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G’day from the west, At Beverley we run pylon race
days. The first Saturday in every month is set aside purely to expose newer
pilots to cross country flying. At the briefing the L2 instructor assigns all
pilots who wish to fly an aircraft, often all our two seaters fly a course
which might only be a triangle with 30km legs. Our PR officer doesn’t
take any AEF bookings for that day so that all the twins can be used if the
demand is there. All pilots from the guns to the
pre solo people take part. The guns usually go around 3 laps. The twins (like
the Puchacz) might only do
one lap, then land, collect another student and off he goes. This exposes all pilots to cross
country flying at any stage of their development. Often each student is no more
than 30km from home and only away for about two hours. It does wonders for the
confidence. Having said that we still find
that many members learn to fly and then depart after going solo. That has been
an issue for decades and I don’t have the answer to that yet. At least we offer all members the
chance to do cross country flying safely with an experienced pilot once per
month if they wish to learn the skills. Regards Don Woodward From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Future Aviation Pty. Ltd. Good morning all! Most of you will know that proper soaring training
is an issue very close to my heard. I tend to think that the poor retention rate in
gliding is to a large extend due to the fact that we let our new recruits sort out the soaring
aspect on their own. After having gone solo too many of them experience problems keeping a
glider airborne. The result is regular set-backs and disappointments and before
much longer many of our new aviators vote with their feet. The teaching of thermalling seems to be rather low
on the list of priorities during basic training in it is tackled at all. Could you help me by providing some feedback? 1) How is your club handling the issue of
soaring training? 2) Roughly what percentage of new recruits
are leaving without ever enjoying a cross-country flight or seeing the full potential of our marvellous sport? 3) Do members of this newsgroup think that we can lift the
retention rate by providing better pre-solo soaring training? I appreciate that this is a rather sensitive issue and fully
understand that you mightn’t want to express your views and opinions publicly. Therefore,
please feel free to submit your thoughts and comments directly to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I can assure everyone to treat all replies confidentially. Many thanks
for your input. Bernard
Eckey RTO (S) for
SA & NT 10 Ph/Fax +61 8
8449 2871 mobile 0412
981204 |
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