Learning to glide / soar in winter

I've seen social, and less social approches to both types
of instruction (power and gliders). Both work, but the
less social student pilots have a somewhat less rich
experience. And they tend to need more instruction.

I don't think this is BAD, just different. Some people want
to fly, but aren't into the BBQ so much. Hey, if that's what
they're most comfortable, I think that's ok too...

In article ,
Oscar wrote:
Maybe my choice of words "help with the chores" was a bit unfortunate. Guess
I have to get my head around the idea that glider training is quite
different to power instruction, where you turn up 30min before the lesson
starts, do 1 hour of flying, have a bit of a chat, then go home again.
Gliding is conducted in a club atmosphere where full time commitment is
appreciated and indeed expected. Not that I say that this is a bad thing,
just different to what I did in my PPL training.

Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try, otherwise
I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really special..... If you
guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as good in sunny and hot
Australia :-)

Cheers, Oscar



"Bill Gribble" wrote in
message .. .
Again, can't talk of how things are on your side of the world, but over
here similar applies - the club works on a basis of mutual, voluntary
support. But personally, I don't think of it as "help with the chores"
...

The flying is, of course, what it's all about. But it stands to reason
that if a half-dozen people are needed to put me in the air and drag my
plan back to the launch point when I come down, it's only fair that I
reciprocate and hang around to do the same for them when it's their turn
to fly.

The general rule I work to personally is that if I want to fly on a
given day I either turn up early enough to help get the kit out and set
up, fly and then play ground-crew for the rest of the morning and go
home for lunch, or I turn up at lunch time, fly, then play ground-crew
for the rest of the afternoon and stick around to help pack up and put
the kit away at the end of the day. Seems to work fine like this, and
means that my flying takes up, on average, about half a day a week.
Really not a bad deal.

Of course, on the odd occasion I think the wife won't notice my absence
(or I just feel like pushing my luck!) I hang around the whole day, get
the kit out and put it away, but fly both morning AND afternoon

Besides, there are worse things to do on a weekend morning than spend it
with a group of friends playing with gliders. And maybe I was just lucky
and landed on my feet (no pun intended), but I never found any hoops I
had to jump through when I first started (though I missed Seagull's
actual post, so I'm only guessing at the content and meaning). I've
seldom met a more welcoming and accepting group of strangers as when I
first joined my local club. The only entrance criteria appeared to be an
obsession with the weather and gliders and the desire to talk about
little else!

Seriously, if your curiosity has led you as far as to enquire then you
owe it to yourself to give it a go. And though "the club expects members
to be there most of the day" that likely translates to no more than a
half-day in practice, as long as you're not adverse to getting up early


The alternative is, I guess, to spend a lot more money and find a
commercial operation where you can book an instructor, turn up for your
slot, fly and go home. But in my (very biased!) opinion, that's missing
half the fun.

In any case, best of luck, Oscar.


-Bill

Oscar writes
Plus the club expects members to be there most of the day and help with
the chores to get maybe one or two 30min flights. -- Have to think
about all this .....

--
Bill Gribble

/---------------------------------------\
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk |
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
\---------------------------------------/




--

------------+
Mark J. Boyd

"Bill Gribble" wrote in
message .. .
Oscar writes
Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try,
otherwise I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really
special..... If you guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as
good in sunny and hot Australia :-)

Typical! Try and give a guy a bit of friendly advice and he turns around
and kicks you right where it hurts!

Sorry mate, but here in Oz we are conditioned to stick it to the Poms at
every opportunity - nothing personal - just a reflex action. :-)) (and I'm
not even born here). Actually one of the things that draws me to soaring are
pictures I saw of gliders flying in the Alps - simply magic. Would love to
do that one day, even as a passenger. Nothing like this here in Oz, only
something you guys can do in Europe. So sunshine is not everything.


On a more serious note, however, I
understand the soaring conditions are indeed a //little// more
favourable in your neck of the woods at the right time of year Maybe
once I convince the kids to grow up and move out I'll then be able to
convince the wife to take a holiday "Down-under" with me and I'll try
them for myself. Well, we can live and hope!

