On Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:18:42 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler (F2) wrote:
> I would suggest an article on the progression of avid Condor pilots and how achieving the ability to participate in the higher levels of regular Condor online racing is impacting their real life contest flying.
>
> I think this could be eye opening and perhaps inspirational story to many.. I dont think many understand how seriously some take Condor in terms of training for the real thing, and the impact of that experience with Condor.
>
> Also a realistic depiction of what it actually takes in terms of dedication and time in order to really "get over the technical hump" and become "proficient enough" within Condor to ACTUALLY begin learning sailplane racing at a very high level. This is not game that is learned in a few hours. Many have many hundreds or perhaps even thousands of contest hours in Condor. This is a 2 hour, 2 - 4 nights a week (or more) kind of thing. People take it seriously because it helps, and it is very fun.
>
> Sean
> F2

Sean,

That is an excellent idea. A paragraph or two 'testimonial' from several different 'real life' competition pilots could be very persuasive. Even better, I wouldn't have to do much of the work! ;-)

On May 10, 7:45*pm, wrote:
> On Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:18:42 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler (F2) wrote:
> > I would suggest an article on the progression of avid Condor pilots and how achieving the ability to participate in the higher levels of regular Condor online racing is impacting their real life contest flying.
>
> > I think this could be eye opening and perhaps inspirational story to many. *I dont think many understand how seriously some take Condor in terms of training for the real thing, and the impact of that experience with Condor.
>
> > Also a realistic depiction of what it actually takes in terms of dedication and time in order to really "get over the technical hump" and become "proficient enough" within Condor to ACTUALLY begin learning sailplane racing at a very high level. *This is not game that is learned in a few hours. *Many have many hundreds or perhaps even thousands of contest hours in Condor. *This is a 2 hour, 2 - 4 nights a week (or more) kind of thing. *People take it seriously because it helps, and it is very fun.
>
> > Sean
> > F2
>
> Sean,
>
> That is an excellent idea. *A paragraph or two 'testimonial' from several different 'real life' competition pilots could be very persuasive. *Even better, I wouldn't have to do much of the work! ;-)

But it's not just race experience. I recently took a trip to Minden.
I'm a somewhat new, flat land soaring pilot. So I fired up Condor and
flew all over the Minden area in all sorts of conditions is similar
gliders that I was planning to rent. I put the local scenery and
turnpoints in XCSoar which was connected to my PC. I looked at OLC
tracks for wave entry and practiced those in Condor. I flew some
tasks in Minden with my brother who lives 1000 miles from me. I
practiced soaring the ridges and learned the topography. It was
amazing, I felt right at home when I got there real world. I got a
solo wave flight, ridge flights, knew the dangers and limits of
safety. My instructor jokingly said that I knew the place better than
he did. It made the experience much more fun and probably safer.

....Aaron

On May 10, 7:45*pm, wrote:
> On Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:18:42 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler (F2) wrote:
> > I would suggest an article on the progression of avid Condor pilots and how achieving the ability to participate in the higher levels of regular Condor online racing is impacting their real life contest flying.
>
> > I think this could be eye opening and perhaps inspirational story to many. *I dont think many understand how seriously some take Condor in terms of training for the real thing, and the impact of that experience with Condor.
>
> > Also a realistic depiction of what it actually takes in terms of dedication and time in order to really "get over the technical hump" and become "proficient enough" within Condor to ACTUALLY begin learning sailplane racing at a very high level. *This is not game that is learned in a few hours. *Many have many hundreds or perhaps even thousands of contest hours in Condor. *This is a 2 hour, 2 - 4 nights a week (or more) kind of thing. *People take it seriously because it helps, and it is very fun.
>
> > Sean
> > F2
>
> Sean,
>
> That is an excellent idea. *A paragraph or two 'testimonial' from several different 'real life' competition pilots could be very persuasive. *Even better, I wouldn't have to do much of the work! ;-)

But it's not just race experience. I recently took a trip to Minden.
I'm a somewhat new, flat land soaring pilot. So I fired up Condor and
flew all over the Minden area in all sorts of conditions is similar
gliders that I was planning to rent. I put the local scenery and
turnpoints in XCSoar which was connected to my PC. I looked at OLC
tracks for wave entry and practiced those in Condor. I flew some
tasks in Minden with my brother who lives 1000 miles from me. I
practiced soaring the ridges and learned the topography. It was
amazing, I felt right at home when I got there real world. I got a
solo wave flight, ridge flights, knew the dangers and limits of
safety. My instructor jokingly said that I knew the place better than
he did. It made the experience much more fun and probably safer.

....Aaron

> > That is an excellent idea. *A paragraph or two 'testimonial' from several different 'real life' competition pilots could be very persuasive. *Even better, I wouldn't have to do much of the work! ;-)

I've got experience from both ends of Condor:

Originally I bought the program because I couldn't make much sense of my PDA,
and Frank had suggested using Condor to drive it in the comfort of your own
home. I was immediately hooked and flew about 150 hours of Condor contests
that winter.

That spring, I flew my second RL contest at Perry. The previous year I'd flown
my club's L33 to next-to-last place, landing out every day but one, and only
being saved from last place by the good grace of another pilot's logger, which
failed to work several days! The second year I placed 4th out of 24 pilots in
sports class.

More recently, I flew the Sports Nationals at Chilhowee last year. I haven't
done (hardly) any real life flying in hilly terrain since I left Elmira 15 years
earlier. However, the experience finding orographic and adiabatic lift in
Condor translated exactly into real life: the thermals originated on the ridges
exactly where I'd expected them.

I also have some experience with training students with Condor. We set up a
new training program here based on introducing every lesson on Condor. The
students fly the lesson in the morning, and then get a single 3k tow or 3 1k
tows later in the day. We're finding that students often complete a lesson
that will normally take 2-4 flights in a single flight given that they've
already practiced on Condor. (I will point out that these are aeronautic
students at NCSU, and they often explain what's going on better than I can,
even with 15 years of instructing experience!)

We are seeing a bit of fixation on the look ahead (i.e. lack of scan),
but I've seen worse with students that already had done a lot of simulator
time on their own. We do supervise Condor usage in hopes of avoiding bad
habits.

-- Matt