New student pilot apprehensions

On Apr 25, 3:16*am, Michael wrote:
I’m a new student glider pilot. *I have a grand total of 77 minutes
flying time in six flights. *The challenge of all of this has been
immensely satisfying.

Oh, you lucky person. Think of all that fun that lies in the future.

The nose
will go a little left and right and also up and down and I have to
make small adjustments with the stick. *My instructor noticed I tend
to way over correct.

Mmmm-hmmm. Sounds normal for a beginner. My daughter,
who has flown gliders solo, is doing the same thing now she's
learning to drive my car.


The tow rope keeps me up at night. *Aerotow freaks me out. *With my
inexperience in coordinated flight, I am terrified that these
oscillations I get into will upset the tow plane (and pilot). *I feel
I’m doing this left bank, right bank, over correct, left, right, left
right….

Well, it could. But I wouldn't worry because...

I know my instructor is back there. *

.... and he is trained to spot the signs that something
is really dangerous, and to take control.

This stuff does get easier doesn’t it? *

Yes. And then you'll probably hit a patch in which you
don't make progress (or even get worse). When, not if,
that happens, mention it to other people and they'll reassure
you that it happened to them too.

I mean 14 year-olds do this…. (I’m 33.) *

Yup. And I was 50.


And speaking of the tow rope. *I need to get more confidence in it.
When that rope gets taught, I freeze up. * I am terrified of it
breaking. *

Personally, and speaking as a someone with very little aerotow
experience, I'm more concerned about the cable being too slack,
because I want the tug to be pulling me

However, I recently ran across a video (It’s on the SSA
site) of a real rope break. *

Try a few winch launches, if possible. Simulated cable
breaks are part of standard training and annual refresher
training.

It is quite fun, climbing at 35 degrees at 200ft, hearing a
bang, pushing the stick forward and going over the top at ~0G
(to minimise wing loading), diving at the ground to
regain airspeed, then deciding where to land.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqN3ixDFW8c

If you're going to give up gliding, then do so for good reasons.
The experiences you've described aren't (in themselves)
sufficiently good

Persevere, have fun, it'll get better!

I’m a new student glider pilot. *I have a grand total of 77 minutes
flying time in six flights. *The challenge of all of this has been
immensely satisfying.

I’m hoping yall can help me out with some “okay, that was a little
different than I expected” items.

First, when I am flying straight and level, the glider does not follow
a direct path, but rather is buffeted about a little bit. *The nose
will go a little left and right and also up and down and I have to
make small adjustments with the stick. *My instructor noticed I tend
to way over correct. *In my youth, I played those very primitive
flight simulators (Apple II SimLogic anyone?) in which the flight was
ice-smooth, just like an arrow, I suppose. *“Real life” isn’t like
that in gliders, apparently?

The tow rope keeps me up at night. *Aerotow freaks me out. *With my
inexperience in coordinated flight, I am terrified that these
oscillations I get into will upset the tow plane (and pilot). *I feel
I’m doing this left bank, right bank, over correct, left, right, left
right…. I know my instructor is back there. *This stuff does get
easier doesn’t it? *I mean 14 year-olds do this…. (I’m 33.) *My last
instructor (I’m in a gliding club in which we have a different
instructor each week), demonstrated boxing the wake and I was sure the
rope was going to break….but it didn’t, even going through the prop
wash of the tow plane.


Perhaps limiting your early instructional flights to early(ish)
morning and late(ish) evening would be beneficial, when the air is
really calm. That way your only learning to fly and learning to fly in
formation simultaneously, removing the added third element of learning
to fly turbulence which can and does really make even experienced/good
pilots feel/look sloppy on tow. It makes HUGE difference to fly tow
in dead air, and will allow you to focus on stick and rudder much more
effectively. Then begin to feed in the turbulence once you reach your
coordination plateau in calm air and you have a clear feel for what
the controls really do.

Flying tow was quite difficult early on for me as well, but I was
blessed with a very kind instructor who would after letting me drift
out of position, calmly say I gotcha and nudge the plane back where it
was supposed to be when I failed to do so and had a new joke for every
occasion, keeping the process humorous and letting me know that I was
not the first one to have difficulties. He would also jokingly say
things like "do not get frustrated, I command you" and the cockpit
levity really helped me. Find an instructor with a sense of humor...

You will feel like such a champ when you start nailing it and the
towplane appears as if your pushing it along with the unbending rope,
as if it were a solid metal rod. It took guts to identify and post
your fears like you did, which to me spells the marks of good sense
and a balanced ego, both crucial ingredients for good airmanship even
if the stick and rudder part takes longer then you expected. Sounds to
me like a fine pilot in the making...

Best of luck!
-Paul

PS. there are probably a lot of things that 14yr olds can do that you
can't, so that is no gauge of your personal worth or skillset.

Hi Michael,

You are averaging less than 13 minutes a flight. Ask your instructor to
take a higher tow so you can get used to flying the glider without the
added complication of formation flying.

MG

Michael wrote:
Hi all,

I’m a new student glider pilot. I have a grand total of 77 minutes
flying time in six flights. The challenge of all of this has been
immensely satisfying.

