At 15:03 23 March 2011, wrote:
There is a LOT of history regarding the amazingly wasteful procurement
and use of glider/motorglider/light aircraft resources in the USAF(A)
that JS and others have direct knowledge of. Thus the perceived
negativity of their posts.

I am sure that everyone will agree that soaring is a fantastic
introduction to aviation for the Cadets but like most .gov entitites
many people with direct knowledge believe that they have not spent our
resources very effectively.

But heck, what's $5 million? It's for the children.

It used to be the case (perhaps it still is) that AFA cadets
were given the opportunity to take glider lessons up to the
point of solo. Once they soloed, that was it, unless they
were accepted into the special program that led to a CFIG
ticket and some chances to compete. The Academy used
to bring their 1-26s to the Championships, and they were
always an impressive bunch of young folks.

But it seemed like the AFA never could get out of their own
way when it came to powered flight. The last time I was
there for a 1-26 bash, there was no powered flight available.
Seems like they always either over specified the requirements
for a trainer, or just plain made bad choices. Couldn't keep
them flying, and wasted impressive (to civilians, at least)
amounts of money.

When they decided to replace their 2-33s (about a dozen
of them) with the Blaniks, the 33s were left tied down
outside, where about half of them were destroyed in a
storm. The rest were parceled out, mostly to CAP units,
I suppose. Useful in search and rescue operations, no
doubt.

[Then again, the last time (ever, I guess) the 1-26
Championships were held at the academy, the first
practice day started with a pass by a tight formation
of grey F-16s. Not every glider contest gets that
treatment. And later we had demonstrations by their
parachute team, and a low pass by the Caribou.]

Jim Beckman