"Joy of Soaring" Book

Tom wrote:

Response from Tom Knauff:

Sorry for the delay. We have been busy pushing back the flood waters.

It was more than 50 years ago when I began learning to fly, more than
40 when I began to learn to fly gliders. The first training manual
(fortunately) was “Stick and Rudder” by Wolfgang Langeweische. My
glider flight instructor was from Germany, and recommended Derek
Piggott's book, “Gliding.”

During flight training, (power and gliders) I experienced differing
opinions how things are done as I switched from instructor to
instructor.

In 1975, Doris and I started Ridge Soaring Gliderport. Shortly after
the school opened, we attempted to conform with the national
standards, and ordered the SSA recommended flight training manual,
“The Joy of Soaring,” and sold it to the students.

It soon became apparent this book contained information different than
the other texts. Eventually, we stopped using the SSA manual because
of these differences, and concerns about complying with flight
training standards established by other countries.

Derek Piggot first came to the USA at my invitation. He spent
considerable time at Ridge Soaring Gliderport, and I returned the
favor with a couple of visits to the United Kingdom. Wolfgang
Langeweishe made several visits to our gliderport at my invitation,
and we had many conversations about flight training matters.

I don't recall the year, (late '70s?) however, the SSA had a
convention in California, and I was fortunate to have a lengthy
conversation with the author of "The Joy of Soaring." When asked about
some of the issues about "The Joy of Soaring," he told me the book was
not originally intended to be a flight training manual. It was
originally only to be a coffee table book.

This explains the limited scope of the book.

The laws of learning include the “law of primacy,” which states “the
first experiences creates a strong, almost unshakable impression.”
This means what is taught the first time must be correct and complete.
Further, correcting what is incorrectly taught the first time can be
very difficult. It is very important for first presentations of
information be correct.

The FAA also is contributing to the horrendous safety problems our
sport is experiencing with the publication of the seriously flawed
“Glider Flying Handbook.” I am sure every experienced glider flight
instructor recognizes the numerous errors in this publication.

The soaring community accknowledges the safety problems the community
has experienced for many years. Despite a highly educated, mature
population, the fatality rate in our sport is worse than ANY other
activity.

It is long past time to fix problems and make necessary changes.

Tom Knauff


No doubt you will all have read this one from 2005:
http://www.gliding.co.uk/accidents/r...s4dtreport.pdf
Section 1.1.1 "Surviving Pilot's Statement" seems to say that he tried
to recover from a spin by pulling back hard on the stick and lowering
the flaps. Is this a translation error, or did a 4DM owner really
think this was the correct procedure ?

Gilbert