Club Glider Hangar?

noel.wade wrote:

...As far as training goes: I like the idea of kicking people out of
the 2-seaters at some point. I don't know if we can do it _right_
after solo - but certainly at some point afterwards.

Well, it IS a matter of presentation. By the time our students are
approaching solo they've seen the Juniors being flown and heard all
about them, so they're usually quite eager to make the transition. Like
some other clubs, we have enough trade for our two seaters without tying
them up as early solo gliders. Besides, that's what Juniors were
designed for. They're strong, easy to fly, with a low landing speed and
that huge shock absorbing wheel. Derek Pigott thinks its the ideal early
solo glider. Its a little go-cart of a glider that feels really light
and handleable after a K.21 - much the same as I hear about the 1-26.

You need to get your CFI-Gs into it so they're ready to brief the new
solos making the transition. Our instructors are required to be familiar
with all club single seaters for just that reason and get several hours
per year free in the club ships to make that happen. Maybe a similar
allowance would get your ball rolling too?

Once the Junior is out and being flown regularly word should spread
about how nice it is and a queue should form. I bet part of the problem
is that nobody wants to fly it simply because its never flown and
"therefore there MUST be something wrong with it".

I flew my Silver distance in one and did it remarkably slowly, but that
was down to me, not the glider. The Poles have reportedly done 300s in
them, though its a bit slow for serious XC. You don't fly faster than 60
kts if you want to stay high, but they thermal well and are brilliant at
tiptoeing along weak evening energy lines. They have considerably better
performance on paper than a 1-26. I'd love to fly both back to back some
day.

BTW, what market was the 1-26 aimed at?

We get a lot of interested students who come out and sign up (and the
XC pilots in our club are really driving a lot of the interest and
enthusiasm around here); but then the new members leave the club
because they don't feel that they are getting timely instruction or
guidance.

We introduced a booking scheme to deal with that. Students can book a
K.21 for half a day, which guarantees at least a half share of the
glider and instructor. Part of the deal is that they must be there to
unpack the hangar (morning booking) or to put stuff away (afternoon
booking). This seems to work well and is popular with the students: its
an online booking scheme via the club's web site.

There's usually a third two seater available for trial flights and club
members who want to fly it, so casual flying and check rides don't
interfere with the booking scheme.

It also doesn't help that our current club uses a clunky 1-36 as its
"transition trainer" to single-seaters.

Was that intended as an early solo glider? How does its performance and
handling compare with a Junior?

No one likes the aircraft, so
there's not a lot of enthusiasm to get students into it.

Ah, but have you asked the students? If its as viceless as a K21 and
performs a bit better they just might like it. Hmm, or maybe not. On
paper a K21 will outperform it and the Junior would have it for breakfast.

Also, the
club that merged with us had a flight rule that _required_ students to
land a 1-26 out in a field, disassemble it, and trailer it back to the
airport. They had to do this before they could ever go cross-country
in club equipment.

That's not so silly. The land-out requirement is sort of equivalent to
having out Bronze with XC endorsement. Out Juniors are usually rigged,
but the higher performance club gliders are often kept in their trailers
on the grounds that anybody going XC in them must know how to rig and
de-rig them.

Information from other clubs on similar issues and how you've
conquered them are always appreciated!

HTH


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |