Hello. New member here.

On Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 8:43:08 PM UTC-4, JJJ wrote:
Bruce Hoult;930688 Wrote:
What are you training in now? The same 2-33?

son_of_flubber;930692 Wrote:
I've heard that soloing at an early age makes it easier to take up the
sport later in life. It will be interesting to hear how that works out
for you.

40 years ago, I flew at Sky Sailing, Fremont. That operation is long
gone from Fremont, now operating out of 'Warner Springs'
(https://www.skysailing.com/) in SoCal. I was -this close- ---||--- to
graduating to the SGS 1-26.

I'm training in Grob G-103a's now. I'm finding it a harder plane to fly
than I remember the 2-33's being. I'm wondering if that's really true
or if it's just me. I see evidence that it's BOTH. On the one hand,
I'm 40 years older now, which is known to induce geriatric drag on one's
proficiency acquisition velocity. AND I see training videos on U-tube
showing students on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd lessons seemingly doing better
that I am after approx. 8 hours and 25 flights -- even some videos at MY
club with the same instructors I'm flying with now!

OTOH, a whole lot of people do seem to agree that the Grob 103 is just
harder to learn to fly. The rudder is way stiff, and I'm still getting
a handle on that. (I did get to fly our Grob 103 Acro last week, which
I thought handled rather easier.) I'm just getting the knack of staying
behind the tow plane, whereas 40 years ago I was wake-boxing by flight
#3. (Yes, I still have my old log book!)

I still remember a fair amount from 40 years ago, but as for the
"muscle-memory" for flying, I feel I'm starting from scratch -- probably
for the better, as the Grob handles so differently from the 2-33.

My longer-term fantasies are
1. Fly our 1-26, which I came so close to flying way back then;
2. Fly a 2-32, in which I had my first glider ride as a teen-ager at
Dillingham, Oahu, Hawaii. (There's one at nearby Hollister; also
Williams and Crazy Creek);
3. Fly the ASK-21, of which I've only heard and read good things
(Hollister and Williams have them);
4. Maybe even try getting into glider aerobatics, the better to feed my
growing adrenaline junkie addiction!

-- J. J.
=============================




--
JJJ

First- welcome back. I see a lot of lapsed pilots returning. It is a vast untapped market for our sport.
Second- Try not to be too wrapped up in how fast you progress. Example- If you are not doing air work with good results like consistent roll rates and bank angles with good coordination, you are not likely to fly tow well.
There can be a tendency to try to do everything right away to try to speed up progress, and maybe save time an/or money. Very commonly this results in negative progress. You can't possibly try to master all aspects on each flight because there is too much to absorb.
Third- Try harder! That is a sure way to slow your progress. Just relax and enjoy and don't compare to 40 years ago. You probably were not as good as you thought then.
It will come- have fun!
UH

Originally Posted by

First- welcome back. I see a lot of lapsed pilots returning. It is a vast untapped market for our sport.
Second- Try not to be too wrapped up in how fast you progress. Example- If you are not doing air work with good results like consistent roll rates and bank angles with good coordination, you are not likely to fly tow well.
There can be a tendency to try to do everything right away to try to speed up progress, and maybe save time an/or money. Very commonly this results in negative progress. You can't possibly try to master all aspects on each flight because there is too much to absorb.
Third- Try harder! That is a sure way to slow your progress. Just relax and enjoy and don't compare to 40 years ago. You probably were not as good as you thought then.
It will come- have fun!
UH

Yes, fersure, in the two months I've been at it (flying nearly every Saturday and Sunday mostly) everything is going substantially just as you say. True, I'm a bit concerned about costs (as I'm living on a tight budget). It is going slower than I expect, but hey, I'm having fun like you say and I'm in no big hurry. One of these days I'll get around to applying for my student cert. I'm not likely to be ready to solo for a while. (When I do, they damn well better cut the back of my shirt off! We didn't do that when I soloed at Fremont 40 years ago.)

Yeah, I was getting a little frustrated with tow flying, but just recently I've begun to get the hang of it so I'm not all over the sky any more, and I think I'm on the verge of getting the knack of doing medium-bank turns well.

One of my four instructors is really good at pushing my skill and comfort-zone envelopes just about right, and I really like that. He's the only one having me do stalls (straight and turning) and slow MCA flight so far, and lately he's pushing me into doing steeper turns.

The other three I think are moving me forward a little too slowly. One of them, though, is focusing a bit more on landing, which I can't really do well yet. A typical lesson on one day consists of two high-tows and maybe a pattern.

We have a young kid here (well, he's actually a senior at Stanford now) who's been flying here since he was 14, who just got his commercial a couple weeks ago. (He's also ASEL IFR rated too.) I felt honored to be his ground crew for his exam (mainly because I showed up). This kid is SHARP. The day he gets his CFI-G (and I assume he will), I'll be first in line to be his student. In the meantime, he takes me flying with him sometimes if I pay for the tow. Good deal! It's like a flying lesson in effect, even if I can't log it. (Golly, I hope he isn't reading this!)

Meanwhile, I spend the weekdays reading all that on-line stuff I mentioned above, and watching glider videos on YouTube, in between the time I spend following all the (ahem) election entertainment. Once the election is over, I guess, it'll be All Gliders All The Time.

-- J. J.
======================