Cheap sailplanes

Bill Daniels wrote:


There's something about being 300 Km out over uninviting terrain that puts a
completely different perspective on the art of flying gliders. An
instructor with that experience teaches even the basics better than one
without it. He knows WHY you have to fly perfectly coordinated with perfect
airspeed control.

I'll have to disagree on this one: even though I am an instructor
(though not currently instructing) and a cross-country pilot, I don't
have any idea why perfect coordination or perfect airspeed control is
required. There are moments on some cross-country flights when good
coordination and speed control (but not anything like "perfect") are
essentials, but it's not the cross-country part that requires it: it's
the landing, and a good instructor can teach that without XC experience.

As I know it, cross-country flying is rarely about handling the glider,
but instead is mostly about judging the weather, observing likely lift
areas, and keeping a safe landing place in reach.

Sure, a good instructor with cross-country experience is more desirable
than a good instructor without it, but the most important part is very
much the "good instructor". Cross-country experience will not turn a
mediocre instructor into a good instructor. The experience might make it
easier for him to entice students into going cross-country, but I don't
think his students will as good at handling the glider than those of a
good instructor.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA