The Decline of Soaring Awards

On Tue, 24 Mar 2020 14:29:35 -0700, son_of_flubber wrote:

Maybe I'm the only pilot put off the entire badge system by the 5 hour
duration flight. I'd surely get dull and bored after ~3.5 hours and
flying dull increases risk. The benefit that I'd subjectively assign to
a longer flight does not offset the risk that I subjectively perceive.

Its a useful marker: in a lower moderate performance glider, say Libelle
to Pegase, under UK or New England conditions, its going to take you 4-5
hours to cover crack 300km (Gold distance or Diamond Goal flight).

It was also useful in convincing me that I *could* stay up that long.
That, by itself, makes it a good personal goal regardless of the Silver
qualification.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org