Fear of flying cross country

First, just by the act of asking these questions, I can see that you
want to succeed. As someone who remember clearly only a few years ago
having the same concerns you have, here are my suggestions.

1) John mentioned flying dual. Maybe a two place ship is not
available to you for XC. I started some of my best early XC by flying
alongside of someone else. I asked him to help me out and to play
follow the leader. There are a few things that help here. One, if he
is staying up, I know that I could also. He will help find those
elusive thermals. Actually flying abreast on a blue day you can help
each other. If he is better than you, then he will wait around for
you if he gets ahead. Its less boring too.

2) Landing out. As someone told me once, it isn't *IF* you will land
out, it is *WHEN* will you land out. I remember thinking that landing
out means that I am not any good. This was reenforced by some club
members who berated those that landed out. They probably don't cross
country. Actually I now know that landing out is, to a certain
extent, a badge of honor as it means I am pushing the XC envelope.
Also, getting low and making a save is a great confidence builder. My
home club is now actively helping pilots for XC. What's the first
thing that they teach? How to land out! Heck, I now announce that I
am flying to xxx, and I may land out. There seems to be those that
are willing to retrieve. I am lucky flying near Chicago because there
are so many small airports and private strips to land at.

3) Tasks - Moffat writes about flying tasks on weak days within a
short distance your home airport. Don't just hover over the field, go
somewhere! Fly somewhere even if it is only a few miles away --
maybe juuuuuuust beyond final glide. BTW, fly the first leg upwind
-- it's easier to get home that way.

4) Equipment - Take you mind off navigation by flying with GPS. That
frees you to find that lift!!

Good luck, John "67"

all suggestions have been excellent.

I fly similar performance. my first landout in the Cherokee resulted
in ripped fabric on the nose. Oh Well. I did two dual XC flights
before I flew solo XC and both of those involved landouts (In A
Lark!!!). I think that that was critical in teaching me a lot about
field selection and all the fun stuff that happens after you have
given up. That is where it truly gets interesting. This eased my
fears and made landing out basically a non event for me. ive done all
my cross countries using pilotage and its worked fine, but I have a
lot of experience instructing in power around the state so im familiar
with the area. the nice thing about a 1-26 is you just cant go fast
enough to get lost really. and of course you should always be
prepared to land out cause you and I fly gliders that go more down
than forward. what part of the country are you in? that is
important. out here in the flatland midwest you can land anywhere in
the spring and fall. its perfect. in many other areas thats just not
the case.

club dynamics can be an interesting factor. my club is fairly neutral
as far as XC flying goes. XC flying in club gliders is allowed as
long as you prep the trailer. its fairly rare that club gliders are
taken on XCs though. however i have found a lot of interest in most
of the local flyers in how well i did on my XC flights. they seem to
fly XC vicariously through me. I think I have motivated a few of them
to spread out a little further, and that is great.

I would recommend, as said above, to fly every flight XC. just keep a
nice landable field below you, be very conservative. dont go for max
speed or distance, just go. and have fun! because it is.

Tony

ContestID67 wrote:

4) Equipment - Take you mind off navigation by flying with GPS. That
frees you to find that lift!!

An addition to that.

This applies if you carry a GPS and GPS-aware vario (one that can
compute final glides to a GPS way point. When you're local soaring make
sure both are running and that the GPS has your home field set as its
current way point. You can use the information these provide to push out
toward the glide angle limit and get a good feeling for being well away
from your home field, gain familiarity with the instruments and get to
know the wider local area. You'll also get a good feeling for how far
your glider can go from various heights. Just make sure you have a
conservative safety height set in the vario and have taken the trouble
to match its settings to your glider's polar.

I have an SDI C4 and a GPS II+ in my Std Libelle. If I'm soaring locally
rather than going XC this is the way I operate. Besides, doing this is a
lot more interesting that flapping round just outside the circuit.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

I found that my biggest barrier was the thought of the retrieve
inconvenience of my friends. Talk it over with your friends. If there's
no cross country culture at your field, ask your wife, your spouse, a
non gliding friend whether she'd be willing to stand by for a possible
retrieve that evening. This will cost you a dinner, and of course you
will have to compensate by volunteering for something else. I found that
once the retrieve problem was not causing any bad feelings anymore, I
went cross country much more aggessively.

anonymous wrote:
I found that my biggest barrier was the thought of the retrieve
inconvenience of my friends. Talk it over with your friends. If there's
no cross country culture at your field, ask your wife, your spouse, a
non gliding friend whether she'd be willing to stand by for a possible
retrieve that evening. This will cost you a dinner, and of course you
will have to compensate by volunteering for something else. I found that
once the retrieve problem was not causing any bad feelings anymore, I
went cross country much more aggessively.

