On Friday, October 30, 2020 at 10:20:51 PM UTC-5, Patrick wrote:
Hello Gliders,



I wanted to make this post to see other pilots experiences at their local gliding clubs. My experience at my local gliding club is so-so, speaking as a young soon to be solo pilot, because of organisational management.



My friend and I have been quite frustrated due to extreme slowness of getting everything into play, from the briefing to bringing out the gliders. Only yesterday, we had the gliders out and ready to be towed to the glider strip at 9.30am, our first flight was at 11.15am... and it was a spectacular day for soaring.



Is this the norm?



I would love to hear your experiences! Thank you!

Hello Patrick,

I'll try to give you a helpful answer.

I've been in two different clubs, one for one year or so and my current one for nineteen. From my experience I would say yours is not what I'd call normal. And I'd agree that organizational management can make the difference between satisfaction or disappointment in flight operations. My current club has what is essentially an operations officer for the day. That person is responsible for ensuring the CFIG and tow pilot will show up as well as running the daily operation. A standard, good weather day, has instruction in the morning until noon and open flying the rest of the day. The ops officer, students and instructor show up at 8:00 AM to pull the gliders out (AS-K21 and Owl). The students clean, prep and inspect (if qualified) the gliders with a goal to have the first launch at 9:00 AM. This is how it's been since joining in 2001. With that in mind, perhaps it would be helpful to approach your club's leadership about setting standards for operations in regard to start times, launch times, etc. Sometimes it can be difficult to break free from the "that's how we've always done it" type of mentality. Change can be difficult, especially in an all-volunteer operation. Don't give up! We can use all the glider pilots we can get.

Feel free to send me a PM if you'd like more info.

George