"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
Bill Daniels wrote:


There's something about being 300 Km out over uninviting terrain that
puts a
completely different perspective on the art of flying gliders. An
instructor with that experience teaches even the basics better than one
without it. He knows WHY you have to fly perfectly coordinated with
perfect
airspeed control.

I'll have to disagree on this one: even though I am an instructor
(though not currently instructing) and a cross-country pilot, I don't
have any idea why perfect coordination or perfect airspeed control is
required.

It's because with that skill you can climb in a weak thermal a sloppy pilot
can't use. Sooner or later, that will make the difference in getting home.

In addition, every TE probe I have flown with is sensitive to even slight
yaw angles. If the glider is always yawing, the TE vario data isn't
reliable and centering a thermal will be harder.

Bill Daniels