At 13:38 30 November 2019, Charles Ethridge wrote:
On Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 7:29:56 AM UTC-5,
Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:30:19 -0800, Branko Stojkovic
wrote:


A good analysis. Thanks.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Agree.

My takeaways/ideas from the above thus far:

1. Stay humble.

2. Get lots of dual time with someone who is demonstrably
better at racing
(or cross-country) than you, AND who has a reputation for
putting safety
first.

3. Try to get a ballistic parachute retro-fitted into your glider
(Is this
even possible?). Encourage manufacturers to install these in
new gliders.




4. Encourage SSA to require a reasonable, safe hard deck
for all races.
(Sorry, hot dogs, it's for your own good. :-))

Ben



One of the problems is that as we age the time it takes to
make a decision increases.
So if you keep your hours reasonably high, your stick and
rudder skill should stay OK but your thinking time might
increase.

This year my annual ride with the boss was short, every one at
the launch point was having great fun and when I was asked
to fly from the front seat ,several people said "He is going to
be checking your look out".
So it was a genuine surprise when the tug wings wagged at
250ft on the tow out.

Thankfully the auto- reflexes are till working.I pulled the
release, pushed the nose down and commenced a turn before
either of us had chance to speak.
My chief instructor knows what to look for in different pilots
thats why he is a paid professional with over 20 years gliding
instructor training behind him.
I on the other hand am an ageing amateur giving my time for
free and fighting the onset of age with some trepidations
,because I know one of us is going to have to call "time"
before it all goes wrong.

To sum up I think an experienced professional examiner should
be able to check for the weakness that could hurt you .
Whether it's an over confident beginner or an over the hill old
timer.