Cheap GPS Loggers for FAI Badges - Status?

I can't believe that the documentation for the Silver flight made you leave
Soaring. A barograph trace or a picture of the field as you circled it
would have proven the flight. The flight back with it's challenges is what
keeps people in Soaring, they want the challenge and it is different on
every day. I know a lot of people that fly alot and never got their
badges, but they still enjoy the beauty and the challenge of using energy
from Mother Nature to sustain a flight. In my personal opinion, cross
country experience should be required of any CFIG so that you can prepare
the students for all phases of Soaring, just my 2 cents worth.

Next time you are droning across the sky in the rented power plane, keep
looking at the clouds and wondering if I was in a glider could I get from
here to there.

Fly safely,
Fred
"Michael" wrote in message
om...
Pete Brown wrote
Let's keep a bit of perspective. These badges are primarily
a record of personal achievement, very little more.

Well, not quite. For one thing, they are used as a prerequisite for
entering contests. For another, lots of people seem determined to
prevent 'dilution' of the accomplishment, for whatever reason. Some
mention insurance, but I've never had an insurer inquire about my
badges.

I don't have a Silver badge. I suppose that had I been more concerned
with documenting rather than flying I might. I didn't own a logger,
or a barograph for that matter, but my club had barographs and I'm
certain that had I asked, I could have borrowed one. I know, because
I remember seeing a pilot trying to get a barograph to work and
filling in paperwork while I was getting ready to make a flight. It
didn't look like fun. See, that's what flying is about for me -
having fun.

I flew to a nearby (60 km) field, but that didn't seem like much of a
challenge. At that point I was glad I hadn't bothered with a
barograph, because I decided to turn around and come home. I knew
there was a way to make the flight count anyway, with a turnpoint
camera and a barograph, but the last time someone tried to explain how
that worked to me, my eyes glazed over. I guess I wasn't up to the
challenge.

Getting home, fighting a 30kt headwind in a metal ship, almost landing
out - THAT was a challenge. I'm really glad I made that flight - it
taught me things about soaring that no book can teach. I wrote about
that flight for this newsgroup when it happened.

Soon thereafter, I heard there was going to be a local contest. I
knew I had no chance of winning, but I considered entering anyway,
just for the experience. I was thinking about getting my glider
instructor rating, and I felt that flying in a contest was something I
ought to experience. Certainly participating in a skydiving
competition is required to become a skydiving instructor, and I always
thought the requirement was a good one.

Turned out I needed a Silver badge. It was kind of amusing, because
another pilot was dead set on entering the contest. Like me, he had
already flown a qualifying flight, and unlike me he actually attempted
to document it - but something had gone wrong with the documentation
and he needed to redo it. The day was marginal, but he declared the
flight, saying that he would either get his Silver that day or land
out. He landed out. I believe he eventually got the SSA to accept
his original documentation and entered the contest. He was
persistent. I guess I wasn't.

I never did enter a contest. I eventually got my glider instructor
rating and taught some. I still fly a great deal, but mostly in
power. Less hassle, more fun. I still teach too, but also mostly in
power. I just finished teaching a glider pilot to fly instruments.
He also doesn't have a Silver badge, even though he has made more than
one qualifying flight. He doesn't fly gliders anymore either. But
hey, I'm sure keeping guys like us out is a small price to pay for
maintaining the integrity of the badge system. After all, if we were
truly serious, we would have overcome the obstacles. I'm sure soaring
is better off without us.

Michael

On 6/16/04 6:38 PM, in article
, "Michael"
wrote:

Pete Brown wrote
Let's keep a bit of perspective. These badges are primarily
a record of personal achievement, very little more.

Well, not quite. For one thing, they are used as a prerequisite for
entering contests.

[....]

I never did enter a contest. I eventually got my glider instructor
rating and taught some. I still fly a great deal, but mostly in
power. Less hassle, more fun. I still teach too, but also mostly in
power. I just finished teaching a glider pilot to fly instruments.
He also doesn't have a Silver badge, even though he has made more than
one qualifying flight. He doesn't fly gliders anymore either. But
hey, I'm sure keeping guys like us out is a small price to pay for
maintaining the integrity of the badge system. After all, if we were
truly serious, we would have overcome the obstacles. I'm sure soaring
is better off without us.

I'm sure it is not better off. However, to be fair, if it wasn't the badge
system it would have been something else -- considering the route you have
traveled since.

Here's hoping you come back to soaring someday soon.

In the meantime, those of us who stay will continue to try to improve the
system, and to make those badge flights (paperwork and all) just to show we
are as good as those who went before, and as good as those who will come
after.



