Newbie glider pilot finally got to fly

Hi Don,

I'm so new that newbi makes me sound old. My brother and I just finished 16
of 25 flights in a glider flight training program with Tom Knauff and his
lovely wife, Doris Grove at Ridge Soaring Gliderport in Julian, PA ( Knauff
& Grove Soaring Supplies )). Their place, along with
some others, was highly recommended in this forum. I want to thank everyone
for steering me there!

I will be very happy to solo in 30 sessions (I'm 62 yrs old). It's
difficult to describe the experience because as they told me, flying isn't
like anything I've ever done. It's amazing to lean that the rudder doesn't
turn the glider, and neither does the elevator make it go or down! They
gave me lectures, books, and lessons and I still tried it my way.

The first four days were literally gut wrenching -- regularity wasn't a
problem for me at all. I seriously considered quitting every day except the
1st and the 5th. The 1st day I didn't have the sense to quit and the last
day, every thing seemed to come together in terms of completing no help tows
and minimal help landings. Interesting for me was to learn how much my
personality worked against me. If Doris had not stepped up (and I bet that
Tom encouraged her) to be my instructor, I don't believe that the 5th day
would have been successful. It's not that Tom Knauff or Mike, our other
instructors, weren't competent or supportive, my head just didn't work with
male instructors -- maybe my stick isn't long enough or something :-). The
lesson for me was that I was fortunate to go to a facility were there a
number of different instructors so that they could tailor my training, not
only to learning a new skill set, but also to help me overcome the
psychological baggage I was carrying with me. I believe that I would have
eventually succeeded with Tom and Mike; however, it would have taken much
longer and have been unnecessarily painful.

Another thing that worked against me was not memorizing the reading material
before, I arrived at Ridge Soaring. Tom told me, "Learn the material in the
chapter self-tests word for word." I learned it pretty well in my own
words. That wasn't good enough. The wrong words can kill you. There were
a number of flying situations where I had to verbally describe the process
as it occurred -- pre-flight check lists (There was plenty of time for the
written one, but we also had to memorize a general one.), early recognition
of impending stalls, stall recovery, and preceding through the landing
pattern its check list. If I didn't have it memorized cold, there just
wasn't time to say it with all my words or remember it while under all the
stress. My training was delayed until I learned the ideas and words cold.

I apologize to Tom and Doris because the above is probably filled with
errors; however, I'm a newbie now with lots of mistakes to be made,
corrected, and much more to learn.

John in Burke, VA., USA

"Don Byrer" wrote in message
...
Hi all...

I've made a few misc posts here...but never asked what was really was
on my mind...

How (and where) the heck do I learn to fly gliders?
(this doesn't seem to be discussed...usually topics for experienced
pilots/owners)

I'm a 300-ish hour Commercial-SEL with aspirations of becoming a
single engine CFI.
But, ya know what? All the studying is getting old, and I really
wanna go DO something new...
Especially something I can do for a reasonable price. No more
financing my flying...ever!

I've always felt my stick-n-rudder skills and power-off landings could
be better, too.

I found Fun Country Soaring here in NE OH at 67D, Reader-Botsford
airport....About 40 mins SW of Cleveland.
Finally had a day off and a few extra $$ last Sunday.
Did two flights in an L-13. Aero-tow to 3000 AGL, CFI allowed me to
fly the tow from 1000' both times,
did OK the first time, got the line slack the second time and got
yanked.
He let me do the the full landing on the second trip. No lift, .3
and .4 per flight, but still fun and educational!.
(and still cheaper than a 172 at $125/hour)

Hung out the whole day and got to watch a long-time student solo.
His parents had come out to watch and were surprised that he
soloed...plus...he found some lift and was up almost an hour with a 3K
tow.
Not bad for NE Ohio...

I had a ball! Got a lot of sunburn too

I even rescheduled a Doc appt during the week so I can go fly.

How about hearing from some other newbies out there???

Don Byrer KJ5KB







Don Byrer KJ5KB
Radar Tech & Smilin' Commercial Pilot Guy
Glider student & CFI-SEL wannabe
kj5kb-at-hotmail.com

"I have slipped the surly bonds of earth; now if I can just land without
bending the gear..."
"Watch out for those doves...smack-smack-smack-smack..."