Hey Mike, Did you hear about the jazz guitarist who won a million dollar lottery. When aked what he would do with the money he replied "I'll keep playing jazz till the money runs out"...(-:
Regards all Dav ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Borgelt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring inAustralia." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 9:57 AM Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Re:accident ABC news report > At 11:39 PM 9/03/04 +1100, you wrote: > > > >>Mike Borgelt wrote: I'd prefer "we will expedite a full report so others > >>may learn" to > >>"there will be a full report in the fullness of time." > > > >While I agree that we can all learn from a detailed understanding of what > >happened in a gliding accident, particularly a tragic one, there's another > >reason why I value early details. > > > >Lots of my friends and colleagues know I'm a glider pilot. For many of > >them, perhaps the majority, I'm the only pilot they know. When something > >like this happens they ask me about it. On the one hand I feel a certain > >pressure to defend the sport. On the other hand I feel that my friends and > >colleagues expect me to be "in the know". > > > >Whenever there's a gliding related incident in the media I rely on this > >list, and RAS to get some facts that maybe aren't in the news reports (or > >are misreported) while it's still fresh in people's minds. It's not much > >use (in the particular situation I'm thinking of in the photocopier room at > >work or at the pub) to say "I'll get back to you in a few months when we've > >got the whole story." > > > >I'm proud of the sense achievement I feel when I reflect that I AM a glider > >pilot, but it's a heavy responsibility when so many friends and colleagues > >see it as a wacky, dangerous thing to do, about which they know next to > >nothing. "What if there's no wind?", "Aren't you scared with no engine?", > >"What about that guy who got killed?" > > > >I've been off work today (coincidentally to attend a funeral of a friend > >from my other [dangerous?] life as a jazz musician) but the questions will > >start around nine o'clock tomorrow morning at my day gig. > > > Well, gliding is certainly dangerous as is all of aviation but with proper > training and operational philosophies the risks can be managed as has been > shown by most of the rest of aviation. > > It just requires the will to do it from those who place themselves in the > position of "controlling" the sport. > > Safety is everyone's responsibility, not the province of a few GFA ops > people and instructors. Unfortunately while the latter philosophy prevails > (as it does in Australia) we will go on needlessly breaking gliders and > killing and injuring people. > > Keeping all pilots "in the loop" on accident investigations and producing > timely preliminary reports is a good first step. > > At present the "keep the information for a select few" policy has resulted > in many gliding club members being unable to appreciate the hazards of > their day to day operations due at least partly to this enforced ignorance. > > At one club of my acquaintance a couple of power instructors I know (who > used to to both fly gliders years ago) looked at the operation and came > away horrified. One of them actually rang me to ask if this was normal. > Unfortunately the answer is yes. > > So if you want to change this you will have to convince the GFA grand > poohbahs to stop telling each other what a great job they are doing and do > something useful with the several hundred thousand dollars a year they > collect. > > If you are a new student why don't you ask the next instructor you fly with > how many hours he or she has over how many years and how many gliders he or > she has broken? I guarantee some of you will get a nasty surprise. I'd > suggest you choose an instructor with at least 500 accident free hours. > Read all the books you can. Piggott and Reichmann are a good start. Ask > your instructor if he or she has read them. > > If you are on your club's management committee it might be a good idea to > take control of your instructors and weed out the unsuitable ones. The > students should not have to do it for you. > > Don't then have enough instructors to maintain a training operation? > Consider not being one. I had an interesting conversation a month ago with > a CASA gentleman who was quite surprised to learn that the GFA required all > clubs to be training operations. His question was why? Interestingly he is > the sponsor for the writing of part 103(sport aviation operations). > > Mike > > > Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments > phone Int'l + 61 746 355784 > fax Int'l + 61 746 358796 > cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784 > Int'l + 61 429 355784 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > website: www.borgeltinstruments.com > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
