Stefan wrote:
I agree with most what you've said. But when a high time power pilot
abandons to learn flying gliders just because he can't fly the tow the
first time he takes the controls of a glider, then something is *very*
bogus with his attitude to aviation and possibly with his whole ego.

When I was buying a chart at an airplane flight school a while back, I
overheard a conversation between a newly licensed private pilot and the
chief pilot. The new pilot said he wanted to keep challenging himself
and had been thinking about trying gliders, and he asked the chief pilot
what he thought. The *chief pilot* replied: "The thing about gliders is
that you have to learn to deal with the towing -- you might want to try
seaplanes instead." It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut, but I
did.