How do we inspire pilots to truly take up cross country soaring ?

Make the SSA Bronze Badge and Silver Distance leg an FAR requirement for the Sport and Private Pilot Glider Certificates. These are relatively easy to do and makes you a better soaring pilot.

You have a cross-country requirement for the Private Certificate in Airplanes, and there are many more of those flying around. Why not for Gliders?

People fear what they don't have experiences in. When you've done it to get the Certificate, it becomes a non-issue, and puts you well on the way to competition or just doing the cross-country for yourself.

You want to promote soaring by making it harder to get a pilot's certificate? How many pilots are you going to lose because weather and club glider availability never line up? It is a gliding license that takes gliding skills, soaring is simply a sport you first need a gliding license to partake in. Get people in gliders, if they come round again get them a glider license then ask what their goals are and give them a push if needed.
On Sunday, August 23, 2015 at 9:21:53 PM UTC-4, N97MT wrote:
Make the SSA Bronze Badge and Silver Distance leg an FAR requirement for the Sport and Private Pilot Glider Certificates. These are relatively easy to do and makes you a better soaring pilot.

You have a cross-country requirement for the Private Certificate in Airplanes, and there are many more of those flying around. Why not for Gliders?

People fear what they don't have experiences in. When you've done it to get the Certificate, it becomes a non-issue, and puts you well on the way to competition or just doing the cross-country for yourself.

On Monday, August 24, 2015 at 9:46:13 PM UTC-4, GB wrote:
You want to promote soaring by making it harder to get a pilot's certificate? How many pilots are you going to lose because weather and club glider availability never line up? It is a gliding license that takes gliding skills, soaring is simply a sport you first need a gliding license to partake in. Get people in gliders, if they come round again get them a glider license then ask what their goals are and give them a push if needed.

Very well said. The PP certificate is a license to continue to learn and to allow the pilot to take a friend.
My experience is that the areas of weakness in the existing training and licensing process do not include the lack of cross country experience. A pilot can be a long term, safe, satisfied person without flying cross country. for those that do experience XC and master it, it is even better.
From someone who REALLY enjoys XC and teaches it actively.
UH

On Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at 8:42:02 AM UTC-4, wrote:
A pilot can be a long term, safe, satisfied person without flying cross country.

Those pilots pay dues, buy tows and volunteer time. They stick around long enough to progress to XC if that path is reasonably open and they want to take it.

Sean:
A few thoughts on this string, from somebody who is a CFI-G, who flies a fair amount of XC (many thousand km each year), and who sometimes tries to teach it:

1) The skill sets for being a good instructor and being a good XC pilot are different. Many good instructors are not XC pilots. Many great XC pilots haven't got a clue how to teach it. It takes courage and confidence to fly away from the airport. It takes courage and confidence to solo a new student.. Both endeavors deserve respect in our sport. But they are different.

2) Flying XC well is as much about mental discipline as it is about physical (stick and rudder) and observational (cloud reading) skills. There is a component to it that just can't be taught in the way that aerotow, or patterns can be taught.

3) Many of the very best XC (and competition) pilots were trained by CFIs that never flew a single kilometer of XC. Mandating XC experience for CFIs will only serve to limit student intake - it will not increase XC participation.

4) Very few who have invested large amounts of money in their equipment and many hours in mastering something they love to do, are willing to spend their limited time teaching what they would rather be doing themselves. The few that do are wonderful and generous people - but we cannot require that of all (or even most) instructors.

All we can really do is open the door to the sky. Those who want to explore more than what is just around the airport will do that. Those who don't - won't. In a few cases we can make it easier, or eliminate some fear, but after 42 years I still can't figure out why some people fall in love with gliding cross country and some give it no mind at all.

Roy

Some of the replies here are truly uninspiring contrary to the title of this thread.

You are always within gliding distance of some landing spot. There is a true psychological barrier preventing new students from understanding this concept unless you have helped them to overcome this. They think that the home airport is the ONLY landing spot. Yes, some will do cross-country once and then never again. That's OK. At least they will have the experience to properly size up real landing spots along the way.

But many more will be grateful to you in the realization that the anxiety to never leave home base was all in their head. This is where real inspiration is born.

If you don't do this with them in practice, you are doing your students a tremendous disservice. Unfamiliarity is dangerous, and can lead to disaster. There is a reason why student airplane pilots are taught to practice instrument flying for emergencies - because they will eventually encounter VFR flying into IMC. It will save their life.

