On Thursday, September 6, 2018 at 12:51:38 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting here. I'm a student up at Williams who has recently started to solo. I have a total of 12 hours in gliders (2hr solo). So, needless to say, I'm rather inexperienced.

I had the privilege of meeting one of the pilots of XC this summer up in Truckee. His passion for soaring and his willingness to answer even my most basic questions was a kind welcome to the community. My sincere condolences to the soaring community, friends, and family.

This is the first time I've personally known a pilot we have tragically lost in a flight-related accident. I once was a serious cyclist, and tragic events have hit close to home, but it doesn't help any.

As a student, I don't know what the learning is here. I may be getting too analytical too soon, but I feel that the best thing we can do to remember lost pilots is to learn from these tragic events as much as possible.

Before I started my training, I read through every NTSB report related to fatal glider accidents from 1996 to 2016. Please take my analysis with a big grain of salt. I'm not an NTSB examiner, an experienced pilot, and categorizing accidents is difficult.

https://addisonhuddy.com/post/flying/handling-risk/

My biggest takeaways are nothing new: have personal limits, don't show off, use checklists, consistent emergency scenario training, know and maintain the glider, no low saves, and always be learning.

The accidents that shake me the most are the ones that we know little about, which is the majority. Take XC, for example, experienced pilots in a modern glider, at 14k waiting to begin a task, and then all of a sudden descend 5000ft and overstress the plane. The NTSB will do the best they can, but as a student who is trying to learn, what am I to take away from this?

Good job, thank you. Two things: 'FLARM, radios, and ADS-B save lives'. My recent experience is that yes, you need as many sources of information as possible. I could hear radio announcements and didn't see anything on the screen (or outside in the air), and vice-versa: nothing seen nor heard but showing on the ADS-B In screen. And I would add: Look out! With more and more displays/instruments we tend to spend too much time watching them.


Second thought: with regards to the 'spin recovery training', you actually limit your remarks to spin avoidance training. How about real life spin and recovery training? I find it indispensable to create automatic, spontaneous reaction to a stall. In my ground school group (11 students) one student pilot stalled and entered initial spin on downwind leg in his 3rd solo flight, as we were all watching. He recovered immediately, automatically, because we had trained it with the instructor.