Jack

"f.blair" wrote
I can't believe that the documentation for the Silver flight made you leave
Soaring.

It didn't. But see, had I gone to the contest and gotten hooked, I
might still be soaring regularly.

What made me leave? There was a higher fun/challenge to hassle ratio
in other forrms of aviation. The documentation was just one of the
hassles - there were many others. I know many, many glider-rated
pilots who are still flying regularly - just not in gliders. Those
are ALL people with the time, money, and desire to fly who gave
soaring a shot - and were not retained.

The flight back with it's challenges is what keeps people in Soaring

You're right. Some people are dedicated enought that they stay in
despite the hassles.

In my personal opinion, cross
country experience should be required of any CFIG so that you can prepare
the students for all phases of Soaring, just my 2 cents worth.

And I agree with you. In fact, it IS required most places. In the
UK, the Silver is required before you can instruct at any level. When
I found that out, I put my CFIG training on hold until I met the
requirement. I guess I was of the opinion that what counted was
making the flight, not the documentation. I'm not so sure anymore.

Next time you are droning across the sky in the rented power plane, keep
looking at the clouds and wondering if I was in a glider could I get from
here to there.

There is much, much more to power flying than what you describe. It
has its own challenges. Sure, droning along in a rental Cherokee on a
blue sky day isn't much of a challenge. In fact, if that were my only
other option, I would still be soaring, in spite of the hassles. In
power as in soaring, doing the fun stuff generally requires that you
become an owner. Go cross the Gulf of Mexico sometime (in a twin, of
course) in and out of cloud, dodging T-storms by a combination of
visual and electronic references, and top it off with a landing on a
2700x20 strip in the Florida Keys with a built-in 20kt crosswind -
then tell me about challenge.

Michael

All,
Michael makes two very salient points:
1. The hassel to fun ratio is very high in soaring.
2. You can have a lot of fun flying an airplane. In addition, the hassel
factor is , in most cases, much lower.
I add a couple of my own;
3. There is little cost difference.
4. There is very little seasonal variation in usefulness, that is, you can
power fly all year round.
5. No SSA politics and a generally friendlier bunch at the airport as
opposed to the glider operation.
All that said, I'm back in a glider after a 20 year lay off.
Cheers!, Pete
"Michael" wrote in message
om...
"f.blair" wrote
I can't believe that the documentation for the Silver flight made you
leave
Soaring.

It didn't. But see, had I gone to the contest and gotten hooked, I
might still be soaring regularly.

What made me leave? There was a higher fun/challenge to hassle ratio
in other forrms of aviation. The documentation was just one of the
hassles - there were many others. I know many, many glider-rated
pilots who are still flying regularly - just not in gliders. Those
are ALL people with the time, money, and desire to fly who gave
soaring a shot - and were not retained.

The flight back with it's challenges is what keeps people in Soaring

You're right. Some people are dedicated enought that they stay in
despite the hassles.

In my personal opinion, cross
country experience should be required of any CFIG so that you can
prepare
the students for all phases of Soaring, just my 2 cents worth.

And I agree with you. In fact, it IS required most places. In the
UK, the Silver is required before you can instruct at any level. When
I found that out, I put my CFIG training on hold until I met the
requirement. I guess I was of the opinion that what counted was
making the flight, not the documentation. I'm not so sure anymore.

Next time you are droning across the sky in the rented power plane, keep
looking at the clouds and wondering if I was in a glider could I get
from
here to there.

There is much, much more to power flying than what you describe. It
has its own challenges. Sure, droning along in a rental Cherokee on a
blue sky day isn't much of a challenge. In fact, if that were my only
other option, I would still be soaring, in spite of the hassles. In
power as in soaring, doing the fun stuff generally requires that you
become an owner. Go cross the Gulf of Mexico sometime (in a twin, of
course) in and out of cloud, dodging T-storms by a combination of
visual and electronic references, and top it off with a landing on a
2700x20 strip in the Florida Keys with a built-in 20kt crosswind -
then tell me about challenge.

Michael

In article , Pete Reinhart
writes
All,
Michael makes two very salient points:
1. The hassel to fun ratio is very high in soaring.

Not if you have a share in a motor glider. Including self-sustainers
of course, including Schempp's Turbos.

Anyway, when there was hassle on gliding fields in my youth, that did
not put me off. mending cable breaks was all too common, soaring was
not. It is the other way round nowadays, fortunately.

But I am a lifelong fanatic, which others obviously are not.

Soaring is always challenging but some times it may not be fun when you
are about to land in some nasty field a long way fro base. Hence my
long-term addiction to having an "outboard engine" like the small
sailing boats I used to crew for .....

--
Ian Strachan
Lasham Gliding Centre, UK