Cheap GPS Loggers for FAI Badges - Status?

"f.blair" wrote
I can't believe that the documentation for the Silver flight made you leave
Soaring.

It didn't. But see, had I gone to the contest and gotten hooked, I
might still be soaring regularly.

What made me leave? There was a higher fun/challenge to hassle ratio
in other forrms of aviation. The documentation was just one of the
hassles - there were many others. I know many, many glider-rated
pilots who are still flying regularly - just not in gliders. Those
are ALL people with the time, money, and desire to fly who gave
soaring a shot - and were not retained.

The flight back with it's challenges is what keeps people in Soaring

You're right. Some people are dedicated enought that they stay in
despite the hassles.

In my personal opinion, cross
country experience should be required of any CFIG so that you can prepare
the students for all phases of Soaring, just my 2 cents worth.

And I agree with you. In fact, it IS required most places. In the
UK, the Silver is required before you can instruct at any level. When
I found that out, I put my CFIG training on hold until I met the
requirement. I guess I was of the opinion that what counted was
making the flight, not the documentation. I'm not so sure anymore.

Next time you are droning across the sky in the rented power plane, keep
looking at the clouds and wondering if I was in a glider could I get from
here to there.

There is much, much more to power flying than what you describe. It
has its own challenges. Sure, droning along in a rental Cherokee on a
blue sky day isn't much of a challenge. In fact, if that were my only
other option, I would still be soaring, in spite of the hassles. In
power as in soaring, doing the fun stuff generally requires that you
become an owner. Go cross the Gulf of Mexico sometime (in a twin, of
course) in and out of cloud, dodging T-storms by a combination of
visual and electronic references, and top it off with a landing on a
2700x20 strip in the Florida Keys with a built-in 20kt crosswind -
then tell me about challenge.

Michael

All,
Michael makes two very salient points:
1. The hassel to fun ratio is very high in soaring.
2. You can have a lot of fun flying an airplane. In addition, the hassel
factor is , in most cases, much lower.
I add a couple of my own;
3. There is little cost difference.
4. There is very little seasonal variation in usefulness, that is, you can
power fly all year round.
5. No SSA politics and a generally friendlier bunch at the airport as
opposed to the glider operation.
All that said, I'm back in a glider after a 20 year lay off.
Cheers!, Pete
"Michael" wrote in message
om...
"f.blair" wrote
I can't believe that the documentation for the Silver flight made you
leave
Soaring.

It didn't. But see, had I gone to the contest and gotten hooked, I
might still be soaring regularly.

What made me leave? There was a higher fun/challenge to hassle ratio
in other forrms of aviation. The documentation was just one of the
hassles - there were many others. I know many, many glider-rated
pilots who are still flying regularly - just not in gliders. Those
are ALL people with the time, money, and desire to fly who gave
soaring a shot - and were not retained.

The flight back with it's challenges is what keeps people in Soaring

You're right. Some people are dedicated enought that they stay in
despite the hassles.

In my personal opinion, cross
country experience should be required of any CFIG so that you can
prepare
the students for all phases of Soaring, just my 2 cents worth.

And I agree with you. In fact, it IS required most places. In the
UK, the Silver is required before you can instruct at any level. When
I found that out, I put my CFIG training on hold until I met the
requirement. I guess I was of the opinion that what counted was
making the flight, not the documentation. I'm not so sure anymore.

Next time you are droning across the sky in the rented power plane, keep
looking at the clouds and wondering if I was in a glider could I get
from
here to there.

There is much, much more to power flying than what you describe. It
has its own challenges. Sure, droning along in a rental Cherokee on a
blue sky day isn't much of a challenge. In fact, if that were my only
other option, I would still be soaring, in spite of the hassles. In
power as in soaring, doing the fun stuff generally requires that you
become an owner. Go cross the Gulf of Mexico sometime (in a twin, of
course) in and out of cloud, dodging T-storms by a combination of
visual and electronic references, and top it off with a landing on a
2700x20 strip in the Florida Keys with a built-in 20kt crosswind -
then tell me about challenge.

Michael

In article , Pete Reinhart
writes
All,
Michael makes two very salient points:
1. The hassel to fun ratio is very high in soaring.

Not if you have a share in a motor glider. Including self-sustainers
of course, including Schempp's Turbos.

Anyway, when there was hassle on gliding fields in my youth, that did
not put me off. mending cable breaks was all too common, soaring was
not. It is the other way round nowadays, fortunately.

But I am a lifelong fanatic, which others obviously are not.

Soaring is always challenging but some times it may not be fun when you
are about to land in some nasty field a long way fro base. Hence my
long-term addiction to having an "outboard engine" like the small
sailing boats I used to crew for .....

--
Ian Strachan
Lasham Gliding Centre, UK