I’m hoping yall can help me out with some “okay, that was a little
different than I expected” items.

First, when I am flying straight and level, the glider does not follow
a direct path, but rather is buffeted about a little bit. The nose
will go a little left and right and also up and down and I have to
make small adjustments with the stick. My instructor noticed I tend
to way over correct. In my youth, I played those very primitive
flight simulators (Apple II SimLogic anyone?) in which the flight was
ice-smooth, just like an arrow, I suppose. “Real life” isn’t like
that in gliders, apparently?

The tow rope keeps me up at night. Aerotow freaks me out. With my
inexperience in coordinated flight, I am terrified that these
oscillations I get into will upset the tow plane (and pilot). I feel
I’m doing this left bank, right bank, over correct, left, right, left
right…. I know my instructor is back there. This stuff does get
easier doesn’t it? I mean 14 year-olds do this…. (I’m 33.) My last
instructor (I’m in a gliding club in which we have a different
instructor each week), demonstrated boxing the wake and I was sure the
rope was going to break….but it didn’t, even going through the prop
wash of the tow plane.

And speaking of the tow rope. I need to get more confidence in it.
When that rope gets taught, I freeze up. I am terrified of it
breaking. However, I recently ran across a video (It’s on the SSA
site) of a real rope break. It really was no big deal. The rope
broke, the glider had a momentary shudder, the pilot muttered
something, then calmly landed the glider. It was no big deal. I
need more confidence in the rope!

I’ve been grounded for two weeks due to the flu, but I can’t wait to
get back up in the air!


--Michael

On 26 Apr, 02:33, Mike I Green wrote:
Hi Michael,

You are averaging less than 13 minutes a flight. *Ask your instructor to
take a higher tow so you can get used to flying the glider without the
added complication of formation flying.

I am not saying that longer flights are a bad idea however
I just thought it worth mentioning that my initial
gliding experience was on winch launched
Slingsby T-31s and the average flight was about four
and a half mins. I went solo after 20 (or maybe 1 or
3 more) launches at the age of 16. Crazy stuff really.
Everyone else was the same - 20 launches (ish), off
you go. This was about 1970 on military related
gliding course in the UK.

Other schools used Kirby Kadets (Mark IIIs) whose
average flight was about 3 minutes. The min launches
for solo was still 20.

I cannot recall having a cable break myself (it
was trained as to be routine and so I could well have
had one but I suspect not) but for sure there were
several that I witnessed. It was well trained and
was as I indicated a routine matter. Lower the
nose, release the dangling bit, decide whether
to land ahead or "S" turn. Done. If nearly at top
then consider a full circuit.

I can see that there could be a bit more to it on an
aerotow due to the inferior rate of climb, however I
am sure that your instructor will deal with the issue
when you are ready for it.

Hi all,

Thank you all very much for your thoughtful and encouraging replies!

It feels good to know that my feelings of trepidation are normal and
that others have successfully conquered them.

--Michael

On Apr 26, 5:48*am, Michael wrote:
It feels good to know that my feelings of trepidation are normal and
that others have successfully conquered them.

I forgot to point out these relevant reminiscences
http://home.comcast.net/~verhulst/GB...t/JeffOrchard/
03Wall.htm

Michael,

Two things come to my mind about your aerotows. 1.) Overcontrol is
usually the problem (I'll bet you have a tight sweaty grip on the
stick also because I did too at that time in my career) -be confident
that your ship WANTS to follow the towplane due to that rope pulling
you directly at its tail and if you level your wings with the towplane
and put your controls in neutral, the ship will follow. It' not
always obvious but I found my big problem was that only ONE DEGREE or
so of bank will begin to pull you out of position.
2.) Make sure you're not low enough to be affected by the prop wash,
that'll throw you all over the place if your ship is beginning to
touch into it.

If your club uses a tow rope much shorter than 200 feet, that makes it
much harder for new pilots.

Rejoice in the fact that this will all be no problem in short order :-)

On Apr 27, 1:06*am, Van Deutsch wrote:

Rejoice in the fact that this will all be no problem in short order :-)


That is my hope. My last instructor broke it down into a "vertical"
and "horizontal" component. For the vertical....I am to keep the tow
plane's wheel's on the horizon....and for the horizontal....keep my
wing banked at the same angle as the tow plane, using the underside of
the instrument panel as a reference.

--Michael

On Apr 27, 2:18*am, Michael wrote:
On Apr 27, 1:06*am, Van Deutsch wrote:

Rejoice in the fact that this will all be no problem in short order :-)

That is my hope. *My last instructor broke it down into a "vertical"
and "horizontal" component. *For the vertical....I am to keep the tow
plane's wheel's on the horizon....and for the horizontal....keep my
wing banked at the same angle as the tow plane, using the underside of
the instrument panel as a reference.

--Michael

Shameless plug for my instructor's technique, but try taping a wooden
paint stirring stick to the top of the panel. Helps in visualizing the
bank angle.

Hear ye, oh hear ye, the towing mantra:

"Wings, Wheels"

(Wings parallel, wheels on the horizon)

Repeat every 2 seconds and maintain this position until release.