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The Decline of Soaring Awards
On 3/24/2020 4:31 AM, Mike N. wrote:
If you can find a copy for sale on eBay the book: Soaring For Diamonds is a great read. About flying 1-26 to various levels of badges, including Diamond. This is the 1st book I read about soaring and really fired up my imagination. https://www.cumulus-soaring.com/book...orDiamonds.htm Much good, basic feedback/advice from others already. Two - somewhat redundant - points for consideration: 1) XC *can* be safely (and satisfyingly and 'funly') self-taught with a modicum of common sense (don't hit things you don't want to hit; don't put yourself in the position of 'being *forced*' to hit things you don't want to hit; fly within your existing skills, and *not* within some imagined 'XC-necessary' skills; etc.), and 2) high L/D (whatever that may mean to any individual) is *NOT* fundamentally necessary to going XC. And as I'm sure others will be eager to point out, YMMV and a person *can* kill themselves in soaring by doing things in a less-than-sensible fashion. Don't do what they did, and remember - perfection is never an option. Live life accordionly... "Soaring for Diamonds" was the first book I found in a library after bumbling into soaring way back when. Great read! Years later I obtained a copy for myself. Minor reviewer's nit - Joe Lincoln (author) was "up to" a 1-23 by the time he bagged his diamonds. He didn't really *need* it, I suspect he was just impatient! I trained in a small club in the MD mountains; it trained in a 2-33 and had a 1-26 and a member-owned tug. No XC training per se that I ever noticed, just basic inputs from my instructor, mostly in response to my questions. My instructor was an old guy of about 30 who - I later (after my first landout) learned - had built his own 1-26 from a kit. So far as I could tell, he seemed to know about what he taught...which emphasized the basics: don't stall in the pattern; pick a decent field if you're gonna have to land out *before* you're down to pattern altitude; you're in charge - so act like it. It was sufficient when soon after solo I bumbled my way into needing to make an off-airport landing...without even trying to! Other than the elevated heart rate and sweaty palms (telling 'em to stop didn't help, ha ha), it was little different than landing at the airport - every late-training/subsequent-solo approach to which had been an intentional short-field approach over a pretend obstacle. Result? Successful OFL; no damage; greatly increased belief in what ye instructor had been telling me! Never looked back. Began ownership by partnering with instructor and another newbie new glider-only pilot in instructor's 1-26; soon enough 'was forced to' (job location change) purchase a 1-26 outright in which I (unofficially) completed my Silver Badge. Have been amused ever since by pundits convinced - as judged by their willingness to share their opinions - XC is impossible in (used to be) 30:1, and is today seemingly 35/1 or even 40/1 ships. The late great Dick Johnson begged to differ (cf: old "Soaring" mags; superb resource!), as do I, members of the 1-26 Association, Uneek (also with a Most Excellent article in the latest "Soaring" mag as well as a longish history on RAS of fundamentally sensible soaring-/XC-/pilot-centric food for thought. And no, I've never met the man...) It's been interesting to infer your own soaring-centric growth over the past few years on RAS, John F. Best of continued luck! Bob W. --- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. https://www.avg.com |
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