On 7/18/2014 3:53 PM, wrote:
I am curious. How many people in this discussion were hand held every step
of the way of starting to fly XC or just went out and tried it for
themselves?
Snip

...I am just asking because at
least here in Utah, my observation is that the only XC pilots I know taught
themselves. Those who are waiting for someone to take them.......are still
waiting.

Assuming by "self-taught" you mean something along the lines of absorbing
basic instruction goal-oriented essentially toward one's ticket, during which
perhaps the mentioning of badges and a broad-brush intro to the basics of XC
flight/landing concepts occurred...along with the obvious expectation that of
COURSE every trainee would eventually go XC, then self-taught worked for me.

The only mental hurdle of any significance in my mind was the off-field
landing aspect, and the thought of hand-holding never occurred to me, even had
it been a possibility in the early 1970s (which it wasn't). A person either
elected to fly XC or chose not to, and I recall being surprised that there
were people who chose NOT to go XC. I didn't realize there were until after I
had my license...and by then it struck me as quite odd!

The concept/possibility of "hand-holding-based XC training" reminds me of
something engineers (my degree) are often accused of in the
manufacturing-oriented industries with which I'm familiar. Namely, engineers
need managers/sales-types/whomever around to pry from their designing,
grasping hands the widgets...or else said widgets would never go into
production, design perfection being arguably endemic to many engineers.
("Better" is the enemy of "good enough.")

Might there be a similar effect at work in some wannabe XC pilots where the
concept of "learning perfection" is substituted for "design perfection?" One
can always learn more, but "forever learning" can also inhibit learning's
application. At some point, "Just do it!" makes sense. Distance falls out in
the wash once Joe Pilot knows how to safely pick fields.

Bob W.