Fear of flying cross country

I would like to fly more cross country flights but have to admit I
usually come up with a list of excuses for not going on any particular
day. The weather is never good enough, or I have a dinner engagement,
or my battery seems low, or something. Some of this is a general
concern about personal injury, but I think I am also just afraid of
landing out and having to put up with the inconvenience of a retrieve
and getting criticism from other pilots in my club. (I did some damage
to my glider on a land out last year and I have lost a lot of
confidence.) I thought I would get over this, but have not so far.
Has anybody else been through a period like this, and if so, how did
you work it out?

thanks,

Steve

On Jun 27, 2:08 pm, 126Driver wrote:
I would like to fly more cross country flights but have to admit I
usually come up with a list of excuses for not going on any particular
day. The weather is never good enough, or I have a dinner engagement,
or my battery seems low, or something. Some of this is a general
concern about personal injury, but I think I am also just afraid of
landing out and having to put up with the inconvenience of a retrieve
and getting criticism from other pilots in my club. (I did some damage
to my glider on a land out last year and I have lost a lot of
confidence.) I thought I would get over this, but have not so far.
Has anybody else been through a period like this, and if so, how did
you work it out?


Some suggestions:

xc dual. This depends where you are; in my club (Chicago) it's as
simple as signing up the duo discus, grabbing an instructor or xc
pilot and going. Travel to a site with a good xc instruction program
will be well worth the substantial amount of money involved.

Welcome to xc flying. It's all about diagnosing your problems,
figuring out the solution, then practicing it. Clearly, you've figured
out that excessive fear due to your last landout is the problem. Now,
go to work on making decisions using the facts, not feelings about it.
It will take determined practice to recognize illogical fear (as
distinguished from perfectly logical fear) and ignoring it. "Getting
back on the horse" is important. Habituation is the answer. All of us
have had to wrestle with this kind of thing.

Why was there damage? Something else obviously went wrong that needs
fixing. When you fix that, you'll get confidence again. Did you leave
field choice until too late? Again, some dual is a good idea. Just
because everybody else learned xc alone with the map in one hand and
terror in the heart is no reason to keep doing it this way!

There is no such thing as cross-country flying, there is only local
flying to different landing sponts. Plan your cross-country flights so
you know you're always in safe landing zone, then say out loud "I'm
local to x", committing to landing at x if the need arises. Drive the
route and pick specific fields if that's what it takes so you are
really logically comfortable with landing.

If your club really will give you criticism for a well-flown and
planned landout on a reasonable cross-country day, change clubs! This
is not only unhelpful, it's unsafe. Lots of accidents have happened
because people stretched a glide back to the airport in fear of
getting yelled at. If you don't land out occasionally, (especially in
a 126!) you're not trying.

Don't wait forever for "really good days." You only get better at it
if you fly xc anytime you can reliably stay up.

John Cochrane BB

Keep doing it! Be careful with planning, scout for
land out places near your airport while flying and
then visit them by car to critique your choices and
to fix in your mind where they are, and extend the
distance gradually. Figure out where you went wrong
with your accident; it is probably further back in
your decision path than you might be aware. Forget
the criticism; they weren't there. Most everyone has
twenty-twenty hindsight. For the most part, these
critics are not the ones who can give you foresight,
but a good instructor can.

I have been in your shoes.



At 19:12 27 June 2007, 126driver wrote:
I would like to fly more cross country flights but
have to admit I
usually come up with a list of excuses for not going
on any particular
day. The weather is never good enough, or I have a
dinner engagement,
or my battery seems low, or something. Some of this
is a general
concern about personal injury, but I think I am also
just afraid of
landing out and having to put up with the inconvenience
of a retrieve
and getting criticism from other pilots in my club.
(I did some damage
to my glider on a land out last year and I have lost
a lot of
confidence.) I thought I would get over this, but
have not so far.
Has anybody else been through a period like this, and
if so, how did
you work it out?

thanks,

Steve

Everything John said...

Plan to land out on your next flight. Find a suitable field from the
ground, walk it, measure it, then go flying. At the end of the
(perhaps local) flight, land there. Of course, you'll need to line up
a crew, prepare the trailer, etc.

