The tug pilot who towed me up (3 times) on Saturday had never been gliding until last August. He is a commercial pilot, former FJ pilot and instructor in the RAF. Within 6 weekends of coming to our club, he had: been accepted as a tug pilot; gone solo in gliders; and bought his own solo glider.
Before towing me on Saturday, he had been towed up by somebody else to do some of the pre-cross country (“Bronze”) checks. In spite of his power experience, he has no problems accepting that gliding has some different things to learn and be checked out for, and he is doing what he needs to in good spirit. He is one of three (I think) power pilots who joined us last year after posts on this forum and elsewhere advising that we welcome those who want to convert.
If a power pilot finds that every gliding club he goes to is unwelcoming, maybe he needs to look in a mirror to see where the attitude problem lies. Ditto a glider pilot who finds power clubs unwelcoming. My experience when I have landed in a glider at GA aerodromes, farm strips, and even a microlight site, has never been hostile, often very friendly, though a few were not particularly welcoming – but they had not asked me to go there, I had arrived and landed when thermals stopped and I could not reach my original intended landing site.
Not all humans welcome strangers, even more so if they are “different” in some way. It is a human characteristic. It is up to the incomer to do one’s best to make such encounters as happy as possible. Usually it works if the effort is there, occasionally not.
Chris N