"open source" video project for glider ratings

Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

On Nov 19, 11:56*am, thing73 wrote:
Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

e-mail me directly or call 970-330-2050 7am-10pm MT

Frank Whiteley

On Nov 19, 6:29*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Nov 19, 11:56*am, thing73 wrote:

Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

e-mail me directly or call 970-330-2050 7am-10pm MT

Frank Whiteley

It would be nice, and you think that there would be more responses to
this thread. Combating the decline in our sport should be a top
priorty of the SSA, and this would be a easy way to do it.

From the chatter on this Board, it seems that batteries, trailers, and
new gizmos like FLARM are more important.

aerodyne

On Nov 22, 1:34*pm, wrote:
On Nov 19, 6:29*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:

On Nov 19, 11:56*am, thing73 wrote:

Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

e-mail me directly or call 970-330-2050 7am-10pm MT

Frank Whiteley

It would be nice, and you think that there would be more responses to
this thread. *Combating the decline in our sport should be a top
priorty of the SSA, and this would be a easy way to do it.

From the chatter on this Board, it seems that batteries, trailers, and
new gizmos like FLARM are more important.

aerodyne

I think that most of the individuals on this newsgroup are already
pilots and the thought of videos for students is not a hot topic.

On 11/22/2010 1:34 PM, wrote:
On Nov 19, 6:29 pm, Frank wrote:
On Nov 19, 11:56 am, wrote:

Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

e-mail me directly or call 970-330-2050 7am-10pm MT

Frank Whiteley

It would be nice, and you think that there would be more responses to
this thread. Combating the decline in our sport should be a top
priorty of the SSA, and this would be a easy way to do it.

From the chatter on this Board, it seems that batteries, trailers, and
new gizmos like FLARM are more important.

Combating decline is a high priority for the SSA, but this isn't the SSA
here. It's a bunch of pilots from around the world. I know a lot of the
SSA people here, and I'm sure they are, as I am, concerned about the
decline in membership. But ... they, like me, are not likely to be
interested in stopping it by making student videos; instead, we all
contribute in our own way.

Speaking personally, I've been the club CFIG for 16 years, a Regional
director for 6 years, and contributed money and time obtaining and
retaining members for decades. Still, I have no interest or expertise in
making training videos for students.

Don't lose heart; instead, try a different venue. I suggest sending an
email to every club and commercial training group in the country, or
better yet, start by contacting the SSA Growth and Development
Committee. Those are the places where you are likely to find support for
the concept.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

As Eric as pointed out, this is a world wide forum, not exclusively
USA. As a UK glider pilot, I'm interested in this subject, but have no
expertise to produce training videos myself.

It seems to me that much of this subject matter would be of
potentially common use throughout the world. I suspect that only a
minority of the relevant information would be country specific, such
as some aspects of air law.

I have seen some training material, for example on theory of flight
etc, produced by other people, but I do not have a library of it
myself. If there is interest in sharing a worldwide database, I could
put out an enquiry among UK pilots and clubs to see what might be
available for sharing.

Please let me know if anyone is interested.

What about Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, or anywhere
else?

Chris N

On Nov 22, 2:34*pm, wrote:
On Nov 19, 6:29*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:

On Nov 19, 11:56*am, thing73 wrote:

Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

e-mail me directly or call 970-330-2050 7am-10pm MT

Frank Whiteley

It would be nice, and you think that there would be more responses to
this thread. *Combating the decline in our sport should be a top
priorty of the SSA, and this would be a easy way to do it.

From the chatter on this Board, it seems that batteries, trailers, and
new gizmos like FLARM are more important.

aerodyne

Can't even get a reply from the OP despite attempts on and off group.
Anyone know who he is? There are similar things happening out there
and I'd hoped to inform him how this might dovetail with what he
suggests.

Frank Whiteley

On Nov 19, 1:56*pm, thing73 wrote:
Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

Much of the required subject matter is the same as for airplanes. The
available resources from King, Sportys, whatever
are readily available. The only areas that vary are specifically
related to glider flying, I would guess something like 20%.
That subject matter is quite well covered by publications available
from Wander, Knauff & Grove, or others.
But, it isn't free and available on You Tube.
I suspect most of the really qualified authors of such a curriculum
likely would not be doing this for free, and hurting their text book
sales.
Sorry for cold water on your topic.
UH

On 11/23/2010 5:32 AM, wrote:
On Nov 19, 1:56 pm, wrote:
Wouldn't it be nice to collectively (amongst all the soaring clubs in
the country) to develop a soaring curriculum aimed at passing the FAA
glider rating writtens (much like King Schools do now for FAA airplane/
helicopter ratings)? We could assign topics to different clubs and
post them to you tube or other video sites. If interested, post to
this usenet.

Much of the required subject matter is the same as for airplanes. The
available resources from King, Sportys, whatever
are readily available. The only areas that vary are specifically
related to glider flying, I would guess something like 20%.
That subject matter is quite well covered by publications available
from Wander, Knauff& Grove, or others.
But, it isn't free and available on You Tube.
I suspect most of the really qualified authors of such a curriculum
likely would not be doing this for free, and hurting their text book
sales.
Sorry for cold water on your topic.

I'm not sure a student could learn just from videos, so perhaps the
videos (especially the first ones) should complement, instead of
attempting to replace, available texts. This might encourage some
encouragement from, coordination with, or even active participation by
the commercial authors.

I suspect useful videos of many aspects might be made using simulators
rather than live action. Videos could be produced this way much more
quickly, easily, and cheaply than going to the gliding club and climbing
into a glider. Good winter time fun, too!

At the very least, if might be a good way to "storyboard" what you want
the ultimate video to do, then go out and fly just the scenes you want.
Again, quicker, easier, cheaper.

I'll bet there some simulation proponents that would love to be involved.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

I suspect useful videos of many aspects might be made using simulators
rather than live action. Videos could be produced this way much more
quickly, easily, and cheaply than going to the gliding club and climbing
into a glider. Good winter time fun, too!

I think you are on to something here Eric, but I will emphasize it a
slightly different direction. Rather than a production geared at
trying to teach stick&rudder/rules&regs etc using any old sim, what
about a decent video tutorial series on how to use Condor for
legitimate training rather than just playing a video game. Kinda like
Frank's (excellent) Condor Corner in Soaring Magazine, but a video
version specifically geared towards steering non-rated pilots (and
beyond...) towards realistic scenarios/settings/hardware
recommendations, resulting in safe and applicable habits. This could
easily be non-regional, and there are many thousands of Condor pilots
already out there. The cash investment to bring it up to minimum level
is really small compared to actual training, and could significantly
reduce the time/$ needed for prospective pilots to achieve their
rating. It also keeps people that can't afford to fly current and
interested... I've got lots to share for the hardware tutorial

Related note- my own simpit is getting pretty immersive. Easily and
cheaply made from a recumbent Schwinn exercise bike (model 205p:
http://tinyurl.com/24l2wnf , which seem readily available for $20-
$50 on craigslist etc. It is really easy to move around since I put
wheels on it, and this thing is *very solid, with a fully adjustable
seat (had my 6'2" 270lb friend flying it no prob). I'm trying to make
it really easy/cheap to follow suit as well. Just about to get the
release knob wired up. I bought some Aeronca Champ pedals on ebay and
did some quick/dirty hardware work/joystick hacking and wala! I park
it in front of my projector screen and it's getting very satisfying.
I'm going to make a separate post with pics etc about this soon, but
in a nutshell...

tl:dr: A video version of 'Condor Corner' geared towards getting
individuals able to use Condor as a *real training/currency tool for
the ab-initio and beyond

-Paul