In article . net,
says...
Hey, Tom. I wasn't talking about you. I have no doubt that you could have
done your 1000K with a pure sailplane. You did your homework and deserve
the bragging rights. I was speaking of others who just keep relying on the
engine to save the day when it goes bad until they get lucky and bag a big
flight.

There are also sailplane pilots who venture over dangerous terrain and get
lucky enough to get away with it - for awhile.

However, there are others who make their own luck with skill and knowledge
and have flown astonishing flights for many decades with incident. These
people have done their homework, understand the risks and how to manage
them. Most of them kept notebooks with drawings and notes about safe
landing sites in difficult areas. they spent a lot of time driving remote
area to get this information. As I said, it takes work and perseverance to
make the big flights without a motor. I respect that.

So, it takes "work and perseverance" to make a big flight without a
motor, but you also credit Tom with "work and perseverance", even though
he flies with a motor. It sounds like it's not the motor that's
important to you, but your perception of how much skill vs luck went
into the flight. In other words, just like we've always done:

- the 1-26 driver gets big credit for a 500K flight, but not the ASW 22
pilot

- the 500K done at Minden gets a ho-hum, but the 500K done in Minnesota
gets a "job well done!"

- the guy that lands out, hitch hikes home, then retrieves himself gets
the admiration; the guy that lands at an airport and gets an aero-
retrieve doesn't even get a "how did it go"

Someday, motors in gliders won't seem so special, and they'll just be
one more factor in how we judge a glider pilot. Personally, my favorite
way is to measure the size of the smile on his (or her) face after
landing.

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