Hello. New member here.

Hello, all. I just discovered this site a few hours ago, spent a few hours poking around here, and joined right up. Permit me to introduce myself, if I may.

I took sailplane lessons 40 years ago at Sky Sailing, Fremont, to the point of getting about 4 solo hours in a 2-33, but other things happened in life, and I got away from it. Of all the stupid choices I've made in life, I then spent 40 years kicking myself in the butt over that one. Now at a ripe old age, I've decided to dive right back into it (about 2 months ago), essentially starting over as if a near-ab-initio beginner (almost). In my newly re-incarnated experience, I have about 8 hours dual instruction by now. Hey, I can almost keep a glider behind a tow plane already! (ETA: That wasn't true just two weeks ago!)

Poking around this site just in the last couple hours, I already notice two user names who appear to be people I know! (Hi, Buzz! Hi, Ramy!)

As a novice (effectively) student pilot, I expect I'll probably do a lot more reading than writing on this forum for the near foreseeable future. I'll contribute more later, perhaps, once, y'know, I actually know something.
-- J.J.
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On Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 3:43:08 PM UTC+3, JJJ wrote:
Hello, all. I just discovered this site a few hours ago, spent a few
hours poking around here, and joined right up. Permit me to introduce
myself, if I may.

I took sailplane lessons 40 years ago at Sky Sailing, Fremont, to the
point of getting about 4 solo hours in a 2-33, but other things happened
in life, and I got away from it. Of all the stupid choices I've made in
life, I then spent 40 years kicking myself in the butt over that one.
Now at a ripe old age, I've decided to dive right back into it (about 2
months ago), essentially starting over as if a near--ab-initio- beginner
(almost). In my newly re-incarnated experience, I have about 8 hours
dual instruction by now. Hey, I can almost keep a glider behind a tow
plane already! (ETA: That wasn't true just two weeks ago!)

Poking around this site just in the last couple hours, I already notice
two user names who appear to be people I know! (Hi, *Buzz*! Hi,
*Ramy*!)

As a novice (effectively) student pilot, I expect I'll probably do a lot
more reading than writing on this forum for the near foreseeable future.
I'll contribute more later, perhaps, once, y'know, I actually know
something.

Welcome!

There's some good stuff mixed in with the BS from time to time.

What are you training in now? The same 2-33?

Please post updates to this thread as you make progress.

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.

Good luck and stick with it!

Originally Posted by Bruce Hoult

What are you training in now? The same 2-33?

Originally Posted by son_of_flubber

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 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.
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Triple J
Everything is a little different to fly, and having no currency does not help. With a lot of recent flying time these differences are humorous not frustrating.
Hang in there, the Grobs will feel right to you soon.
Jim

On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 3:43:08 AM UTC+3, 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.

I've never been in a 2-33, but when my club moved from training in the 1955-era Blanik L-13 (which is a good bit higher performance than the 2-33) to the Grob 103 Twin Astir we saw the average time to solo for young people go from maybe 35 flights to 40 flights. So it's maybe a little bit harder. But mostly it's just different.

On the other hand, the "conversion to high performance glass" step later on goes from maybe 10 flights (landings, really) to a big fat zero.

When we changed from training the the Grobs to training in brand new DG1000-18 about a dozen years later I don't think we saw any difference in flights to solo at all.

Note that different organisations treat getting to solo differently. We expect people to be able to soar immediately upon getting solo, and most people have a number of flights in the middle of their training where it's too windy and/or thermally for the student to practice landings or even aerotow and the instructor says "let's go soaring for an hour or two!" and a cross-country flight ensues.

Originally Posted by JS

Triple J
Everything is a little different to fly, and having no currency does not help. With a lot of recent flying time these differences are humorous not frustrating.
Hang in there, the Grobs will feel right to you soon.
Jim

Originally Posted by Bruce Hoult

I've never been in a 2-33, but when my club moved from training in the 1955-era Blanik L-13 (which is a good bit higher performance than the 2-33) to the Grob 103 Twin Astir we saw the average time to solo for young people go from maybe 35 flights to 40 flights. So it's maybe a little bit harder. But mostly it's just different.

