kirk.stant wrote:
BG,

I think what we have here is a difference in our "english". US usage
of aggressive vs conservative. Different points on a range of
approaches to a task. Foolhardy or Impulsively, or even carelessly &
dangerously would be beyond aggressive on the scale.

I think of aggressive when I tilt the balance of rewards vs risk in
the direction of risk (in this case, landing out, not damage/injury).
Conservative is avoiding the risk of landing out at any cost, usually
due to logistics of a retrieve.

Good catch, Kirk. Another way to put it when talking about doing
something: "conservatively" implies the outcome is very predictable;
"aggressively" implies it is moderately predictable; foolhardy,
impulsively, etc implies the outcome can be anything.

BG is right that we balance the risks (generally a landout) and costs
(money, time, pleasure) against our goals for each flight. For example,
I believe:

-Many pilots are attracted to contests because the retrieve process is
already set up and they are expected to fly aggressively. It frees them
from the usual concerns of organizing a retrieve and the potential
embarrassment of landing out.

-Some pilots are attracted to 30:1 gliders because they can fly them
aggressively and still be retrieved easily, cheaply, and quickly. Look
at some of the 1-26 pilots who are very aggressive in their flying and
make great flights, but with manageable retrieves; put the same pilot in
a 25 meter glider and it'd take days to retrieve them - not practical or
fun for a lot of pilots.

-A big attraction of a motorglider is it allows a pilot to fly
aggressively on every flight, but enjoy the conservative pilot's
outcome: home in time for beer and pizza!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org