On Monday, January 28, 2013 3:49:14 PM UTC-5, Ventus_a wrote:
...a culture... more concerned
with getting 'credentialed' than actually gaining real skill...

I'd like to think that that position is a minority sub-culture within soaring.

I've noticed a few pilots with high level skills that like to gamble with very long odds, for example, by placing critical bets about rapidly changing weather.

I expect that there are a few pilots with good credentials, but not very good skills, who like to gamble with very long odds.

So where am I on this matrix? I guess that we all take risks, some more skillfully than others, and that we all stay in the sport until our luck runs out.