Boy Who Flew With Condors - Dick Johnson? Other Comments

Well son of flubber are you telling me that for every AG pilot out there who is turning all day long at very low levels, "its a big deal"?
Hardly, its what we do, what we need to do, and we have learned how to do it safely under conditions that are a whole lot more critical than circling a glider at 200 ft.

I really dont blame guys for having the "dont circle low" opinion. Guys just havent been exposed to it, or if they've seen it, what they saw was some guy floundering around in a panic. If you spend any time with one of the older masters of soaring, they will tell you that they have all made numerous low level saves, if you talk to anyone who sprays for a living, they will tell you that below 200 ft is our world. I want to encourage us all to continue to expand our learning and our skills. Do I advocate to make a habbit of low saves? Nope, if for nothing else, it is inefficient flying, it takes a whole lot of time to extract oneself from a hole while other guys are cruising along overhead. But I encourage us all to gain the skills necessary to make a low level save a non event.

On Friday, April 1, 2016 at 9:26:35 AM UTC-4, wrote:
...are you telling me that for every AG pilot out there who is turning all day long at very low levels, "its a big deal"?

No. I've nothing to say about AG pilots who also fly gliders. But your saying that glider pilots should push themselves to gradually adopt the same personal minimums as AG pilots is absurd.

Whats obsurd is someone who doesnot want to learn every skill he needs to have in order to fly efficiently and safely. For glider flying that includes how to make safe low level saves. That is unless the glider pilot is one of those guys who is content to just float around at the top of the house thermal all afternoon.

Thats ok if thats his/her only ambition, but it has been my experience that that is the guy who spins in turning on his final approach. I stay miles away from those guys. They are also the guys who are a pain when in a gaggle.. Their eyes are glued to their airspeed indicator, oblivious to whats going on around them, these are the guys who refuse to even entertain any advice as to how to fly better. Those are the guys that make it tough on all the rest of us who are trying our best to be not only safe but also efficient.

Those are the guys who like to make "arbitrary" rules on how to fly which they want to apply to the rest of us. Those rules end up being useless at trully promoting safety as they are based on the limited experience of the rule makers, coming out of either ignorance, or fear, or both.

I am not directing this at you Flubber, i am just relating an opinion based out of my own experience with dealing with and conversing with the guys holding these "dont ever thermal low" perspectives.