"Mark Stevens" wrote in
message ...
Chris,


Again and again the UK instructors have pointed out
here that we're not teaching spinning we're teaching
spin avoidance.. However in my and my instructors panels
view that requires us to demonstrate and then get students
to understand how spins happen and then recover from
them - from cable breaks, from underbanked, over ruddered
turns and from thermalling turns..

I tend to agree; but in the US, spin training is not required for any
glider or airplane ticket except CFI. As a student, I made the choice to
not solo any spinnable trainer without spin training. As a CFIG, I have
conformed to the "party line" and sent many students solo with only stall
avoidance, recognition and recovery training; without any hint of a problem.
I think (and suggest) that these people should seek spin training before
moving on to more demanding ships.

...
Anyone who manages to autorotate, and then spin for
one turn in a Puchasz (or any other glider for that
matter) from 800 ft AGL is clearly a lunatic..

Agree emphaticaly.

Demonstrating
a departure at somewhat higher altitude is a different
matter..

Just a quick comment on parachutes from Mark Boyds
later post you mean that in the US you do not wear
parachutes in gliders as a matter of routine?

Yes, that is true. In my experience, most owners of single-seat glass
wear parachutes, but most clubs and commercial operations using 2-seat
gliders do not. It is just part of the culture. I think part of the reason
for this is the disincentive created by the US requirement that all chutes,
regardless of technology, be repacked every 120 days. An out-of-date chute
discovered in any operating aircraft is an invitation for an expensive and
inconvenient FAA violation notice.

and it's
permitted to do aerobatics without them?

Under certain conditions...yes.

From a UK
perspective that seems criminally negligent and we
accept the cost of running parachutes for all seats
in all club gliders as simply something it would be
inconceivable to do.. And yes, they have saved lives...

I don't disagree, like helmets on motorcycles, it is (or is not) part
of the local safety culture and the majority naturally conform. That said,
is chute use normal in all small UK aircraft, or is it just gliders? If
only gliders, why?

And of course here in the UK we look with some amusement
at the social darwinism in the US that allows 40 million
people to choose not to have access to health care,

Most of those 40 million people did not make that choice for
themselves, it was made for them. I think that the European 2-tier
(public/private) model of medical care has great merit.

the preventative effect on the murder rate that widespread handgun
ownership has,

A persistant hangover from our old cowboy culture.

and the preventative affect on crime of a prison incarceration rate about
eight
times the european average..

The rate is truly astounding for young black males in the US.



Vaughn