THE AVIATORS Soaring Episode

On 2/8/2014 12:18 PM, wrote:
You jaded purveyors of motorless flight should view this video with less
than your normal gimlet eye. The video was made for the unwashed masses of
those who are engine dependent with the idea of at least rousing their
curiosity. Snip...

I haven't watched this show, but kinda-sorta in the same vein...

The February issue of EAA's "Sport Aviation" magazine has (for the 2nd
consecutive month) a very nicely done article by EAA's Brady Lane about his
experiences (all favorable) at/with Harris Hill Soaring Club. Lane is a fairly
newbie power pilot (within the past 5-or-so years), and by my reading of all
his articles since he joined EAA - out of school, I believe - an insightful
young(-ish) man.

Here's a couple of short quotes from the February article:
- Soon I would voluntarily, purposefully, and permanently "lose" my engine.
Why would a sane pilot do such a thing? Having options is what makes flying
safe, and a power source provides options.
- I understand an airplane can fly without an engine - it's called an emergency.
- I've never been afraid of gliding, but if I don't have an engine producing
thrust, I consider the rest of the flight an emergency.
- "You nervous about flying with a 17-year-old?" my pilot asked as he helped
me buckle into the back seat of an ASK-21.
"Not at all," I responded. "I'm nervous about not having an engine." He
laughed, but he didn't understand. After all he had never flown *with* an engine.

While Brady might be wrong about that last surmise (his ride-giver was a
3rd-generation glider pilot), note the TWO "emergency" comments, preceding his
last vocalized one. In my estimation (and observations and discussions over
the years), "the average power pilot" DOES consider power loss a -
life-threatening!!! - emergency...and flies accordingly when it happens. (We
all fly best, tense, right?) That's one reason I much prefer to ride in GA
powerplanes only with "add-on power ratings" glider pilots (alternatively, XC
comfortable ones, if they got their power rating first). Their attitude is
more likely to be - after a power loss - "Crud...guess we'll be landing over
THERE." Power loss as an inconvenience vs. power loss as an emergency...

I'd bet Brady's outlook before he bellied up to the soaring bar, is Really
Common in the power-only community, even limiting it to only single-engine
lightplane types.

On his second ride (front seat, with the 1st generation pilot of his 1st-ride
pilot), they soared. From his article, one can sense blinders falling from his
eyes.

Bob W.

P.S. I e-mailed him with a warm fuzzy - and *Thanks!* - after the February
article.