Dennis Wright - Cross Country Pilot

"Alistair Wright" wrote in message
...

"JC" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 11:51:45 GMT, Kevin Brooker
wrote:

Silver Distance is the most difficult leg to achieve regardless of
what is being flown. The actual flying is relatively simple. The real
achievement is making the commitment to leave the comfort of the home
field and start off into the unknown. A no wind 50k in a Discus is a
one thermal and one long glide flight but the pilot still has to
believe it will work. There are plenty of pilots who have high
performance gliders and never venture out more then 5 miles from home
and admit they don't have the confidence to fly x/c. As cross country
pilots, think about what you take for granted now that seemed like
complete magic when you began flying sailplanes. This list is what the
pre-silver distance pilot is concerned about and then some. Any pilot
who achieves silver distance deserves great praise and should not
considered a cheater because they used a Nimbus 4 and not a primary.
Style should be last on the list and carry no weight when evaluating
this achievment. Berating a pilot who flies a high performance ship to
make this flight is doing nothing but supporting the idea that glider
pilots are snobs and this attitude only hurts our sport which is
trying to grow. Kevin


Very well put. I agree completely.

Well I agree partly. The bit about cutting the apron strings is well put.
However a good club CFI will take pilots who are near Silver up in a two
seater and take them well away from the club just to get them used to the
risk of not getting back. It is the fear of out landing which seems to be
uppermost in many pilot's minds. I actually landed out by mistake on my
last
field landing check for Silver distance. I got my log book signed and
then
was grounded for two weeks!! I think I then had at least four attempts at
Silver Distance, all falling short, but involving a field landing -- I
actually enjoyed the sensation of landing neatly in a strange farmer's
field.

However I cannot accept a one thermal Discus trip as being equivalent to
my
Silver in an wooden Ka8. Looking at the trace of my distance flight I see
I
used seven thermals and got horribly low at one point which greatly
concentrated my mind! Now, I had to find these thermals in places I had
never seen. Local soaring with passengers at our club on a good day was
like running a bus service, as I knew exactly where to find the lift and
it
seldom failed. No; I think the idea of grading the distance in accordance
with the published polar for the machine being flown has a lot of merit.
I
don't think this is a 'snobbish' attitude. The playing field ought to be
level, or at least as level as we can make it.

Alistair Wright



I tend to agree that the 50km Silver Distance task is out of date. Those
who did it under poor soaring conditions in low performance gliders deserve
the bragging rights. Nonetheless, one's first real XC is a nail biter
regardless of the glider or conditions.

Silver Distance isn't just about soaring the distance, it's also about
navigation. High performance gliders combined with strong thermals can get
a pilot lost a lot faster than an old wood floater.

I seem to remember a story about a pilot who, after getting thoroughly lost,
landed 300km away after failing to identify his 50km goal.

Bill Daniels