On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 7:21:58 PM UTC-4, wrote:
We are trying to help teach XC to our fellow club members. I've heard of the Lead/Follow technique with an experienced pilot showing a student how to get around a course. Before we try it, are there any suggestions on how to best do it?

I've heard that if the leader is higher up or in a higher performance glider it is good to sometimes pull the spoilers and get down to the level of the student.

Should it be a 1:1 leader/follower ratio or can you have more than 1 follower?

I suppose a good talk on how to enter/exit and thermal together is the first thing - since they may not have flown gaggles before.

A portable flarm would be good to add to the student's gliders just to be able to track them.

Chris

Hmmmm. There's an article (or two) in the answer I have in mind. We (the Post Mills guys) should write it. We've done enough of it to have an idea of what works... and where it can go wrong.

Abbreviated version: certain essentials must be present. Student must climb well and orient well. Must be able to share a thermal. Must be ready to cope with landings at other airports or in good fields. Teacher must be committed to the mission of the day and needs to set personal goals (e.g. OLC points) completely aside. Pair flying works better than lead & follow. Briefing and de-briefing are essential. The brief needs to concentrate heavily on risk management and risk mitigation.

When prerequisites are met and things go well, this is very satisfying. When the student isn't quite ready and/or the teacher would really rather be racking up some monster OLC flight, not so much.

There are many variations on this theme that can be constructed. Many work well.

Happy to discuss off line.

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8