Mike I would have to agree, Bloomington is a bit far to drive. I see you are in the same boat as I.Originally Posted by Mike Switzer
Mike I would have to agree, Bloomington is a bit far to drive. I see you are in the same boat as I.
Carl - Sounds like your chapter has turned a VERY important corner for keeping the chapter alive. I pass on this advice - don't stop recruitment efforts. To not back fill with younger members will lead to the state of many - collapsing very slowly.
Last edited by Jim Heffelfinger; 05-28-2013 at 09:50 AM. Reason: directing comment
Wow. This thread is incredibly revealing about the folks that haunt these blogs. Lots of complaining about chapters or chapter members. Some bickering over just the hint of politics. With the exception of the two Jims, no positive comments about the EAA or EAA chapters. Hopefully I'm wrong here, but I perceive a complete unwillingness to step up and attempt to address any of the issues listed.
-CubBuilder
Hey now - I believe I made a positive comment about the chapter in Bloomington. If I didn't live over an hour away I would join that chapter. Actually, I know of people that live farther away than I do that are members of that chapter - but my truck gets 15 mpg max & diesel is well over $4/gallon around here. Plus, being self employed I tend to work at least 12 hours per day.
If you look back over my posts, you will find that I have plenty of good things to say about the EAA and I have been a contributor to The Experimenter. My issue is mostly with the local chapters which I long ago recognized as immovable objects and I wish to attempt to address the issues in a way that is likely to yield results. Trying to dislodge entrenched troublemakers is next to impossible so I am being positive and trying to find a beneficial way to help the local homebuilding community.Wow. This thread is incredibly revealing about the folks that haunt these blogs. Lots of complaining about chapters or chapter members. Some bickering over just the hint of politics. With the exception of the two Jims, no positive comments about the EAA or EAA chapters. Hopefully I'm wrong here, but I perceive a complete unwillingness to step up and attempt to address any of the issues listed.
-CubBuilder
Unfortunately in science what you believe is irrelevant.
"I'm an old-fashioned Southern Gentleman. Which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-***** when I want to be."- Robert A. Heinlein.
Thank you Jim for starting this thread...excellent question. We get this question a lot here at the Chapter office in Oshkosh. Many of our chapters are referred to as "good ole boy clubs"...and that is painful to hear. Our mission at EAA is to grow participation in aviation thru our chapter network and most importantly bring in new younger members and share that the dream of flight can become a reality. With our new Eagle Flight program....qualify that friend, neighbor, relative...that has always thought about getting their pilots license...have them join the EAA FAmily thru your chapter...take them on that Eagle Flight...then mentor them (the entire Chapter can mentor them)....here at HQ we want to be able to provide tools for your chapter to grow and thrive!
Thanks Trevor for your view. I have found that there is an extremely high correlation between my chapter challenges and chapters nationally. This is only one.
Once a chapter has a "specific personality" is is really hard to re-blend it as the personalities seem to ward off change.
How do you rebuild a chapter - a deliberate effort - one family at a time.
Thank leadership for creating the Eagles program. It is time to fill the gap. I hope HQ can strike a deal with some of the same sponsors as the YE program ( or at least special consideration) has.
Just because we bring up issues that are holding back these clubs does not make us " negative " as you state. So with your way of thinking if you see a problem and bring it up you are " Negative"Wow. This thread is incredibly revealing about the folks that haunt these blogs. Lots of complaining about chapters or chapter members. Some bickering over just the hint of politics. With the exception of the two Jims, no positive comments about the EAA or EAA chapters. Hopefully I'm wrong here, but I perceive a complete unwillingness to step up and attempt to address any of the issues listed.
-CubBuilder
My Dad told me....You do not need to know all the answers, just know where to find the answers....
I have tried and tried to find the answers I seek for the problems I am having with my airplane. Without support I am done. I have tried and tried with no luck to solve this problem.
You want to talk negative, go to some of these clubs we mention here and mention you want to change the way they do things...You will hear nothing but negative this and negative that. They will give you a 100 reasons why they do what they do and it will all be negative about aviation. When I heard this after joining a club after buying my first airplane, I thought to myself, why are these guys even doing this if non fly for fear of flying...Everyone had a story as to why they do not fly...and fear was the common word or thought.
One man whom is way over weight today, I asked why not loose some weight and fly again. He then tells me about a flight where he put her in the corn field after about 7 tries trying to land in a crosswind. You could see it when he was talking about this he was scared of flying. Every member of this club had a similar story.
In my mind I thought..This is a training problem for these folks and I am not letting this be me or my story.
So I have been plugging along and trying to deal with this. The man whom can build anything and work on anything really does not need the club. Its folks like me whom never build but want to fly a homebuilt whom need the help, and then man whom builds kinda looks down his nose at us whom do not have that knowledge to build. All you have to do is follow some of my posts on not only this forum but others and you will see this.
So do not call me negative for bringing up problems I see but call me proactive in trying to change things. But I gave up on this and am about ready to give up on aviation all together, sell my airplane and move on.
The president of this club told me..Quote..You see and hear enough about people dieing doing this and you will not want to fly either.
Yeh, I was reading FLYING yesterday and half the issue was about death in aviation. Why would anyone want to get involved?
If you can't find a fun EAA chapter, go to the local RC model club.
When our grumpy EAA chapter shut down, most of the active members moved to the RC club, where all things aviation are discussed, and RC crashing is expected and part of the fun.
Bash away if you like. My point is that those behaviors listed in this thread can be addressed by the chapter leadership. If your local chapter has some of those issues, you can do something about it. I've been there and done that, so have a difficult time accepting it when people tell me it can't be done. I also recognize that not everyone is cut out to be a leader. To be perfectly honest, I still don't believe I am.
I don't think I used the word negative anywhere in my post, so certainly didn't call anyone negative. I only cited the lack of POSITIVE comments. By all means, air out your complaints. Every chapter, including my own, has it's problems. Sharing the problems as well as the solutions is important. But if you're unwilling to get involved to effect solutions, why complain?
I'd like to think this thread is about improving the chapters. Perhaps I was wrong about the intent?
-CubBuilder
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