Soaring Schools

Best of luck ... let me know how it goes.

I am a little wary of "-take a week off and drive the 4 hrs or so and get as much training as possible during that time. And then repeat as often as necessary/possible. "

Unless you can take a week off every other week or so ... that may not be a good way. You may be better off taking fridays &/or mondays off and doing sequential 3/4-day weekends until you "git 'er done."

In the old days it was common for people to solo a 2-33 in two weeks or less of flying every day at commercial operations -- indeed many years ago I instructed for one outfit that "guaranteed" it -- on closer inspection that guarantee wasn't worth much.

That wasn't such a good idea, and I wouldn't recommend or expect it today .... but it shouldn't take twice that to get to the private pilots ... of STEADY flying.

Remember that back in WWII both fighter and bomber pilots were trained from nothing in 60 days ... granted a lot of them did not last long in combat, but they were trained to handle much more complex aircraft (and instruments, night flying, rudiments of gunnery and combat) in 60 days!

But while you are learning ... and indeed until you are well through the PP and have some experience beyond that ... flying steadily is key.

And if you do want to get a glider club off the ground ... then find at least 10 like-minded people ... and get back to me and or others ... and you'll be surprised how much help and experience will materialize.

Cheers,

Lee

Another option for earning your private pilot glider certificate:

1) Use flight simulation to learn 80% of what you need to know to fly a glider

2) Then go fly with a commercial glider operation for your aircraft-based training.

The challenge to this paradigm is finding a flight instructor with the qualifications, experience, and willingness to work with you at-a-distance using simulation-based training.

As luck would have it, I am one such CFIG, and would be willing to take you on.

If you are interested in this option, you can initially contact me via my website: gliderCFI.com

Respectfully,

Scott Manley

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 8:35:05 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Another option for earning your private pilot glider certificate:

1) Use flight simulation to learn 80% of what you need to know to fly a glider

2) Then go fly with a commercial glider operation for your aircraft-based training.

The challenge to this paradigm is finding a flight instructor with the qualifications, experience, and willingness to work with you at-a-distance using simulation-based training.

As luck would have it, I am one such CFIG, and would be willing to take you on.

If you are interested in this option, you can initially contact me via my website: gliderCFI.com

Respectfully,

Scott Manley

This sounds interesting. Please tell me more about what is needed for this.. I assume a computer to get on the internet. Does one need a joystick? Can you use a mouse or keyboard? Any particular app that needs to be downloaded? Or is it web-based? I'm told that for the book work, the FAA has a decent online text on learning to fly gliders, but my Google-Fu is weak, and haven't been able to find it.

Well, to get the best out of the practice, I believe Condor has a recommended equipment list for controls. A decent joystick and rudder peddles is recommended.
Yes, you can use the "twist" function on a lot of joysticks for rudder, but you lose a bit.
I will say (as a gamer as well as ex CFIG), you still lose a lot of "butt feel" on any PC based simulator. I have flown Condor, not a bad way to go, good controls to the PC make it better, but actually flying is best. But I will NOT discount using Condor as a tool.
Same goes for RC Soaring, you lose a lot of butt input, but the basics are the same.

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 12:19:46 PM UTC-7, John Foster wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 8:35:05 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Another option for earning your private pilot glider certificate:

1) Use flight simulation to learn 80% of what you need to know to fly a glider

2) Then go fly with a commercial glider operation for your aircraft-based training.

The challenge to this paradigm is finding a flight instructor with the qualifications, experience, and willingness to work with you at-a-distance using simulation-based training.

As luck would have it, I am one such CFIG, and would be willing to take you on.

If you are interested in this option, you can initially contact me via my website: gliderCFI.com

Respectfully,

Scott Manley

This sounds interesting. Please tell me more about what is needed for this. I assume a computer to get on the internet. Does one need a joystick? Can you use a mouse or keyboard? Any particular app that needs to be downloaded? Or is it web-based? I'm told that for the book work, the FAA has a decent online text on learning to fly gliders, but my Google-Fu is weak, and haven't been able to find it.

https://www.cumulus-soaring.com/condor.htm gives an great overview of the Condor realm. I take a setup to aviation events. We have one in our club. Another club I visited recently had the Mach 0.1 from www.gliderbooks.com and charges $8/hour and some of the instructors are using it with students..

