One thing to keep in mind is that picture is the crowd in front of a sailplane vendor and the sailplane demographic is a higher age then the hobby as a whole. I am 54 and one of the youngest guys in my sailplane club.

That being said, you are correct in that we seriously lack young people in our hobby. Many theories as to why but one that accounts for some lack of interest is the current technology boom. When you and I were kids, the aviation industry was developing at a very accelerated rate. We saw men break the sound barrier, saw men land on the moon, saw a supersonic transport airplane and saw men rocket into space and land like an airplane. Aviation was all around us growing up. Look at the technology that kids grew up with starting at 1990. The electronics and information boom. Aviation has been somewhat stagnant and boring to most outside the industry. Bottom line is the 30 and younger crowd just has no interest in flying model airplanes with us old guys. A good reason to support a young man when he does show interest.

Not all is lost however. I do see quite often newly retired guys starting the hobby or returning to the hobby now that they have the spare time. We are all really not that different. Maybe opposing opinions at times but I truly believe if we were to find ourselves at the same flying feild we would enjoy one another’s company.