"Todd Pattist" wrote in message
...
"Bill Daniels" wrote:

5.) The "5 minutes to hookup" that turn into control check, data-load
in=
to logger, finding water tube, seatbelts, etc., etc..

Good points, Stewart. #5 is one of my pet peeves too.

So - do I take it that doing a control check, turning on the
instruments, positioning the loose water tube and fastening
the seatbelts are things you think we *shouldn't* do before
the launch? I also do a checklist, turn on the radio,
check the release, look at the windsock, ask the wing runner
to verify my tail dolly is off, set the flaps and latch the
canopy. Safe glider operation requires certain procedures,
and most of them can't be done until I'm seated in the
glider ready to hook up. I can't get in until the glider is
in position for launch. While I don't dawdle, I don't rush
either. I take the time I need - no more, no less.
Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C
(Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.)
At most of the UK clubs I've flown with, this was all done before the
members pushed the glider into launch position (with the pilot(s) already
belted in). There are a few US sites where staging is done near, but not on
the runway and there is minimal time actually spent on it. It's really
quite a luxury to stage on an active runway IMHO. Maybe it comes from
having learned to soar from a gliding club that had an 2400ft main and 600ft
cross on 11 acres. Helped with the short field practice also.

Frank Whiteley