Advice on returning to Soaring after over 20 years

As someone who just did the same after 30-year hiatus, here's some stats.

13 flights over 2 months to solo.
28 flights over 6 months to PPL (including 3 check rides).
TT about 14h for re-training.

This in a club setting, but I'm fairly confident this could've been condensed to a couple of weeks with money and time in a commercial setting. Previous experience was all-glass in Finland (about 70 hours over 3 years), all winch. Re-training was all aerotow in L-23/2-33/1-23.

The biggest thing for me was to get myself back to doing what I knew I should be doing (coordination. etc). The other aspects other people keep mentioning, like knowledge to fly safely was all re-learnt since previous area was flatlands with plenty of places to land safely and current area is pretty much the opposite (Northern New England). I've yet to venture more than 5 miles away whereas I had done some XC 30 years ago.

Regarding 2-seaters, I don't think it matters. While 2-33 isn't the nicest/prettiest/best performing 2-seater out there, it does the job just fine and actually makes planning more important since you might not make the runway you thought you would in strong winds/sink. The only downside to 2-33 with my weight (200lbs) is that it's really hard to do spin entries. I doubt if my current club had the Puchacz/Janus C would've made a difference.

Doing main gear landings vs. fully held off landings was also a bit of a difference, but you shouldn't have that issue.

On Thursday, November 16, 2017 at 7:33:13 AM UTC-7, Michael wrote:
I am finally returning to Soaring after over 20 years, I earned a Private Glider rating in '91 and had @175 flights in 2-33/1-26 and a Private Power rating in '92 and 350hrs.
My goal: Regain currency/proficiency and purchase a standard class non-flapped glider.
Specifically I was looking for advice/opinions on how best to proceed to that goal in a short time frame (140 days)

Question 1: Is it unrealistic to train 2-3 flights a day twice or even 3 times a week?
Question 2: Start out in 2-33 or pay a little more for ASK/Grob from the start? (both options are available to me)

In the next @140 days I would like to get to 60 or more flights.

Flying is like riding a bike. You'll be a bit wobbly at first, but it will return quickly. Sent you a PM but no response. So where do you reside?

Frank Whiteley

All, thanks for the words of wisdom posted to my questions.
I appreciate the advice, from the right instructor and training to the right glider. I am pleased to hear many comments that my goals do not seem to be too lofty. And I am confident that my instructor/ instructors will help guide me safely and efficiently as I progress. I am hoping that long lost skills return and am looking forward to continued learning. I don’t have competitions in mind, rather want to gain enough skills to safely fly my own ship this coming spring, then spend the rest of the year getting to know the glider.
Life is far to short to wait.....
Thanks

On Thursday, November 16, 2017 at 9:33:13 AM UTC-5, Michael wrote:
I am finally returning to Soaring after over 20 years, I earned a Private Glider rating in '91 and had @175 flights in 2-33/1-26 and a Private Power rating in '92 and 350hrs.
My goal: Regain currency/proficiency and purchase a standard class non-flapped glider.
Specifically I was looking for advice/opinions on how best to proceed to that goal in a short time frame (140 days)

Question 1: Is it unrealistic to train 2-3 flights a day twice or even 3 times a week?
Question 2: Start out in 2-33 or pay a little more for ASK/Grob from the start? (both options are available to me)

In the next @140 days I would like to get to 60 or more flights.

I think this should be totally realistic. When I first started (almost 30 years ago) I did 37 flights in my first 4 weekends, and another 30 in the month after that. So if you are motivated, it should not be a problem.

On Thursday, November 16, 2017 at 9:33:13 AM UTC-5, Michael wrote:
I am finally returning to Soaring after over 20 years, I earned a Private Glider rating in '91 and had @175 flights in 2-33/1-26 and a Private Power rating in '92 and 350hrs.
My goal: Regain currency/proficiency and purchase a standard class non-flapped glider.
Specifically I was looking for advice/opinions on how best to proceed to that goal in a short time frame (140 days)

Question 1: Is it unrealistic to train 2-3 flights a day twice or even 3 times a week?
Question 2: Start out in 2-33 or pay a little more for ASK/Grob from the start? (both options are available to me)

In the next @140 days I would like to get to 60 or more flights.


Certainly sounds familiar, I also took a long break from soaring for almost 27 years. I was very fortunate to fly and log almost 2500 hours in my early years, most of this time was in mostly high performance glass birds like the ASW20 and Ventus along with many others. About 18 months ago I decided to get back into soaring, I guess it would be my final glide in a sport that I thoroughly enjoyed. I contacted a friend who is a CFIG and took a couple of tows around the patch and off to the sky I went. I also bought an ASW24 and my wife and I both fly the 24 very often. Just yesterday I spent almost 3 hours dancing around the sky on the east coast of Florida.
I would only say to you get in the sky and enjoy the great sport! not much has changed, except the instruments and unfortunately you don't see many young faces doing what the both of us enjoy so much. Bob

I returned to soaring after a 15 year hiatus from flying gliders and 6 years since I had flown anything. Soaring and the avionics had changed much, for the better. The other change was significantly less private pilots flying on the weekend. Get a good instructor (much easier in soaring than power planes
) aand fly often as possible.

