Stephen Szikora wrote on 2/28/2020 4:40 AM:
Ground training is one thing, but why not do an actual jump. I went to a parachute school and during the class introductions everyone was asked why they were there. “On a dare, my girlfriend bought this package for my birthday, want to challenge myself“ ... were the usual answers. I said I wear a parachute and I want to know how to use it! I think actually jumping is a confidence booster that will help if and when the time comes. I also think most glider pilots will enjoy it because once the canopy opens, you’re gliding!

My impression is the training one jump gives you is almost irrelevant: it's done
under ideal circumstances, and in those circumstances, the glider pilot without
the one-jump experience doesn't have any problems. The problems come in situations
the one-jump experience doesn't cover, like Dave's experience: sudden emergency,
difficult egress, collision with the aircraft, high descent rate due to density
altitude, winds, mountains instead of flat ground, and being older when you have
to jump, maybe a lot older.

For those reasons, I long ago decided against doing a "practice" jump. But, I
suspect going through the ground training portion would be useful, and possibly
repeating it in 5-10 years. That appears to be Dave's recommendation.

Here's an only half-humorous solution to bailing out successfully: get a glider
that has it's own parachute, so you don't have to bail out. I'm taking my own
advice: my touring motorglider has a ballistic parachute, and the GP15 glider I've
ordered also has a ballistic parachute.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1