Extending new pilot comfort zone?

On Jan 7, 2:16*pm, tstock wrote:
On Jan 7, 1:52*pm, Frank Paynter wrote:









On Jan 7, 10:19*am, tstock wrote:

Hi everyone, I've been reading "Advanced Soaring Made Easy" by Bernard
Eckey, and this is a fantastic book for a new pilot. *It does discuss
learning to get out of the comfort zone of flying safely within glide
range of the airport. *This is something I am just venturing into
myself and I was curious how some of you went about this when you were
learning?

When and how did you cut the strings for the first time? Was it with
an instructor? Did you do it in small steps, or did you just plan a
cross country flight? *Or did you land out by accident once and get
thrown over that initial fear?

Since I am still renting a glider, it can be a bit of a problem if I
land out, but I would like to start flying a bit further outside my
comfort zone.

I was considering asking a more experienced pilot if I could "ride
along" with them on a cross country flight to help me get over the
butterflies.

Any advice appreciated,
Tom

Tom,

Get a copy of the Condor soaring simulator and do some cross-country
flights in it. *Find an experienced Condor pilot and fly with them
online. *You'll be surprised at how much of Condor skills transfer to
real life (and vice versa). *Read my Condor Corner articles in U.S.
SSA's Soaring magazine

Frank (TA).

Hi Frank, I have been flying in Condor since I first started
flying ... it helped me a lot with learning to fly.. my instructor had
me land on my 2nd and 3rd lesson! *But for venturing out cross country
on the simulator, I have done this, and I even have the map for my
local area. While the motions are the same, the consequences are not,
so the fear remains. * The only problem with Condor is that you can
land out just about anywhere (even on top of a mountain).

I do still often practice CC flying in Condor though.

-tom

Tom,

Yes, I agree that the fear factor can't be simulated! ;-).

Frank (TA)

I did the "airport to airport" thing that Andy mentioned. I have a
302/303, which made it very easy to always stay within glide of a
landable runway as I made my way cross-country. Kind of like adopting
a new "home" field every so many miles. Once you get out of glide
range from your true home field that first time, the anxiety about it
will diminish substantially. Have fun!

Hi Tom,

This is a subject of great interest to me. I found some useful
information on gradually getting beyond gliding distance he

http://www.glide.co.uk/members/post_solo4.aspx

As well, Beyond Gliding Distance is a great book and a good companion
to Bernard Eckey's Advanced Soaring Made Easy - I can recommend it.

smith

On Sun, 09 Jan 2011 14:01:38 -0800, smithcorp wrote:

This is a subject of great interest to me. I found some useful
information on gradually getting beyond gliding distance he

http://www.glide.co.uk/members/post_solo4.aspx

The instructor who wrote this taught me a lot, both pre-solo and
immediately post-solo.

As well as reading that page, click on 'Introduction' and read the other
linked pages as well. Bear in mind that its written around my home field
and translate it to fit your locality. The various turn points Martin
mentions in the Minitasks section are local villages, not BGA turnpoints.
IOW, think in terms of easily recognisable small towns, landmarks etc.
rather than competition turn points.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

Tom -

There's already been a ton of great info posted and I encourage you to
read and try just about all of it (there's no reason not to, and the
more prepared you can be, the less your fears will control you)...

I just got into XC soaring 3 years ago, so let me offer a couple of
other suggestions that no one's mentioned yet:

1) The book you're talking about is reportedly a good one (I haven't
read it yet) - but I found 3 books from Bob Wander to be HUGELY
helpful before I went XC: Breaking The Apron Strings, The Cross
Country Manual, and Thermals. All 3 are from his "Gliding Mentor"
series and are very good.

2) GlidePlan was mentioned. This is a fine tool, but I do area
familiarization and pre-flight planning on paper charts (even though I
fly with XCSoar or LK8000 on a PDA in my cockpit). Paper charts are
easy to write on and set up "glide circles". The idea is that you
pick airports and points along your route and draw concentric rings
around them showing what altitude you need to be at, in order to make
a safe final glide & landing to the airport from that ring/distance
(with a safety factor). The whole procedure is explained in various
books (including one of the 3 I mentioned above). Doing this is a
great exercise and makes it easy to do the "airport to airport"
flights that others have described.

3) I did not do 2-seater cross-country flights to get started. What I
did do was wait for a strong weather day, and then go up on a "lead
and follow" flight with an experienced and trusted pilot - he in his
glider and me in a club ship (with similar performance envelopes). We
discussed the flight ahead of time, and set clear expectations about
how we would communicate in the air, and how I would leave and return
to the airport if I started to be uncomfortable. It was great because
I could focus on safety, orientation (knowing how to get home), and
working the thermals as we encountered them. My buddy was the one
reading the sky and determining the safest path and sniffing out the
thermals - lightening the load on me (although we made sure to have a
constant dialogue so that I wasn't blindly following him; I knew when
he was taking bigger chances). We stuck within 1/2 mile (or less) of
each other the entire flight and had an amazing time. I've gone on
flights that are a whole lot longer, but few were as fun as that
flight. One note: If you're going to chat on the radio a lot with
someone, be sure to pick an open radio frequency so you don't clog up
the main freq that your club or airport uses. :-)

4) I mentioned the "Thermals" book for a reason. Don't discount
thermals & weather information! The #1 key to successful XC flying is
your ability to find & *maximize* lift! Anyone can climb in a 7-
knotter. EVERY XC pilot will eventually encounter a 1-knot thermal
that they *need* in order to make it home. Practice to able to use
those 1-knotters! Learn how to safely fly in tight banked circles
with excellent speed control (Condor can really help with this
practice). Don't ever get complacent - work the lift, don't just ride
around in it. Make it a challenge and try to have fun with it; and
don't get discouraged - this is a life-long pursuit and a continuous
adventure!

Best of luck,

--Noel
P.S. If you're using Condor with the attitude that you're always
trying to improve (not just as a game), you'll be amazed at how much
of the skillset transfers over! The one trap I worry about with
Condor folks (myself included) is that you can neglect your visual
scan. Drill yourself and don't get complacent with your scanning,
like so many many glider pilots do!