New student pilot apprehensions

Let me add one thing. The instructor knows all this and is in the back
seat to keep you out of trouble. You learn only from such mistakes and
correcting them. The instructor will take over if you exceed boundaries
uncomfortable for him/her. He/she will not let you kill you both. You are
not alone with these thoughts and you are not alone in the glider. Stay
with it; it will become as unconscious as walking while talking.

At 03:20 25 April 2009, Hellman wrote:
Michael,

Welcome to the club. I think all of us experience some kind of
trepidation at first, and it's probably a good thing since it makes us
more cautious and the best way to reduce risk is to be aware of it.

Turning to your specific issues:

It's important to remember that you are learning to fly formation at
the same time you are learning to fly. That's a tough load to carry
and will make you feel a bit clumsy at first. It's not you. It's just
that you're trying to learn two things at once.

Over-controlling is normal and the solution is to relax a bit. When I
first learned to fly about 30 years ago, every time the tow plane hit
lift and would bob up, I would pull back on the stick to follow him.
Then I hit the lift and would rise above him. Stick down to
compensate. What did we get? PIO (Pilot Induced Oscillations, in case
you haven't heard that one yet) My instructor told me to try something
counter-intuitive, but that worked like a charm. Next time the tow
plane bobbed up, DO NOTHING and see what happens. Amazingly, it worked
much better. I'd hit the lift a second or two later and bob up as I
should. Of course, only try this with an instructor along. But after a
while you'll learn how much control to use.

It's well known in control theory that over control can induce
instability, especially in systems with a delay (and your reaction
time as well as the glider's introduces delay). So it's not that you
should do nothing, but the amount of control you're adding is way too
much. Over time you'll learn the right amount and your current
nightmares will seem like a distant memory.

Along these lines, when I was learning to fly, I told my wife that I
thought I'd never get the radio calls down. It was like a foreign
language. (I now realize it is a foreign language. It just sounds like
English!) She reminded me that I'd learned much harder things and
assured me that it would come with time. Of course, she was right. So
try to remember how impossible it felt to learn to ride a bike when
you were doing that as a kid. Now? Simple pie. Soaring will become the
same, but try to remember some of the caution you currently feel. It
will make you a safer pilot.

Another things that might be good would be to read the articles on my
soaring safety web page

http://www-ee.stanford.edu/~hellman/soaring/safety.html

and look for similar ones elsewhere.

Again, welcome to the club!

Martin

and a view from across the pond.

Flying straight is the hardest thing to do that's why we leave it until
last when teaching it. Its much easier to turn.
Learning on a winch helps this process because the launch bit is over in
30 seconds and initially the instructor is doing most of it.

Then the student can experience free flight and see how the glider really
handles without having a sweaty, stressful workout that seems to last an
eternity before you can fly the glider properly. In short a new student
will be mentally (and maybe physically) exhausted before he starts his
lesson.

So you don't have several minutes of trying to fly straight and, has been
pointed out, trying to fly in formation behind a noisy, blustery tug and
furthermore where the tow combination is going to be affected by thermals
activity too. Sure its difficult. Very difficult and different from
normal flight. But just like riding a bike, which as a child you must
have thought was impossible science, magic even, it suddenly clicked, you
got more and more confident and then you wondered what all the fuss was
about.

The same will happen with flying straight in free flight.

I don't fly aerotows much and at the start of season check flights I have
similar thoughts to you. But a rope break, provided you have thought about
what you are going to do (landing options, height, turn considerations-
Trees!!, other traffic etc) is no big deal. Winching teaches you that in
spades - you have got to think about and plan for all the eventualities
during each stage of the launch before you accept the rope, rather than
react and hope. Your instructor probably hasn't got you thinking about
this yet but he will. You will then feel more in control because you are
involved in the planning of the flight,

You will master it - there are very few who don't. The beauty about
soaring is that it is similarly challenging on multiple levels:
flying in a straight line,
thermalling efficiently,
speed to fly,
choice of route,
searching for lift,
weather,
situation awareness
cross country,
outlandings,
competition
airspace
and for me dealing with a third and fourth language (Dutch and German).

