worth learning to fly gliders?

"Emily" wrote in message
. ..
wrote:
Emily wrote:
\snip

If you can stand up for what you're willing to do (e.g., instruct) and
not do (e.g., maintenance), then even a club can work. Though I can see
why a club would salivate at getting a CFI (and hopefully a soon to be
CFIG) and an A&P member. Just be firm!

If you need more info, send me a private email and I'd be happy to
help.

Martin


Thank you for all the info! I'm pretty much stuck at home for a while,
since we're short of help at the office. I'll be doing this local. I
recently moved, and haven't checked out glider operations in north Texas,
but it's on the list of things to do.


I'm in Ft. Worth and although not rated as a pilot for any aircraft, I am an
A&P.

I know the airport in Decatur has a glider club and there is a huge club (?)
somewhere around Mesquite. I'm sure there are more, but these are two that I
know of.

I will add that my cousin belongs to the club in Decatur and has taken me up
once. This has to be the most fun thing that I have ever done. It was a
blast. I have flown with him quite a bit in powered aircraft, but there is
nothing like being in a glider...




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zatatime wrote:
On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:39:09 -0500, Emily
wrote:

snip
I learned from a club. I helped where I could, but there was never
any pressure to do more than offered. A&Ps help save a club a bunch
of money if they volunteer in a maintenance capacity, but I'd think
you could pass on being the club A&P without too much problem.

I do understand that, and I feel guilty, but I also need to think about
liability. The planes I saw weren't exactly maintained like the
aircraft I'm used to (airlines) and my ticket means more to me than
helping a club save a few bucks.

C. Massey wrote:
"Emily" wrote in message
. ..
wrote:
Emily wrote:
\snip
If you can stand up for what you're willing to do (e.g., instruct) and
not do (e.g., maintenance), then even a club can work. Though I can see
why a club would salivate at getting a CFI (and hopefully a soon to be
CFIG) and an A&P member. Just be firm!

If you need more info, send me a private email and I'd be happy to
help.

Martin

Thank you for all the info! I'm pretty much stuck at home for a while,
since we're short of help at the office. I'll be doing this local. I
recently moved, and haven't checked out glider operations in north Texas,
but it's on the list of things to do.


I'm in Ft. Worth and although not rated as a pilot for any aircraft, I am an
A&P.

I know the airport in Decatur has a glider club and there is a huge club (?)
somewhere around Mesquite. I'm sure there are more, but these are two that I
know of.

Caddo Mills, right? I've landed there in an airplane before. I thought
there was one up north, but an internet search didn't turn up anything.
Don't know where Decatur is.

On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 18:23:59 -0500, Emily
wrote:

zatatime wrote:
On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:39:09 -0500, Emily
wrote:

snip
I learned from a club. I helped where I could, but there was never
any pressure to do more than offered. A&Ps help save a club a bunch
of money if they volunteer in a maintenance capacity, but I'd think
you could pass on being the club A&P without too much problem.

I do understand that, and I feel guilty, but I also need to think about
liability. The planes I saw weren't exactly maintained like the
aircraft I'm used to (airlines) and my ticket means more to me than
helping a club save a few bucks.


I don't blame you and completely understand (don't feel guilty).
Without your job, you couldn't afford to glide! Someone else said to
just be firm. I agree and think you can do it in a polite way. If
the club is fairly large, you should be ok, and I'd hope they
understand your position.

z

The difference between power planes and gliders is similar to the difference
between having a small motorboat vs. a similarly sized sailboat on a lake.
After two or three laps in the motorboat, the fun is gone. You can go
sailing for years.

Others have pointed out the pluses and minuses of a commercial vs. club
operation. In addition to limiting the amount of personal time invested, a
commercial operation usually gives you the option to fly during the week
(most clubs are primarily weekend operations), making it possible to get
your rating in a much shorter period of time than thru a club using
volunteer instructors.

On the other hand, a lot of the fun of soaring is hanging out at the field
in a club environment and helping out with launching / retrieving gliders,
etc..... Another option, if you have sufficient hours, is to help out by
acting as a tow pilot.

Mike Schumann

"Emily" wrote in message
. ..
Haven't actually flown VFR much for years, except while instructing. I
really only fly to go somewhere, but have been toying with the idea of a
glider rating for a while. Is it worth it? The glider clubs I've talked
to find out I'm an A&P and want me to maintain their aircraft, something
I'm not willing to do. Are clubs the only way to fly gliders? I kind of
just want to do my lesson and go home, and not worry about "working" at
the airfield.

On 2006-06-18, Emily wrote:
Haven't actually flown VFR much for years, except while instructing. I
really only fly to go somewhere, but have been toying with the idea of a
glider rating for a while. Is it worth it?

There are commercial operations which are just like a regular FBO, but
they are not as common as a club. You can always tell the club when you
join that yes, I'm an A&P, but no, I'm not doing your maintenance
(although generally in a club environment, everyone has to muck in
somehow - but there are plenty of other non-A&P jobs to be done such as
flying the tow plane to running wings).

As for whether soaring is worth it, I'll just let my videos speak for
that. You'll need an MPEG-4 video player - if you don't have one get VLC
- http://www.videolan.org - which is a free open source MPEG-4 player.

http://www.alioth.net/Video/AGC2005.mp4
http://www.alioth.net/Video/HatCam.mp4

(There's a few others in http://www.alioth.net/Video)

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