The same applies to practice cross-country soaring.

At the very least, the glider instructor should fly with the student to an unfamiliar airport and use that as an out landing spot. Or better yet, pick out three unfamiliar airports and do it. Teach them everything they need to do to size up the landing as if it were off-airport, like it is described in the Glider Flying Handbook.

Doing your first out landing alone (even close to your airport) after getting your Private ticket is exactly the wrong time to be experiencing it for the first time.

Cross-country soaring is a thrill, and a challenge. N97MT is right enough,
there is almost always somewhere 'acceptable' to land out and we should (at
some point) show novice pilots how to do that so they don't fear it.

But this misses the elephant in the room. Today its true we are a cash
rich and time poor society. I think most of us just want to go fly and
then go home - we really do not want to land out. Take an afternoon off
work, go fly cross-country for 3 or 4 hours, come home, fantastic. Land
out miles away, what follows, not so much fantastic.

With the thread subject in mind.....To make cross-country soaring more
attractive and accessible, to encourage more to just go fly more, and
cross-country, the gamechanger is engines.

Roger H


At 03:02 28 August 2015, N97MT wrote:
Some of the replies here are truly uninspiring contrary to the title of
thi=
s thread.

You are always within gliding distance of some landing spot. There is a
tru=
e psychological barrier preventing new students from understanding this
con=
cept unless you have helped them to overcome this. They think that the
home=
airport is the ONLY landing spot. Yes, some will do cross-country once
and=
then never again. That's OK. At least they will have the experience to
pro=
perly size up real landing spots along the way.

But many more will be grateful to you in the realization that the anxiety
t=
o never leave home base was all in their head. This is where real
inspirati=
on is born.

If you don't do this with them in practice, you are doing your students a
t=
remendous disservice. Unfamiliarity is dangerous, and can lead to
disaster.=
There is a reason why student airplane pilots are taught to practice
instr=
ument flying for emergencies - because they will eventually encounter VFR
f=
lying into IMC. It will save their life.

The same applies to practice cross-country soaring.

At the very least, the glider instructor should fly with the student to
an
=
unfamiliar airport and use that as an out landing spot. Or better yet,
pick=
out three unfamiliar airports and do it. Teach them everything they need
t=
o do to size up the landing as if it were off-airport, like it is
described=
in the Glider Flying Handbook.

Doing your first out landing alone (even close to your airport) after
getti=
ng your Private ticket is exactly the wrong time to be experiencing it
for
=
the first time.

On Friday, August 28, 2015 at 3:30:13 AM UTC-4, Roger Hurley wrote:

To make cross-country soaring more
attractive and accessible, to encourage more to just go fly more, and
cross-country, the gamechanger is engines.

In particular FES? FES is a modern encouragement to balance out the modern deterrents. I understand that FES(s) are catching on big time in the UK. I wonder if any of them are club ships? It will be interesting to see how FES changes XC participation in the UK.

I wonder if new pilots will decide that they don't need FES after a few flights, or if they will decide that it is essential.

On Friday, August 28, 2015 at 8:11:50 AM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
On Friday, August 28, 2015 at 3:30:13 AM UTC-4, Roger Hurley wrote:

To make cross-country soaring more
attractive and accessible, to encourage more to just go fly more, and
cross-country, the gamechanger is engines.

In particular FES? FES is a modern encouragement to balance out the modern deterrents. I understand that FES(s) are catching on big time in the UK. I wonder if any of them are club ships? It will be interesting to see how FES changes XC participation in the UK.

I wonder if new pilots will decide that they don't need FES after a few flights, or if they will decide that it is essential.

FES, at this time, is limited to what I would call high end, new single seat aircraft. These are not the machines that new pilots will be flying cross country. It will take a very long time before these ships trickle down to the group of pilots that we have been discussing.
UH

On Friday, 28 August 2015 14:22:59 UTC+2, wrote:
FES, at this time, is limited to what I would call high end, new single seat aircraft. These are not the machines that new pilots will be flying cross country. It will take a very long time before these ships trickle down to the group of pilots that we have been discussing.
UH

I'd love to purchase a FES equipped glider but I'm afraid these gliders are very unlikely to trickle down to the "affordable first ship for new pilots" category since battery packs have a limited lifespan and cost a significant amount of money to replace.
I can't see FES gliders dropping to the $10000 (G102, ASW-15) to $20000 (ASW-20, Ventus B) range any time soon which is the price range most first time owners are willing to pay in my part of the woods.