On Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:36:04 -0700, son_of_flubber wrote:

On Monday, June 3, 2013 4:55:12 PM UTC-4, Martin Gregorie wrote:

If a student isn't taught the elements of soaring during basic glider
training, why would anybody expect him to stick around for long? I
should think that flying a glider without having the necessary soaring
skills would get boring rather fast.

The theory seems to be that once a student passes the PTS, the
successful pilots take the initiative to continue and self-direct their
training until they retire entirely from flying. If pilot does not do
that, it is perhaps desirable that they get bored and quit.

With the present training fleet, the majority of pilots in the USA learn
to fly without an audible variometer and one might argue that that is
the most basic skill because batteries sometimes go dead, and many
gliders do not have audible variometers.

As I mentioned previously, all gliders in our club fleet carry audio
varios and FLARM. Part of a student's training involves learning to put
the batteries in gliders at the start of the day and taking them out and
putting them on charge in the evening. How is that different from doing
the same with the 'chutes and being involved in hangar packing and
helping with the DI in the morning?

I should, perhaps add that we use a booking system for training in which
the minimum slot is half a day (one glider + instructor per two students
for the half day). An explicit part of the booked slot is being there to
help with getting the kit out and DIed if you have a morning booking and
being there to help pack the hangar in the evening after an afternoon
booking.


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martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
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