Hi... and some questions from a beginner

On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 5:54:29 AM UTC-7, BobW wrote:
On 5/18/2015 11:34 PM, Johnny T wrote:

Informative background stuff snipped...
Congrats on reaching a point in life where your soaring itch needs scratching
again. I hope it's a blast!

1) Here is the thing... my local club (back on the east coast) uses a 2-33
as their trainer. I am a little uneasy about the transition from the K-21
back to the 2-33. I mean, I do hold some sentimental value with the 2-33,
but I kinda want to move on. The club also has a Grob 103 Twin II -
however, they no longer use this for training. Hmmm... Advice on this
transition would be very helpful.
It's unclear to me to which transition you're referring, 2-33-K-21 or K-21 to
2-33. Minden's advice should-oughta be adequate for the former, while
muscle-memory (and a good dose of reflective rationalization!) will prolly
work for the latter. Obtaining your license (and the "informal but real
outside respect" accompanying it will presumably go a long way toward reducing
your club's access-restriction on G-103 training (though I'm curious why
they've evolved from where they apparently used to be in this regard...I hope
it's not because of the experience-demolished antediluvian attitude having to
do with "difficulty of teaching/learning" much more common 20 years ago in the
U.S. than now). In any event, you gotta fly what you've access to, and
maintaining a healthy philosophical attitude will be better than mentally
bemoaning the absence of perceived perfection.


The transition I am most worried about is K-21-2-33. Being that my previous gliding experience was 20 years ago, I am not really counting any of that experience. I feel like I am starting from scratch with maybe a little bit of head-start.

I guess it will all depend on how much I progress during my week in Minden and whether I can find any instructors at my local willing to teach on the Grob. We'll see, and I will update once this becomes more clear.


3) What is the European equivalent of the SSA?
SSE? (Joke attempt, people!!!)

Not really a joke... Is there no promotional / liaison organization in Europe like the SSA? Would that be FAI?

I am simply interested in checking out how things are promoted in other areas besides the US.



Something to the effect of "Note: The artificial horizon feature is not
allowed for contest soaring".


I still don't understand why an AH is disallowed for contests?

Bob W.

Thanks for the feedback. My brain is currently in sponge mode absorbing everything it can find.