SA bike and the quad set-up with a link to a nice web page.

With all respect ( and I'm sure will unleash the wrath of the vollenteer's scorn) I think the Misasa web page could be more user friendly, no membership log- in unless wanting to contribute to a topic,and more exciting. Give the paying flight schools and operators, fly in destinations preference to showcase their web page e.t.c.

As far as the Tedderfield event, I would love to go but as I'm 150 kms away, weather constraints and availability means I won't know if I can fly in till the previous evening. Maybe we should embrace this camping issue more if okes will make space in the hangars so we can stay over and get our money's worth.

[John Boucher]

Hi Paul

The invitation is going out via official channels to all sub-sections of AeroclubSA (some have heard and are keen to also attend!)

I have secured a brief on S&R from Santjie White with a possible show of the Mountain rescue guys.
I have approached a member on our EXCO with the CAA involvement
I am in the process of RAASA presence and involvement.

The sellers of their products need to get on board as do the flight schools etc.

As for having to fly-in to Tedderfield... if you can't fly, then why not drive?

[Asterix]

I think creating public awareness is a good idea - but agree with Tumbleweed around eg. the sale of magazines etc.

Thing is - even amongst Trike/LSA pilots - aviation is still kind of a niche thing - and it is not about affordability - if you can afford a decent motorbike you can afford a trike. Some / most? people do not like the idea of micro-aviation - and that is their right.

Will the sport really die if the majority of people say "no" to it? I think not. As to new recruits - this is the challenge that the schools face, and they will have to step up marketing if they wish to survive.

Personally - I think a big step will be taken if we can just get the qualified okes to START FLYING!!

[Asterix]

I think creating public awareness is a good idea - but agree with Tumbleweed around eg. the sale of magazines etc.

Thing is - even amongst Trike/LSA pilots - aviation is still kind of a niche thing - and it is not about affordability - if you can afford a decent motorbike you can afford a trike. Some / most? people do not like the idea of micro-aviation - and that is their right.

Will the sport really die if the majority of people say "no" to it? I think not. As to new recruits - this is the challenge that the schools face, and they will have to step up marketing if they wish to survive.

Personally - I think a big step will be taken if we can just get the qualified okes to START FLYING!!

[Asterix]

I think creating public awareness is a good idea - but agree with Tumbleweed around eg. the sale of magazines etc.

Thing is - even amongst Trike/LSA pilots - aviation is still kind of a niche thing - and it is not about affordability - if you can afford a decent motorbike you can afford a trike. Some / most? people do not like the idea of micro-aviation - and that is their right.

Will the sport really die if the majority of people say "no" to it? I think not. As to new recruits - this is the challenge that the schools face, and they will have to step up marketing if they wish to survive.

Personally - I think a big step will be taken if we can just get the qualified okes to START FLYING!!

[John Boucher]

Personally - I think a big step will be taken if we can just get the qualified okes to START FLYING!!

Now there's a SERIOUS STATEMENT!

[t-bird]

If publication is an issue then why not a microlight ad in the current aviation mags which feature all the airfields with some weblinks ?
Or an add in the You,Car or even popular machanics ?

[Bundy]

I started this thread to stir up a bit of debate... I am glad we have had so many responses so far. Please Guys, keep them coming! When we start talking about the challenges we face, one finds the solutions quickly....

Having thought about this a bit more, extending the Magazine circulation to retail stores would be a monumental task, and when one considers that Misasa has about 1600 members, who allready get the mag for "free" just by being a member, how many magazines would we be able to sell outside of the circle? The financial cost of publishing a magazine is HUGE!

But... What about an double sided full colour pamphlet that can be handed out to attending members of the public at a few major airshows each year? This would certainly spark a little bit of interest amongst the public with regards our sport, and participation thereof? The question is how many schools would be willing to contribute to something like this? JB had allready offered to do this within our own magazine but has had extremelly poor response to his call for School Info?

Just as an example... If we handed out 20000 pamphlets at the FAWB airshow featuring an attractive cover page that gives insight to our sport as a template and then listed all the schools within the area on the back, I definately think we could get a few new recruits into the schools in question? Then we could do the same thing again in a different province...Perhaps at the George Airshow, and feature that provinces ATO's? Perhaps a free intro flight voucher can be included? Do you see where Im going with this?

The other big thing is to revive the "gees" amongst our allready qualified members! As James says, get the okes who can fly to start flying again! This can only happen on a local airfield/club level and will require that the guys based at the bigger or perhaps more well known fields go out of their way to involve pilots based there(and elsewhere) to get involved in fun events. Small monthly comps....monthly brekkies, meet and greets, perhaps a little local lecture on some interesting topics by guests etc. Lectures on Navigation, Guide to cross Country flying, mountain flying.... the list is endless.... but it takes effort! WE HAVE LOST OUR MOJO GENTLEMEN! we need to get it back!

Misasa is here to encourage any activities to promote and expand our members interests. It is one of our core values. However Member Participation is of the utmost importance here. Cant make an event due to weather or flight distance?...Then drive there! The most important part is to make an effort to attend and show your support!

[Bugwar]

Now there's a SERIOUS STATEMENT!

I agree with Asterix on this one. There is a perception, even among ML pilots and students, that it is nearly impossible to fly any further than the cabbage patch. Add the fear of making mistakes and being fined or crapped upon by the uber blik pilots, atc's and other armchair flyers on the various forums and you have a bunch of qualified pilots with frigging samoosas that just do not fly because they are too scared or it had become too much of a shlep.

Flying in the well known airspace around the patch can only be interesting for so long before your average ml pilot gives up flying and pays hangerage for an unused trike.

That does not mean that they do not like the idea of flying, it just means that actual flying does not satisfy as it once did.

So forget about pamphlets and mags and fly-inns and shows telling people about flying. Sell the adventure, get the pilots in the air and the snowball will feed it self.

[Air Hog]

I think it is a combination of a few factors.
Cost - I think the main one
Mojo - like Bundy said
Weather - very funny weather that we have this year

If I take our setup at Kroon Airfield. About 4 years back, on a Saturday morning, we will be about 20 Trikes flying to the Crater from there to the Swamps and the Klipvoordam and then back. Nowadays we are lucky if we can get 4 Trikes together. We have close to 50 aeries parked in our hangers of which MAYBE 10 fly on a regular basis. There are at least 25 of these that haven't left the ground for more than a year.
We do sent out SMS's on a regular basis, inviting pilots for a fly away on a Saturday with very little response.

The main Culprit - The economy