AOPA PILOT "In Praise of Soaring"

The current issue of AOPA PILOT features an article I wrote about flying at Omarama New Zealand titled IN PRAISE OF SOARING. I think it can be accessed by non-AOPA members at https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...ise-of-soaring .

I wrote it for an audience of power pilots who often show an attitude of condescension to gliders. So I chose to use one of my fellow mountain flying course students, - Marty, and relate his remarkable tale of bailing out of an F-104 with a dead engine. Marty is arguably a pilot's pilot, with 2000 hours in fighters, and his current mount, a Turbine Legend (if you are not familiar with this one, start with the fact that it has an appetite for Jet A that consumes 52 gph).

Marty's third flight in a real glider, - if you discount the 104 ride, was after two conversion flights in a Grob 103, and was with the boss, Gavin Wills.

Marty's verdict: the best flight of his life!

So I hope it will give Power pilots cause to rethink their attitude to gliding, and even to get an add-on rating. I hope you enjoy it too.

On Thursday, 1 December 2016 17:46:10 UTC+3, Charlie Papa wrote:
The current issue of AOPA PILOT features an article I wrote about flying at Omarama New Zealand titled IN PRAISE OF SOARING. I think it can be accessed by non-AOPA members at https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...ise-of-soaring .

I wrote it for an audience of power pilots who often show an attitude of condescension to gliders. So I chose to use one of my fellow mountain flying course students, - Marty, and relate his remarkable tale of bailing out of an F-104 with a dead engine. Marty is arguably a pilot's pilot, with 2000 hours in fighters, and his current mount, a Turbine Legend (if you are not familiar with this one, start with the fact that it has an appetite for Jet A that consumes 52 gph).

Marty's third flight in a real glider, - if you discount the 104 ride, was after two conversion flights in a Grob 103, and was with the boss, Gavin Wills.

Marty's verdict: the best flight of his life!

Thanks!

On 12/1/2016 7:46 AM, Charlie Papa wrote:
The current issue of AOPA PILOT features an article I wrote about flying at
Omarama New Zealand titled IN PRAISE OF SOARING. I think it can be
accessed by non-AOPA members at
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...ise-of-soaring
.

I wrote it for an audience of power pilots who often show an attitude of
condescension to gliders. So I chose to use one of my fellow mountain
flying course students, - Marty, and relate his remarkable tale of bailing
out of an F-104 with a dead engine. Marty is arguably a pilot's pilot,
with 2000 hours in fighters, and his current mount, a Turbine Legend (if
you are not familiar with this one, start with the fact that it has an
appetite for Jet A that consumes 52 gph).

Marty's third flight in a real glider, - if you discount the 104 ride, was
after two conversion flights in a Grob 103, and was with the boss, Gavin
Wills.

Marty's verdict: the best flight of his life!

So I hope it will give Power pilots cause to rethink their attitude to
gliding, and even to get an add-on rating. I hope you enjoy it too.


Thanks...for posting, for making the effort to create and find a print
audience for the article, and for a well-written "What I did on my summer
vacation" essay. Well done!!!

Bob W.

On Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 8:46:10 AM UTC-6, Charlie Papa wrote:
The current issue of AOPA PILOT features an article I wrote about flying at Omarama New Zealand titled IN PRAISE OF SOARING. I think it can be accessed by non-AOPA members at https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/...ise-of-soaring .

I wrote it for an audience of power pilots who often show an attitude of condescension to gliders. So I chose to use one of my fellow mountain flying course students, - Marty, and relate his remarkable tale of bailing out of an F-104 with a dead engine. Marty is arguably a pilot's pilot, with 2000 hours in fighters, and his current mount, a Turbine Legend (if you are not familiar with this one, start with the fact that it has an appetite for Jet A that consumes 52 gph).

Marty's third flight in a real glider, - if you discount the 104 ride, was after two conversion flights in a Grob 103, and was with the boss, Gavin Wills.

Marty's verdict: the best flight of his life!

So I hope it will give Power pilots cause to rethink their attitude to gliding, and even to get an add-on rating. I hope you enjoy it too.

Yes, that's a great article. I was very pleased to find it in AOPA.