On Thursday, November 16, 2017 at 6:33:13 AM UTC-8, Michael wrote:
I am finally returning to Soaring after over 20 years, I earned a Private Glider rating in '91 and had @175 flights in 2-33/1-26 and a Private Power rating in '92 and 350hrs.
My goal: Regain currency/proficiency and purchase a standard class non-flapped glider.
Specifically I was looking for advice/opinions on how best to proceed to that goal in a short time frame (140 days)

Question 1: Is it unrealistic to train 2-3 flights a day twice or even 3 times a week?
Question 2: Start out in 2-33 or pay a little more for ASK/Grob from the start? (both options are available to me)

In the next @140 days I would like to get to 60 or more flights.

This year I returned to soaring after 30 years (I had got my license at the age of 16 and quit when I was 20). As others have mentioned already you don’t forget what you learned when you we were young. What helped me a lot, though, was practicing on the Condor Soaring simulator before I started for real. If you go that route you have to get rudder pedals so you practice coordination. A head tracker is invaluable, too, so you can look around like you do in real life. Some things are actually harder in Condor, especially flying aerotows and landings. But I had mastered it and started to actively flew competitions as a member of the Condor Club, which is also a lot of fun. That’s great cross country practice and you really learn thermal centering, ridge flying, speed management, etc. I had about 100 hours on the simulator when I got back into a real glider. From the first flight it was like second nature. I had my license back after 5 days and was flying several five-hour cross country flights the next week. I doubt any of that would have been anywhere near as easy had I not the simulator practice. It would also have cost a lot more money. You might invest $300 in a good simulator setup, that’s way cheaper than re-gaining an equivalent experience in a real plane.

On Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 6:00:34 AM UTC+3, Clemens Ceipek wrote:
What helped me a lot, though, was practicing on the Condor Soaring simulator before I started for real. If you go that route you have to get rudder pedals so you practice coordination.

Condor is great. At our club if time & manpower permits we put trial flight people into a real glider cockpit (from a crashed Cirrus) with Condor hooked to the real controls and a huge TV for a few minutes. It improves what they get out of a 15 or 20 minute initial flight a lot.

For myself at home, I find that a gaming joystick with twist for the rudder works fine, both for turn coordination in the air and things like dealing with crosswinds on the ground.

On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 8:11:54 PM UTC-7, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 6:00:34 AM UTC+3, Clemens Ceipek wrote:
What helped me a lot, though, was practicing on the Condor Soaring simulator before I started for real. If you go that route you have to get rudder pedals so you practice coordination.

Condor is great. At our club if time & manpower permits we put trial flight people into a real glider cockpit (from a crashed Cirrus) with Condor hooked to the real controls and a huge TV for a few minutes. It improves what they get out of a 15 or 20 minute initial flight a lot.

For myself at home, I find that a gaming joystick with twist for the rudder works fine, both for turn coordination in the air and things like dealing with crosswinds on the ground.

I visited a club recently with one of the Mach 0.1 setups. At least a couple of the instructors are using it with students. $8US/hour for the simulator, which seems a sensible price when you think about it.

Frank Whiteley

I am surprised that in all the replies nobody has mentioned the
phrase that I kept being told when I returned to gliding after a
long break - “We don’t do it that way any more�.

Pre-takeoff checks, CBSIFTCB. No, it is now CBSIFTCBE.

Raise my index finger and call “take up slack�. No, not any more.

Religiously comply with the maximum winch launch speed at all
times. Not any more. Now extra speed is accepted/preferred
during the initial part of the launch. 15 knots above the placard
speed is not a problem.

Once the glider is established in the climb, keep pulling the stick
back to maintain 50 knots or 48 knots if you are really trying for
maximum height. No, we DEFINITELY do not do that any more.

Flying the circuit, turn 90 degrees from downwind to base leg.
No, now it is two 45 degree turns.

All gliders were moved by hand, now they are towed. Gliders
were landed back at the launch point, aiming for two or three
wingspans from any glider waiting for a launch. Launches were
not delayed by gliders overruning the launch point.

To achieve a fast launch rate, the strop / weak link was not
changed between launches - K21, K13 and Ka8 were all launched
using the same weak link. We DEFINITELY do not do that any more.

A downwind landing was frowned upon. Now it is an acceptable
option following a failed launch or other contingency.

What other changes to procedures have returning pilots noticed?