Anyone got a box leaving Europe before Christmas to Aus??
Ron Sanders From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Simon Holding Sent: Saturday, 28 August 2010 08:55 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a movement - start of a sport Andrew, Please don't be put off by negativity. Certainly there are criticisms to levelled at areas within our sport. However, on balance, the GFA does a fair job. In my opinion. I too started gliding in my early 40's. Being in Alice Springs at the time afforded me little opportunity to learn from experienced people willing to push boundaries in cross country flight. So I went looking. Back then there was a commercial operation at Tocumwal, where I was exposed to magnificent opportunities to learn. I went to Bernard Eckie's training week at Waikerie. Emilis showed my how to get around in conditions I had previously thought unflyable. Against some advice, I entered in the Nationals. They'll fly you into the ground' 'They're aggressive' I was told. The truth was that people like David Pietsch were more than tolerant and helpful, despite my sometimes appalling manners (for want of knowledge) in the air. At the Queensland State comps the next year, many people freely gave their advice; albeit Andrew Ward jokingly said he would advise no further, as I was doing too well in the comp. I managed to get a spot on the team to go to Italy to fly in the Pre Worlds. Paul Mander organised a training squad at Benalla, and for a week Grahan Garlick tasked us into the wilds of the hills around Benalla to desensitise us. Tony Tabart devoted a week of his life to coaching me from the back seat of a Janus. Tim Shirley came and crewed for me in Italy. None of these people ever asked for anything in return for all the effort they had put in to my learning. We did murder a few bottles of red along the way though. Many, many others helped along the way. Flying in Italy (God's playground) was the greatest privelige I have experienced; without reservation. (too bad I trashed the glider though....) Andrew, it really shits me when people say that it's hard to learn to fly competitively in this country. My experience has been nothing short of wonderful. Sadly for me, my flying has been pretty limited by being at Uni for the last three years, but in under a year 'I'll be back...' All you need to do is ask, and people seem to come from everywhere to help in this sport. I couldn't let this discussion go on without providing some balance to the negativity. Regards, Simon Holding > From: [email protected] > Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:32:37 +1000 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Death of a movement - start of a sport > > Hi All, > > Interesting discussion, especially since I am one of those new members who is deciding whether or not to continue with gliding. > > Caveat: My (lack of) experience and my personal situation may, or may not, be representative of others making similar decisions. > > I started gliding last year at age 42. I now have 21 hours solo time (10 flights), and have been fortunate to complete flights that meet all Silver C requirements. So far it has been lot of fun, and resulted in a great sense of achievement. From what I understand, I also approached learning to fly gliders a little differently than most. (The journey so far is partly documented at http://www.hallam.id.au/journal/2009/11/3/learning-to-fly-gliders.html.) > > I still have a *lot* to learn. I now need to decide whether to invest the time and money in that learning. That means thinking about what the future looks like if I do continue with gliding, and making a call on the opportunity costs. > > While the idea of flying in competitions is enticing I'm unlikely to be a serious or regular competition pilot due to my age, the limited number of hours I can fly each year, and the cost of a reasonable glider. Therefore, thinking of soaring as a sport might not be realistic, for me. > > The most likely path, for me, seems to be treating soaring as more of a hobby. Flying when I can, setting my own tasks, and maybe posting a few flights on OLC. Competition flying is likely to be an occasional bonus rather than a regular thing. I am wondering if that is going to be enough to keep me interested. > > If I do continue, some of the things I'd like to experience while finishing my Glider Pilot Certificate are: > > - More cross country soaring. Learning by doing via coaching in a dual seater or pair flying with an experienced pilot. > - Graduating to a higher performance single seater (doesn't have to be the latest and greatest, > just good enough to maximise my enjoyment at my skill level). > - Flying in a competition as a passenger in a dual seater. > - More training on all aspects of safety. > - More learning about soaring weather. > > Longer term: > > - Some form of competition/challenge that encourages low hours pilots to improve their skills (safely).* > - Organised flying with pilots of similar experience. > > *Formal badge claims don't really interest me at this point, unless they are needed to convey my level of experience to others. > > As others have said, to the newcomer there appears to be a large nebulous gap between solo and elite competition. Working out what your realistic options are, and therefore what you can get out of soaring, can be difficult. If you don't understand what you can achieve, it is more difficult to commit the time and money to find out. > > Feedback is welcome. > > Andrew > > > > On 27/08/2010, at 11:09 PM, Tim Shirley wrote: > > > Paul has said it all, and Mike B has made similar comments. We need to switch people on to the sport of gliding. Not the grind of doing circuits and going solo, but all the challenges that are available from unpowered soaring flight. Cross-country, wave soaring, competitions, badges, records. The fun stuff. > > > > We are not a low-cost flying training organisation - at least, we are not today. Gliding is a SPORT and should be marketed as such. If we want to give scholarships, we should be looking at the incentive to continue, not just the incentive to start. For example, by paying for early X/C pilots to go to coaching camps or to their first competitions. That's what will hook them. Whereas a few free training flights won't help, because the money runs out before the fun starts. > > > > Being a sport means that the customers we target will be different, and should include other flying disciplines, especially those where there is limited sporting challenge. Long term participation in our sport needs people to have resources, including time and money as well as dedication, enthusiasm and commitment. > > > > When I take a TIF I spend most of the time talking about the possibilities. I chat about the competitions, the long flights people do, the fun of wave flying. Anything to turn them on to the challenge, and away from the impossible question "how much does it cost to learn?". > > > > Yes, we have people who only want to soar gracefully above the airfield for a couple of hours. Yes, we have people who want to restore and fly vintage sailplanes. Yes, we need instructors to train newcomers. And all of that is terrific. But it's not the right marketing pitch - which should be, that this sport is seriously challenging, physically and mentally demanding, and above all, heaps of FUN! > > > > Cheers > > > > Tim > > > > se sono rose, fioriranno > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5403 (20100827) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com
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