Winter is good to learn and a good club environment is absolutely the
best place to do it. Try them both first. If either turns out not to
suit you then you can always try the alternatives later

Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to tell
the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody suggested
to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the nearest shopping
mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?


But best of luck which ever way you go. At the end of the day, it's only
the soaring that counts.

--
Bill Gribble
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 06:53:33 GMT, Oscar wrote:

"Bill Gribble" wrote in
message .. .
Oscar writes
Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try,
otherwise I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really
special..... If you guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as
good in sunny and hot Australia :-)

Typical! Try and give a guy a bit of friendly advice and he turns around
and kicks you right where it hurts!

Sorry mate, but here in Oz we are conditioned to stick it to the Poms at
every opportunity - nothing personal - just a reflex action. :-)) (and I'm
not even born here). Actually one of the things that draws me to soaring are
pictures I saw of gliders flying in the Alps - simply magic. Would love to
do that one day, even as a passenger. Nothing like this here in Oz, only
something you guys can do in Europe. So sunshine is not everything.


On a more serious note, however, I
understand the soaring conditions are indeed a //little// more
favourable in your neck of the woods at the right time of year Maybe
once I convince the kids to grow up and move out I'll then be able to
convince the wife to take a holiday "Down-under" with me and I'll try
them for myself. Well, we can live and hope!

Winter is good to learn and a good club environment is absolutely the
best place to do it. Try them both first. If either turns out not to
suit you then you can always try the alternatives later

Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to tell
the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody suggested
to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the nearest shopping
mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

Entice her to the glider field too, and get her hooked, then you won't
have any more trouble...
John G.

Oscar writes
Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to
tell the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody
suggested to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the
nearest shopping mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

For my part I make sure I get up before her, tip-toe out the door trying
not to wake her, and on those occasions when I think she might notice my
prolonged absence from the usual chaos of my household on a Saturday
morning, try and make it back shortly after lunch with stories of
selfless self-sacrifice of how the conditions in the morning were really
lousy, didn't get anything in the air till gone 11 and though it really
did look like the day was about to blossom in the afternoon you really
wanted to come home and spend the time with her.

Never make it sound like you spent the morning enjoying yourself, and on
the odd occasion across the afternoon stare poignantly at the sky when
she thinks you think she's not looking just to drive home what a
terrific afternoon it could have been and look what you willingly gave
up to be at home with her instead.

Of course, on those days where the afternoon really does bloom, I just
switch the mobile off, blame the battery, and claim ignorance along the
lines of "I didn't realise the time!". Easier to say sorry than to ask
permission. She, in her turn, grabs the credit card and our teenage
daughter and goes off up town to get her own back on my wallet. Would be
cheaper to pay her in dollars

Naturally, all of this is written with tongue firmly-in-cheek.

--
Bill Gribble
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk

Oscar wrote:

.... now anybody got an idea what to tell the wife why I need to
have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? ....

If you try it and get hooked, the answer will be obvious: because
you need to fly, in the same way as you need to eat and drink.

At 20:00 27 January 2005, Root wrote:
Oscar wrote:

.... now anybody got an idea what to tell the wife
why I need to
have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? ....

If you try it and get hooked, the answer will be obvious:
because
you need to fly, in the same way as you need to eat
and drink.

Tell her she needs a hobby -- painting, writing poetry,
gardening (not shopping grin)

You'll probably get lots of humorous responses... here's a true one.

I made a commitment to continue to do those "honey-do" items that used to
consume my Saturdays, but do most of them in the evenings. I simply do NOT
watch TV in the evenings - I get stuff done instead! Other than yard work,
this works out pretty well. But my bushes are getting rather shaggy...


Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to tell
the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody
suggested
to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the nearest shopping
mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

C Koenig wrote:
How about... Honey, lets go to the airfield and take lessons...

Go get a hobby indeed! Next poster will say give HER a honey-do list!
;o)


When I first took up soaring in the 1960's my then wife concurrently
took up horseback riding. Come Saturday mornings, I'd head for the
airport, and she'd head for the stables. Expensive, but effective for
all involved. When we split it wasn't because of AIDS (Aviation Induced
Divorce Syndrome).

Al