Frank Whiteley

On Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at 9:39:37 PM UTC-8, John Foster wrote:
Is there a general consensus on which schools are regarded as the "best" for glider training? I realize this is difficult to compare, as there are lots of good instructors all over the place, but if someone were interested in taking a block of time off and going somewhere to learn how to fly gliders and get there license to do so privately, where would you recommend?

John,

I am the developer of the "Mach 0.1 Glider Cockpit Simulator". Feel free to contact me regarding its use as a training tool before and during flight instruction.

Here is a link to a blog of someone I taught remotely using the sim.

http://inspire.eaa.org/2017/05/09/ge...y-glider-solo/

Best of luck with your training!

Russell

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 2:01:07 PM UTC-7, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
Well, to get the best out of the practice, I believe Condor has a recommended equipment list for controls. A decent joystick and rudder peddles is recommended.
Yes, you can use the "twist" function on a lot of joysticks for rudder, but you lose a bit.
I will say (as a gamer as well as ex CFIG), you still lose a lot of "butt feel" on any PC based simulator. I have flown Condor, not a bad way to go, good controls to the PC make it better, but actually flying is best. But I will NOT discount using Condor as a tool.
Same goes for RC Soaring, you lose a lot of butt input, but the basics are the same.

I've done quite a bit of RC soaring, particularly slope soaring. But I wouldn't expect that to substitute for any real flying. It may give experience in how lift works on a hillside, and how the basic controls work, but I expect them still to be quite different in many ways.

Do the Condor software and the Mach 0.1 simmulator work on a Mac, or just a PC?

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 9:59:23 PM UTC-8, John Foster wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 2:01:07 PM UTC-7, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
Well, to get the best out of the practice, I believe Condor has a recommended equipment list for controls. A decent joystick and rudder peddles is recommended.
Yes, you can use the "twist" function on a lot of joysticks for rudder, but you lose a bit.
I will say (as a gamer as well as ex CFIG), you still lose a lot of "butt feel" on any PC based simulator. I have flown Condor, not a bad way to go, good controls to the PC make it better, but actually flying is best. But I will NOT discount using Condor as a tool.
Same goes for RC Soaring, you lose a lot of butt input, but the basics are the same.

I've done quite a bit of RC soaring, particularly slope soaring. But I wouldn't expect that to substitute for any real flying. It may give experience in how lift works on a hillside, and how the basic controls work, but I expect them still to be quite different in many ways.

Do the Condor software and the Mach 0.1 simmulator work on a Mac, or just a PC?

Condor only runs on a PC. You can get a refurbished computer from Staples for around $200, to which you will need to add a $30 graphics card. A 24" monitor with speakers will run you another $125 or so.

The Mach 0.1 is just a USB input device. It has two USB cords that plug into the computer and is configured using Condor.

-Russell

On Saturday, December 23, 2017 at 10:13:09 AM UTC+3, wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 9:59:23 PM UTC-8, John Foster wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 2:01:07 PM UTC-7, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
Well, to get the best out of the practice, I believe Condor has a recommended equipment list for controls. A decent joystick and rudder peddles is recommended.
Yes, you can use the "twist" function on a lot of joysticks for rudder, but you lose a bit.
I will say (as a gamer as well as ex CFIG), you still lose a lot of "butt feel" on any PC based simulator. I have flown Condor, not a bad way to go, good controls to the PC make it better, but actually flying is best. But I will NOT discount using Condor as a tool.
Same goes for RC Soaring, you lose a lot of butt input, but the basics are the same.

I've done quite a bit of RC soaring, particularly slope soaring. But I wouldn't expect that to substitute for any real flying. It may give experience in how lift works on a hillside, and how the basic controls work, but I expect them still to be quite different in many ways.

Do the Condor software and the Mach 0.1 simmulator work on a Mac, or just a PC?

Condor only runs on a PC. You can get a refurbished computer from Staples for around $200, to which you will need to add a $30 graphics card. A 24" monitor with speakers will run you another $125 or so.

The Mach 0.1 is just a USB input device. It has two USB cords that plug into the computer and is configured using Condor.

-Russell

Condor says it needs 1+ GHz CPU. Anything from a Core2 Duo and up is more than enough. The graphics card is more important, and the cheapest one you can buy new today (or five years ago, if not 10) is fine.

It also runs very well in VMWare Player on an Intel Mac. For some reason the graphics were corrupted on Parallels last time I tried it (5 years ago maybe) though it otherwise ran great.

Rudder pedals would be good for those who are not already a pilot, to get used to using them, but I find a twist joystick to be fine.

John,

Call me.

608-222-6843

Scott Manley - CFIG