I flew a 1-26, long, long ago and I remember that every flight was
likely to end up with a landing not exactly where I had planned. That
was a big part of the fun of flying the ship - all the friends needed
to support me and share the ship so we could all crew for each other.

Work on your spot landing technique. If you can't get stopped EVERY
time within 5' of a predetermined spot that you choose prior to
turning final, if flying at the home airport, then you need some dual
instruction to determine why. At our club we had a requirement to
land over a barrier, then get stopped within 500' prior to taking the
1-26 XC. The barrier was a pair of 16' poles with a flag banner
stretched between them. The length was about 100' and a weak link was
placed in the flag line so it would break easily if snagged by the
glider.

Here's a YouTube video posted recently of a 1-26 landing at a model
airplane field that shows a well executed landing in a small field:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g7lUZ506Zw

-Tom

5Z wrote:
Work on your spot landing technique. If you can't get stopped EVERY
time within 5' of a predetermined spot that you choose prior to
turning final, if flying at the home airport, then you need some dual
instruction to determine why.

I've heard other people suggest this, and I have to disagree. In my
opinion, what is important is consistently and controllably touching
down within 5 or 10 feet of a predetermined spot (plus having some
energy to spare, if you see something you don't like on final). During
an actual off field landing there are all kinds of ways one can stop,
but the chances of damage are minimized if you take advantage of as much
of the available length as you can.

At our club we had a requirement to
land over a barrier, then get stopped within 500' prior to taking the
1-26 XC.

A reasonable test, if properly organized, but not something to do on a
day to day basis...

Marc

Steve,

John Cochrane hit many of the key points. I'll just add a few
thoughts of my own.

Over the years, I've run many ground schools on XC Soaring. On
average 6-8 folks show up. A year later, I'll follow up with
them. Fully 75% (say 6 of the 8 in the above example) would hem
and haw before admitting that they still haven't gone out of gliding
range of the home airport. There's always a long list of excuses -
time, weather, availability of equipment, availability of crew etc.
(sound familiar?). So, you're not alone.

On the first day of class, I would ask people to privately write down
3 reasons they haven't gone XC. Invariably the following would be at
the top of the list:

1. Fear of landing out.
2. Fear of getting lost.
3. Confidence in my soaring skills (thermalling in particular, but
also including choosing the right clouds, final gllides, etc).

Item 2 is much less of an issue with GPS being ubiquitous. Yes, you
still should know how to read a map and maintain situational
awareness, but it's clearly not the same issue it was even 10 years
ago.

Item 3 is easy to practice at the home field. A combination of dual
instruction, comparison in gaggles, and pure, focused practice is the
key.

That leaves us with item 1. You can practice many of the aspects
of landing out right at home. Try landing on different parts of the
airfield with real (or imagined) obstacles to make it intersting. See
if you can routinely land your 1-26 in say 700 feet after crossing a
50 foot imaginary tree (imaginary trees are much more forgiving then
real ones when you're practicing).

Pick local fields from the air, including the approach you would fly,
where you would touch down, etc. Then, drive out and look it over.
Was the field as big as you thought? Did you judge the slope, crop,
obstacles, etc. correctly? Do this over and over until you have a
good track record of choosing safe fields.

I would also add that the fear of landing out is not the least bit
irrational. I've told myself and students that you can assume that
1 out of every 10 field landings will result in some sort of minor
damage to the glider. That means torn gear doors (if you got 'em),
busted tailwheels, belly scrathes and dings, etc. You can just tell
your club mates that you skewed the odds in your favor for the next
9 !

Seriously, if the club or operation where you fly isn't solidy behind
you, then you're at the wrong site. In our club, we have a wonderful
group of active XC pilots. You know you're in the right group for XC
when:

- People ask "how far did you go", not "how long were you up?"
- There's an annual award for the best retrieve.
- People lavish attention on trailers, even if the aircraft
themselves are ratty.
- They make you do your silver distance in a 1-26.