I describe the challenges of gliding to my non-flying friends as 'three
dimension chess' Its always different and challenging whether it is a 5
minutes up, round and down on a winter's day to a huge cross country
flight. Each flight is challenging and fun..because you have to think
about it all the time. Just like a car your controlling skills will
become automatic but unlike a car there are no roads, street signs and GPS
navigator telling you the route to take, when to turn, when to speed up,
slow down - you have got to think all the time. Brilliant.

It must be an apt and enticing description because a German colleague at
work, who is a naval maritime-strike Tornado pilot (well ex now because
the German Navy has given up that capability) has booked a weekend of
flying with me in July!!! He is that determined to ensure he does fly
even though the majority of weekends he commutes back and from Hamburg.

Welcome to the club. You will master it and have a lot of fun doing so.
Good luck.




Gavin
Std Cirrus, CNN now G-SCNN, #173
LSV Viersen, Keiheuvel, Belgium

On Apr 25, 3:15*am, Gavin Short wrote:
and a view from across the pond.

Flying straight is the hardest thing to do that's why we leave it until
last when teaching it. *Its much easier to turn. *
Learning on a winch helps this process because the launch bit is over in
30 seconds and initially the instructor is doing most of it.

Then the student can experience free flight and see how the glider really
handles without having a sweaty, stressful workout that seems to last an
eternity before you can fly the glider properly. *In short a new student
will be mentally (and maybe physically) exhausted before he starts his
lesson.

So you don't have several minutes of trying to fly straight and, has been
pointed out, trying to fly in formation behind a noisy, blustery tug and
furthermore where the tow combination is going to be affected by thermals
activity too. *Sure its difficult. *Very difficult and different from
normal flight. *But just like riding a bike, which as a child you must
have thought was impossible science, magic even, it suddenly clicked, you
got more and more confident and then you wondered what all the fuss was
about.

The same will happen with flying straight in free flight.

I don't fly aerotows much and at the start of season check flights I have
similar thoughts to you. *But a rope break, provided you have thought about
what you are going to do (landing options, height, turn considerations-
Trees!!, other traffic etc) is no big deal. *Winching teaches you that in
spades - you have got to think about and plan for all the eventualities
during each stage of the launch before you accept the rope, rather than
react and hope. *Your instructor probably hasn't got you thinking about
this yet but he will. *You will then feel more in control because you are
involved in the planning of the flight,

You will master it - there are very few who don't. *The beauty about
soaring is that it is similarly challenging on multiple levels:
flying in a straight line,
thermalling efficiently,
speed to fly,
choice of route,
searching for lift,
weather,
situation awareness
cross country,
outlandings,
competition
airspace
and for me dealing with a third and fourth language (Dutch and German).

I describe the challenges of gliding to my non-flying friends as 'three
dimension chess' *Its always different and challenging whether it is a 5
minutes up, round and down on a winter's day to a huge cross country
flight. *Each flight is challenging and fun..because you have to think
about it all the time. *Just like a car your controlling skills will
become automatic but unlike a car there are no roads, street signs and GPS
navigator telling you the route to take, when to turn, when to speed up,
slow down - you have got to think all the time. *Brilliant.

It must be an apt and enticing description because a German colleague at
work, who is a naval maritime-strike Tornado pilot (well ex now because
the German Navy has given up that capability) has booked a weekend of
flying with me in July!!! *He is that determined to ensure he does fly
even though the majority of weekends he commutes back and from Hamburg.

Welcome to the club. *You will master it and have a lot of fun doing so..
Good luck.

Gavin
Std Cirrus, CNN now G-SCNN, #173
LSV Viersen, Keiheuvel, Belgium



Don't be in such a big hurry to be in perfect position behind the tug.
I too would over correct and slide from one side to the other behind
the tug. I have found a slow drift back into position works better.
Don't wait to counter your correction, remember it takes time to stop
the momentum in which ever direction your correcting. As stated
previously what ever the tug flies through, you are to in a second or
two. Encountering lift at low altitudes will affect you more than the
tug, so you may pitch up a little more, but don't dive down to get in
position or will "over fly the rope". You will find it takes very
small, gentle inputs to stay in position.

remember: "Glider pilots need help getting it up"