Motivation & Goal
A principle worth emphasizing is the political independence of the booster club. Consistent neutrality ensures that the promotion of gliding is in the foreground and that no conflicts of interest arise. Transparency is another important element. Great importance is attached to ensuring that all activities, decisions and financing are fully comprehensible to members, supporters and sponsors. This creates trust and strengthens the acceptance of the sponsoring association.
The booster club provides a platform where supporters and sponsors can implement projects and ideas in the sport of gliding. The focus is on comprehensive support that is not limited to a specific concept or target group. Rather, the association strives to develop and support promotional measures for all areas of the sport of gliding. Club measures up to the top of the popular sport shall be promoted as well as individualists in the competitive sport. Certainly, the generation of young talents and their promotion will be supported by specific measures and projects in order to secure the continuity of our sport in the long term. Another main focus will be on a profound and sustainable safety culture. In order to create access to our sport for people with disabilities, the booster club will also be involved in inclusion measures.
Together Strong - The structure of our club
How does the booster club works?
The team behind the booster club
The people behind this club have decided to support the sport of gliding for a variety of reasons, using their skills. We would like to introduce them.
Felix Hoffmann
First chairman
Gliding is my hobby and profession. Thanks to my father and uncle, I grew up flying at the Aero-Club Bünde in the middle of Germany. Since the beginning I was fascinated by gliding. At the age of seven I flew for the first time, at 13 I started my glding education and after I got my license I started with cross country gliding. After my first competitions in 2008, I was able to develop further, especially through the time in the regional squad of NRW. I was able to gain my first experience at the association level in 2016 - 2020 in the gliding commission NRW together with Sigi Baumgartl, who had a lasting influence on me. Since 2017, I have been involved as a board member in the regional booster club "Förderverein Leistungssegelflug NRW e.V.". Based on the experiences from this booster club, this new nationwide booster club "Förderverein Segelflug e.V." was created.
Max Mensing
Second chairman
I started my flying career in the gliding group Wenningfeld near the Dutch border in NRW. After receiving my license at the age of 16, I was able to pursue cross-country and competition flying thanks to the great support of my family and friends. For me, gliding has always been more than my own experience- and result-oriented flying. So it became a matter of course for me early on to pass on knowledge gained as a flight instructor and two years later as a mentor of the "Förderverein Leistungssegelflug NRW". I have supported the idea of the new and probably unique nationwide booster club from the beginning and am firmly convinced that we are creating something sustainable for our sport.
Lucas Boumans
Webmaster
Hello World
Sebastian Pfohl
Administrator Classifieds
I started gliding in 2001 at the aviation association Greven at the airport Münster-Osnabrück. Due to my studies and job I have been living and flying in southern Germany for more than 15 years. I like to fly cross-country, but I am not a competition pilot - for me the flying experience is in the foreground, especially in the Alps. For about ten years I have been working in the classifieds team. It is especially important to me to provide glider pilots in Germany and abroad with a secure, well-maintained and moderated platform that will remain free of charge in the future. I have enthusiastically supported the idea of integrating the classifieds into the booster club "Förderverein Segelflug e.V." from the very beginning.
Matthias Langrock
Administrator German Gliding Forum
I started gliding in Arnstadt in 1978. Unfortunately, at the end of 79, due to the political circumstances in the GDR, it was already over again. The new start came in 2000 in Gotha on traditional ground. Since 2010 I am flying in Bad Berka in Thuringia. I like to fly spreaded routes and also relaxed competitions, where the common flying is in the foreground. In the club I have been taking care of the gliders for many years as workshop manager. I have been enthusiastic about the German Gliding Forum on Segelflug.de for a long time, first as an avid user and since about 15(?) years also as a moderator. Especially the technical topics and also the legal consideration of those in the area of conflict between EASA, LBA and club I found enormously helpful. As a moderator, you have to put up with a lot and also enforce the operator's positions. Therefore, the decision to discontinue the forum was difficult for me to understand. I am glad that with the foundation of the German Booster Club Förderverein Segelflug e.V. the forum contents have found a new home and I will gladly continue to accompany the new start as a moderator. I am convinced that the new association will ensure that we will not get into such a situation again.
Rolf Engelhardt
Administrator German Gliding Forum
I inherited my passion for gliding from my father. As a typical airfield kid, I started gliding training in August 1980 shortly before my 14th birthday and continued with cross-country and competition gliding immediately after receiving my gliding license and have remained faithful to this hobby for more than 40 years. During this time, I have already taken on many voluntary tasks in the club and national association. Be it as a youth representative, treasurer, workshop manager in the club or as a DMSt national evaluator for the association. I now fly at the Brandenburg Flying Club near the city of Brandenburg an der Havel, where I work as a flight instructor in the club and as a trainer, supervisor of the support aircraft and section chairman in the state association. Fortunately, I am married to a glider pilot and my two grown-up children are already out of the house, so there is acceptance for my honorary posts in the family environment. As workshop manager, I have always enjoyed using our knowledge community with the gliding forum and contributing to it. I would therefore like to revive this type of efficient exchange of information in my role as moderator and help to ensure that this takes place in an objective manner.
Uwe Bodenheim
Press Releases
I grew up on the airfield and gliding became my passion. My flying home is the SFG Wershofen in the Eifel. There I am active as a flight instructor, but I can also look back on some experience in press work and as a board member. Some years in the national youth leadership brought me valuable experiences in the association work. As a passionate cross country glider pilot I like to pass on my experience as a trainer to the new generation. With vintage gliding I have recently discovered another attractive aspect of silent flight. It is especially important to me in flying to share experience and knowledge and thus bring our sport forward. For this, the Glider Forum has been and continues to be a great tool that I have enjoyed tapping into as a resource, but also filling it with what knowledge I could contribute. I am glad that through the Förderverein Segelflug there is now a future for THE "knowledge platform" of the gliding community, with plenty of room for more ideas.
Tobias Welsch
Mentor 'EP'
I originally come from Schleswig-Holstein and started flying there. In the meantime, I am also professionally involved in flying and have therefore moved my home, both flying-wise and privately, to Frankfurt. During my junior years, I was lucky enough to learn a lot about cross-country gliding in a short space of time at many competitions. Towards the end of my competition time, I discovered more and more the fascination of large, expansive flights. During this period I also joined the EP promotion program and, coming from the club class, I was immediately impressed by the performance and elegance of the open class. Since then I am convinced that this experience has developed my flying and I would like to make this experience possible for further generations of juniors. For this reason, I will help to find the best EP pilots in the future and mentor them.
Club documents
Please find below club documents that can be downloaded
Chronics of the booster club
The milestones of the club can be found in the chronicle below
| 2024 - September |
Continuation and further development of the 'EP' booster concept
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| 2023 - September |
Continuation of the classified ads and the gliding forum (formerly segelflug.de) as first booster concepts
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| 2023 - March |
Receipt of the German non-profit status
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| 2023 - February |
Entry in the official German register of associations
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| 2022 - December | The booster club "Förderverein Segelflug e.V." was officially founded at the founding meeting on 16th of December 2022 in Edermünde-Grifte. The founding members are: Lucas Boumans, Wolfgang Braun, René Brodmühler, Frank Fröhlich, Gerhard Glaessel, Felix Hoffmann & Max Mensing |