Or do the same as often happens in my club. Its common for a few pilots
to set off on the same task after having agreed to a mutual retrieve:
those who get back go and collect anybody who didn't make it.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On 27 Jun, 20:08, 126Driver wrote:

Some of this is a general
concern about personal injury, but I think I am also just afraid of
landing out and having to put up with the inconvenience of a retrieve
and getting criticism from other pilots in my club.

I've met a few pilots like that. They are normally the ones who have
bought themselves 40+:1 in glass and use it to waddle round 100km
triangles on good days. Deep down they feel rather ashamed of
themselves, and they criticize landouts because they know that they
normally arise from a bit of adventurousness in flying which they lack
themselves.

But enough psychology. Rather than rely on a club retrieve, why not
form a mutual retrieve pact with a pal? One of you sets off on an
adventure and the other agrees to stay local-ish: you swap roles each
flying day.

The need to get back can really dampen the spirits. Why not have a
good old-fashioned downwind dash one day? Your retrieve crew can
follow you on the ground, and it's surprising just how far you can
get.

Finally, try to avoid routes which go over, or very near airfields.
It's OK and reassuring to pass within gliding range from time to time,
but runways suck gliders towards them. Well known fact.

Ian

Finally, try to avoid routes which go over, or very near airfields.
It's OK and reassuring to pass within gliding range from time to time,
but runways suck gliders towards them. Well known fact.

Ian

You obviously haven't flown much in the US southwest. Over much of our
terrain, you can either land at an airfield or crash into cactus or
tree-strewn mountains. Landable strips are an essential part of our
database.

Landing at a decent strip also has the advantage of getting an aero-
retrieve. More expensive, but less inconvenient.

I overcame my trepidation by flying over tiger country with a mentor
and then with a group of cross-country pilots who have a mutual
retrieve policy (steak dinner and lots of beer!)

Mike

Mike

On 28 Jun, 16:11, Mike the Strike wrote:
Finally, try to avoid routes which go over, or very near airfields.
It's OK and reassuring to pass within gliding range from time to time,
but runways suck gliders towards them. Well known fact.

You obviously haven't flown much in the US southwest. Over much of our
terrain, you can either land at an airfield or crash into cactus or
tree-strewn mountains. Landable strips are an essential part of our
database.

In such places it is obviously sensible to keep landing places in
mind, but I still think it's a mistake to fly directly over them.
There is a strange magnetic attraction at work ...

Ian

Ian wrote:
On 28 Jun, 16:11, Mike the Strike wrote:
Finally, try to avoid routes which go over, or very near airfields.
It's OK and reassuring to pass within gliding range from time to time,
but runways suck gliders towards them. Well known fact.

You obviously haven't flown much in the US southwest. Over much of our
terrain, you can either land at an airfield or crash into cactus or
tree-strewn mountains. Landable strips are an essential part of our
database.

In such places it is obviously sensible to keep landing places in
mind, but I still think it's a mistake to fly directly over them.
There is a strange magnetic attraction at work ...

It also annoys the skydivers...

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

On Jun 27, 3:08 pm, 126Driver wrote:
I would like to fly more cross country flights but have to admit I
usually come up with a list of excuses for not going on any particular
day. The weather is never good enough, or I have a dinner engagement,
or my battery seems low, or something. Some of this is a general
concern about personal injury, but I think I am also just afraid of
landing out and having to put up with the inconvenience of a retrieve
and getting criticism from other pilots in my club. (I did some damage
to my glider on a land out last year and I have lost a lot of
confidence.) I thought I would get over this, but have not so far.
Has anybody else been through a period like this, and if so, how did
you work it out?

thanks,

Steve

Reading through the other replies, I think I could add one more thing
for you to think about. If you know of a local pilot who flies
contests, offer to crew for them at a regional meet. You will have a
great time and can talk to a lot of other XC pilots. Also, any XC
pilot worth his/her salt will greatly welcome the offer, and will
probably return the favor by helping you get going again. Then maybe
set a goal of flying in a regional contest in Sports Class, somewhere
with a very benign task area.

TA