Anyway, there's really no simple answer. I'd say that the confidence
comes when you know you've got all of the building blocks in place.
Couple that with a supportive team around you, and it's really a lot
of fun.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 P3

126Driver wrote:
I would like to fly more cross country flights but have to admit I
usually come up with a list of excuses for not going on any particular
day. The weather is never good enough, or I have a dinner engagement,
or my battery seems low, or something. Some of this is a general
concern about personal injury, but I think I am also just afraid of
landing out and having to put up with the inconvenience of a retrieve
and getting criticism from other pilots in my club. (I did some damage
to my glider on a land out last year and I have lost a lot of
confidence.) I thought I would get over this, but have not so far.
Has anybody else been through a period like this, and if so, how did
you work it out?

thanks,

Steve

You already have lots of good advice. I'll add this.

Thermalling is the key. Any fool can glide between thermals. If you can
thernal well, you can almost always get high enough to glide somewhere
better than where you are. So, how do you get better at thermalling? Well,
I've noticed that everybone gets a lot better at it once they are out of
gliding range of home.

Bill Daniels

Thanks you all for your detailed and thoughtful responses. It is nice
to see that my issues are understood and perhaps were even experienced
by many others in the soaring community. (Seems like we don't talk
about this much.) I will definitely incorporate all of your collective
insight and suggestions into my cross country endeavors going
forward. I'm actually looking forward to the remainder of the soaring
season!

Thanks again,

Steve

First, just by the act of asking these questions, I can see that you
want to succeed. As someone who remember clearly only a few years ago
having the same concerns you have, here are my suggestions.

1) John mentioned flying dual. Maybe a two place ship is not
available to you for XC. I started some of my best early XC by flying
alongside of someone else. I asked him to help me out and to play
follow the leader. There are a few things that help here. One, if he
is staying up, I know that I could also. He will help find those
elusive thermals. Actually flying abreast on a blue day you can help
each other. If he is better than you, then he will wait around for
you if he gets ahead. Its less boring too.

2) Landing out. As someone told me once, it isn't *IF* you will land
out, it is *WHEN* will you land out. I remember thinking that landing
out means that I am not any good. This was reenforced by some club
members who berated those that landed out. They probably don't cross
country. Actually I now know that landing out is, to a certain
extent, a badge of honor as it means I am pushing the XC envelope.
Also, getting low and making a save is a great confidence builder. My
home club is now actively helping pilots for XC. What's the first
thing that they teach? How to land out! Heck, I now announce that I
am flying to xxx, and I may land out. There seems to be those that
are willing to retrieve. I am lucky flying near Chicago because there
are so many small airports and private strips to land at.

3) Tasks - Moffat writes about flying tasks on weak days within a
short distance your home airport. Don't just hover over the field, go
somewhere! Fly somewhere even if it is only a few miles away --
maybe juuuuuuust beyond final glide. BTW, fly the first leg upwind
-- it's easier to get home that way.

4) Equipment - Take you mind off navigation by flying with GPS. That
frees you to find that lift!!

Good luck, John "67"

all suggestions have been excellent.

I fly similar performance. my first landout in the Cherokee resulted
in ripped fabric on the nose. Oh Well. I did two dual XC flights
before I flew solo XC and both of those involved landouts (In A
Lark!!!). I think that that was critical in teaching me a lot about
field selection and all the fun stuff that happens after you have
given up. That is where it truly gets interesting. This eased my
fears and made landing out basically a non event for me. ive done all
my cross countries using pilotage and its worked fine, but I have a
lot of experience instructing in power around the state so im familiar
with the area. the nice thing about a 1-26 is you just cant go fast
enough to get lost really. and of course you should always be
prepared to land out cause you and I fly gliders that go more down
than forward. what part of the country are you in? that is
important. out here in the flatland midwest you can land anywhere in
the spring and fall. its perfect. in many other areas thats just not
the case.

club dynamics can be an interesting factor. my club is fairly neutral
as far as XC flying goes. XC flying in club gliders is allowed as
long as you prep the trailer. its fairly rare that club gliders are
taken on XCs though. however i have found a lot of interest in most
of the local flyers in how well i did on my XC flights. they seem to
fly XC vicariously through me. I think I have motivated a few of them
to spread out a little further, and that is great.

I would recommend, as said above, to fly every flight XC. just keep a
nice landable field below you, be very conservative. dont go for max
speed or distance, just go. and have fun! because it is.

Tony