One small general nitpick (not confined to this article): Most of the articles and videos promoting soaring are shot in mountainous areas. This reinforces the public's stereotypical view that soaring is something that can only be done in exotic mountain locales. I have met a number of people who steadfastly refuse to believe that gliders can sustain flight over flat land. I understand that mountains and gliders are a photogenic mix, but it sure would be nice for a change to have a well produced promotional vid that depicts flat land soaring.

Just goes to show, you just can't please everyone. Great article and great photography. If one is trying to sell gliding as a sport then the visuals are important.

On Friday, December 2, 2016 at 12:37:06 PM UTC-8, WB wrote:

One small general nitpick (not confined to this article): Most of the articles and videos promoting soaring are shot in mountainous areas. This reinforces the public's stereotypical view that soaring is something that can only be done in exotic mountain locales. I have met a number of people who steadfastly refuse to believe that gliders can sustain flight over flat land.. I understand that mountains and gliders are a photogenic mix, but it sure would be nice for a change to have a well produced promotional vid that depicts flat land soaring.

Excellent article Charles. Well done.

Great article! Thanks for the link. Mentioning your friend Marty brings back memories of a (sadly passed away a few years back) glider pilot in my club - he also had the experience of ejecting from a Starfighter after the engine failed! His incident took place in Germany in an RCAF CF-104. We've actually had three ex-104 pilots as well as several other guys who used to fly other fighters in my club during my time there. They've all had similar reactions to their first soaring flight as your friend did.

On Friday, December 2, 2016 at 2:46:39 PM UTC-6, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Just goes to show, you just can't please everyone. Great article and great photography. If one is trying to sell gliding as a sport then the visuals are important.


In my previous post I wrote: "...that's a great article." (referring to CP's piece in AOPA). In case that's not clear enough, I was VERY pleased with the article. My comments were not meant as criticism of CP's beautifully written and photographed article. I wish every media outlet in the world would pick up on it or something like it.

I certainly agree that "...visuals are important". However, much of the promotional media for soaring reinforces the popular misconception that soaring is only done in remote and exotic locations. This is not a great way to sell soaring to the general public. The most common comment I get from people (pilots and non-pilots) when they find out that I fly sailplanes locally is "Oh, I thought you could only do that in the mountains." Where do you suppose people get that idea?

The purpose of my comment was not to register displeasure with CP's article.. What I hoped for was to encourage some discussion of how we promote soaring as something accessible to the average person.

Having done 99.999% of my power and soaring flying in the Mountains that is the norm for me. However WB makes a great point, what can we do. The comment I get 100% of the time is "oh, you mean hang glider". I get this from pilots and non-pilots! How the hell is it that hang gliding is top on the mind of the non-soaring public when mentioning soaring? (Do they even fly hang gliders anymore, seems like paragliding is the rage).

I have given glider rides to 5 of my pilot friends and have offered to many more. No one was interested in more than just one ride, and I am a nice guy. The AOPA article has great photography, but how many power pilots will really read the story?

On Saturday, December 3, 2016 at 12:31:17 PM UTC-8, WB wrote:
"Oh, I thought you could only do that in the mountains." Where do you suppose people get that idea?

The purpose of my comment was not to register displeasure with CP's article. What I hoped for was to encourage some discussion of how we promote soaring as something accessible to the average person.

So, did he fly with G or Gavin or both?

At 14:46 01 December 2016, Charlie Papa wrote:
The current issue of AOPA PILOT features an article I wrote about flying
at=
Omarama New Zealand titled IN PRAISE OF SOARING. I think it can be
access=
ed by non-AOPA members at
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016=
/december/pilot/in-praise-of-soaring . =20

I wrote it for an audience of power pilots who often show an attitude of
co=
ndescension to gliders. So I chose to use one of my fellow mountain
flying=
course students, - Marty, and relate his remarkable tale of bailing out
of=
an F-104 with a dead engine. Marty is arguably a pilot's pilot, with
2000=
hours in fighters, and his current mount, a Turbine Legend (if you are
not=
familiar with this one, start with the fact that it has an appetite for
Je=
t A that consumes 52 gph). =20

Marty's third flight in a real glider, - if you discount the 104 ride,
was
=
after two conversion flights in a Grob 103, and was with the boss, Gavin
Wi=
lls. =20

Marty's verdict: the best flight of his life!

So I hope it will give Power pilots cause to rethink their attitude to
glid=
ing, and even to get an add-on rating. I hope you enjoy it too.