Newbie commercial school question

This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.

I did my commercial add on in 4 days in Marfa, TX with Burt Compton. I
studied a LOT ahead of time and had been doing a lot of power flying
through the winter. I have no motorglider experience but it may make
it easier for you to learn landings by being able to get lots of
circuits in without taking numerous tows. Auto or Winch launches can
accomplish the same goal.

Saltfly wrote:
This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.

I'll immodestly recommend Soar Minden. We have about a dozen students
a year (or more) come from all over the world to do exactly what you
propose: spend a week of concentrated flying and end up with a glider
rating. Our weather is predictable and you could probably count on
flying the whole time you're here. If you come in March or April
you'll probably fly in wave, possibly even leave with an altitude
diamond. If you come in May or June you'll be flying in great thermal
conditions, probably including some nice cross country flying and maybe
leaving with a Silver badge. Take a look at our web site
www.soarminden.com for specifics on what we offer, or give me a call
at 1 800 345 7627. Fred

is this an "add-on" or brand new to flying.

The recommendations for Marfa TX and Minden NV are good to go, but may I
also recommend Carocole Soaring in Cal City CA, just north of Edwards AFB
and east of Tehachipe.

BT

"Saltfly" wrote in message
oups.com...
This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.

Saltfly wrote:
This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.

Consider Seminole Lake Gliderport in Florida (very close to
Orlando)...Good weather, good equipment, excellent teachers and
owners........

If you can wait until the weather settles down (say June) I'd highly
recommend Ridge Soaring in Pennsylvania. They have a couple of "full
immersion" courses and will tailor them to your needs/ability. Tom's
reputation is unsurpassed and the other instructors are also of the
highest caliber. Read as much as possible before hand and plan on
reading more when you're there. There's a bunkhouse at the field
(included in the cost of the course when I went a few years ago) and
plenty of places to eat at nearby State College. Its a wonderful place
to soar.

Mike
ASW 15

"Mike" wrote:

If you can wait until the weather settles down (say June) I'd highly
recommend Ridge Soaring in Pennsylvania. They have a couple of "full
immersion" courses and will tailor them to your needs/ability. Tom's
reputation is unsurpassed and the other instructors are also of the
highest caliber.

I don't like to make negative comments, but Ridge Soaring is
the only place I've ever flown where the instructor did not
know the tow signals. He thought "rock the wings" was the
signal for the towplane to "slow down." We had to go find
the SSA poster to convince him otherwise. Perhaps I found
the one thing he didn't know well, or the one bad apple
instructor, but ...

The other thing that bothered me was that he was selected to
give me a ridge checkout, but he'd just been hired and had
only made one other ridge flight. He didn't know the area,
didn't know how to fly ridges and the one piece of wisdom he
seemed to be able to impart from his own checkout flight was
that he'd been told that if you got below ridge height you
should land. I know you have to start somewhere, but I
didn't think he was a good choice to give a ridge checkout
and I was not instilled with great confidence from this
experience.

It's a fantastic place to do some ridge flying, but I'd lean
towards somewhere else for training, or at least get a
recommendation from someone who knows the specific
instructor you will be flying with. Marfa, Minden and
Caracole Soaring all have good reps, and my experience with
the latter two has been excellent (never been to Marfa).

Take a look at Great Western Soaring's website.
http://www.greatwesternsoaring.com/
It may take a while to read the whole site, but it's worth it. They've got
pictures of the actual terrain you'll be flying. They log weather conditions
also, so you can see what lift was available yesterday, last month, or last
year.
The school is located at the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains in
Southern California, You get every kind of lift. Yesterday we were up for
hours in thermal, sheer, wave & ridge. I practiced ridge for 30 minutes.
Later, we burned off excess altitude doing spin & slip training.
The sleek DG-500 trainers have honest 40-1 LD & retractable gear. They are
nice handling & roomy. After training in these, you can transition to
single-place glass much more easily than from an old Blanik or 2-33.
The instructors are expert pilots; positive & friendly.You could solo in a
week to ten days, although you may not expect to. I understand they do
training camps for teenagers & often solo them after a week.
I'm very glad I chose Great Western. It's certainly helped me accomplish the
dream!
Best,
Jim Hultman




"Saltfly" wrote in message
oups.com...
This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.

Hi there,

Re. motorglider for training, my club had a Super Dimona for such
purposes. It worked pretty well for pattern flying and early training
phase flying. I don't know of a commercial operation with such a plane
but one may exist. However I don't think you need to go that route. A
good commercial operation will drag your butt up as much as you want.

I got to solo level then decided to step up the pace and went
commercial for my PPG. I went to Soar Minden for two weeks in August,
2003. It was an amazing experience but mentally grueling flying 12-13
days straight. I did a lot of patten flying, got my solo time, silver
altitude, checked out on O2, passed my checkride and exam and left a
licenced pilot. They were very thorough and I spent more than I planned
but did not care.

I also prepared for the exam before I arrived and studied an hour or
two every night I was out there. Get the FAR/AIM, Glider Flying
Manual,and a test review book. I read an old copy of the Joy of Soaring
and a book by Piggot as well.

Good luck in your search,
Adam

Saltfly wrote:
This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.

I'd recommend learning on aerotow. If you do your checkride on aerotow,
it's only a CFIG endorsement to fly MG's, but you'd need a second
checkride if you do MG's first. Also, unless you're going to have
access to a MG after training, I don't see how a MG checkride will do
you much good since most FBO's are aerotow.

As to locations, I'd second Soar Minden. I did my training there in
1995 and loved it. While the wx isn't totally reliable (how about a
snow flurry in July one year?), I suspect that it is one of the most
reliable sites in the nation. And the views are absolutely stunning
when you get high enough to see Lake Tahoe -- which is most days after
April.

Wishing you luck.

Martin