[ . . . ]

Note that different organisations treat getting to solo differently. We expect people to be able to soar immediately upon getting solo, and most people have a number of flights in the middle of their training where it's too windy and/or thermally for the student to practice landings or even aerotow and the instructor says "let's go soaring for an hour or two!" and a cross-country flight ensues.

Thank y'all for taking the time to talk to this n00b! I'm at about 20 high-tows now since mid-August plus a few patterns. Yes, I was getting a bit frustrated especially being totally out-of-control on tow for too long, but I've pretty much got a handle on that now. (A typical lesson consists of two high-tows and maybe a pattern as well.)

My club offers in-flight instruction but essentially no ground school beyond the debriefings with the instructor after each flight. We're expected to do the ground studying on our own somehow. For the time being, I'm reading stuff I find on-line (of which there is plenty) rather than buying books, but it's rather ad-hoc. We fly with whatever instructor is flying that day -- opinions may vary as to whether that's a good idea. This gives the student a variety of views from different instructors, which is a + but I think it also slows things down because they don't coordinate with each other as to where each student is at, so the in-flight training has a bit of ad-hoc quality too.

(@JS, I wanted my user-name to be just JJ but the platform I'm using, vBulletin, doesn't allow two-letter names.)

BTW, for whom it may interest, here are two beautiful videos of flights over the Bay Area, San Francisco all the way to Point Reyes, done a few years ago by Ramy, one of our members --

Low altitude, under 4000 ft -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggv5kkjqHrI
High alt, 15K-18K ft -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDdnfIANUxU

(For more like these, search for videos posted by "ramyyanetz")

Here, his blogs of those flights, with great photos, OLC traces, etc. (click any photo to enlarge) --
http://yanetz.blogspot.com/2011/05/m...ight-with.html
http://yanetz.blogspot.com/2012/01/bay-tour-sequel.html
http://www.valleysoaring.net/?page_id=314

Hi JJ!

You can download the latest version of the Glider Flying Handbook for free. (Google it.) There are some who will argue that it's not 100% accurate (it isn't), but nobody will disagree that it's a great resource for students to start working on their knowledge about soaring.

Paul Agnew
Jupiter, FL

Originally Posted by Paul Agnew

Hi JJ!

You can download the latest version of the Glider Flying Handbook for free. (Google it.) There are some who will argue that it's not 100% accurate (it isn't), but nobody will disagree that it's a great resource for students to start working on their knowledge about soaring.

Paul Agnew
Jupiter, FL

Hello! Indeed, I've collected a whole folder full of downloaded docs, including that one, and the FAA Private Pilot's Handbook (which the Glider book refers to extensively); also the whole of Parts 61 and 91; and the FAA Aeronautical Chart Users Guide (80-some pages!) that explains all the symbols and notations on charts; AC-90-48D on Collision Avoidance; a 32-page (!) Wing Runner Training doc from FTSC (Flight Training and Safety Committee of the Soaring Association of Canada); some very detailed training syllabuses from several soaring clubs and schools; even a glider aerobatics training manual from Skyline Soaring, and much more.

That's just a sample of the stuff I've downloaded. I also have a page full of bookmarks in my browser pointing to other on-line stuff -- the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) full text; the full FAA Aviation Weather Guide (includes a full chapter focused on weather for soaring); Jim Burch's Study Soaring guide and Top Ten Ways to Fail A Practical Test; links to several soaring clubs and FBO's web pages of interest; much other stuff to read too. I spend my weekends at the airport, and on weekdays in between I have my reading cut out for me!

I mentioned earlier that it took me a longer time that I thought it should to be able to handle the G-103 while on tow. To that end, I found a bunch of articles full of advice on how to fly the tow. In fact, searching on-line for that is what led me to THIS message board -- I came across that 9-page thread from a year or two ago on the subject of tow pilots ignoring steering signals, which led to a debate (which I was already aware of) as to just what the correct steering signals are.
http://www.aviationbanter.com/showthread.php?t=212645
I read that whole thread hoping to find an unambiguous resolution, but I'm not sure that happened.

I'm going to study that FAA Weather manual extra thoroughly. The local DPE who does exams for much of California (look in the Soaring Milestones pages of SSA Soaring Magazine each month; his name is all over the place there) is a known meteorologist, and it's said he asks LOTS of weather questions!

-- J. J.
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