On Mar 24, 4:48*pm, Jim Beckman wrote:
At 17:22 24 March 2011, kirk.stant wrote:



I'm glad to see the Academy acquire a fleet of modern gliders, and
support an active XC, contest, and acro program (something it couldn't
do when it was stuck with those nasty Schweizers!).

When they had their 1-26s, they always competed. *I thought it was amusing
how they noted their off-field landings in the 26s. *Each one had a little
row of Holstein cow stickers below the cockpit rail, one for each
outlanding. *And acro in gliders as a sport makes about as much sense as
up-hill skiing.

Jim Beckman

1-26s were fine in their day - but you can't do intro rides in them,
can you? And 2-33s were (and still are) absolute junk, period. It's
great that the cadets now have modern gliders to train and compete
in. And a hell of a lot safer, by the way.

As far as acro in a glider - hmm, seems teaching acro in a glider to a
cadet who will move on to F-22s might be a good thing. Sure would
teach unusual attitudes, situation awareness, and energy management,
wouldn't it? Yeah, you can do it in a power plane, but compare the
cost of an Extra 300 to a DG-1000.

And if you have never done acro in a glider - ASK-21, Blanik 13AC,
Pilatus, Swift, etc.. you are missing a wonderful aspect of our sport
- and one that can be done on those days when there isn't any lift
around. Don't knock it if you havn't tried it!

Kirk
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