On Jun 30, 9:52*am, Ryan Spicer wrote:
Hi all,
* I've seen a lot of interesting discussion on this group
improving skills and safety, so I thought I'd ask this he I'm
currently training for my private pilot glider ticket, starting from
zero. *I have about 12hrs in my logbook over 43 flights, about a third
of which are solo. I did initial training in a 2-33 and my instructor
recently checked me out in the 1-26, which I'm loving. *I have a great
instructor, insofar as I'm capable of judging such things, and I'm not
worried about passing the practical, but here's the question:

Beyond reading the Knauff books and seeking continuing instruction,
what recommendations does the group have for continuing to improve
skills and be better, safer pilot after I pass the practical? I'm
almost certainly going to continue training, *start learning what I
need to know to fly XC, and work on the SSA badges. I've seen what
looks like some good advice in some recent threads, and I'm certainly
looking for more. I know my CFIG is the first and best point of
contact for all these things, but I'm always in favor of getting more
information when possible. *So what are the things you wish you'd
known at this point in your soaring career?

Also, I've searched for the Knauff books on Amazon, and they appear to
be out of print. Is this correct? If so, is my best bet to purchase
them through Amazon used, or are there other vendors that are
preferred?

Find a XC mentor or maybe two, this may not be your CFIG. If you are
in a club your club may have a mentoring/XC training program. Look
around the club/operation where you fly and look for people who fly
cross country and do what you are interested in, ask people who've
started doing this in the last few years and find out who mentored
them. You CFIG should also be able to recommend folks to consider. I
would try to start with the best XC pilots available locally and see
if they have the inclination/interest/teaching skills to mentor.
Sanity check candidates with other pilots to see if they are
considered a safe pilot and good mentor.

See what books (and later on things like flight analysis software,
GPS, loggers, etc.) they recommend. There is a lot out there and
depends on what you want to cover. If you have a technical background
I'd recommend Reichman's Cross Country Soaring, meteorology seems to
be often underlooked, things like Bradbury A Pilot's Guide to Weather
and several other weather books are good reading. Don't sweat too much
on the study part, use a mentor to help you balance what you should
study. Your biggest job right now is to get your license, but I know
thinking about XC soaring may help motivate you.

Ideally try to arrange some dual XC flights with the mentor/CFIG in a
two place XC ship as well as doing some initial buddy XC flying/
mentoring in (hopefully similar performance) single place ships - this
initially should not just be following somebody else along but you and
the mentor should have prepared together, discussed planning etc. (the
mentor should be willing to land out with you if needed), etc. SSA and
FAI badges give you some steps to aim at/structure and I think are a
good thing. Make life as easy as possible for any mentor, be prepared/
organized, pay for dual rentals/tow, buy them lots of beers, etc. The
main thing is to get in with a bunch of folks who fly XC and are
willing to help you learn.

Darryl