Hi... and some questions from a beginner

On 5/18/2015 11:34 PM, Johnny T wrote:

Informative background stuff snipped...
Congrats on reaching a point in life where your soaring itch needs scratching
again. I hope it's a blast!

1) Here is the thing... my local club (back on the east coast) uses a 2-33
as their trainer. I am a little uneasy about the transition from the K-21
back to the 2-33. I mean, I do hold some sentimental value with the 2-33,
but I kinda want to move on. The club also has a Grob 103 Twin II -
however, they no longer use this for training. Hmmm... Advice on this
transition would be very helpful.
It's unclear to me to which transition you're referring, 2-33-K-21 or K-21 to
2-33. Minden's advice should-oughta be adequate for the former, while
muscle-memory (and a good dose of reflective rationalization!) will prolly
work for the latter. Obtaining your license (and the "informal but real
outside respect" accompanying it will presumably go a long way toward reducing
your club's access-restriction on G-103 training (though I'm curious why
they've evolved from where they apparently used to be in this regard...I hope
it's not because of the experience-demolished antediluvian attitude having to
do with "difficulty of teaching/learning" much more common 20 years ago in the
U.S. than now). In any event, you gotta fly what you've access to, and
maintaining a healthy philosophical attitude will be better than mentally
bemoaning the absence of perceived perfection.


2) Anyone know what the average age group is on RAS? How about the average
age group of the SSA?
Prolly both in excess of 50?


3) What is the European equivalent of the SSA?
SSE? (Joke attempt, people!!!)

4) I assume south-eastern US thermalling is a completely different skill
set than ridge/wave, or desert thermalling. Is soaring in the south east
really that bad? I remember learning how to look for things like pig farms,
asphalt parking lots, and birds circling... I guess that is what I got to
learn to recognize.
If it's not yet in your library, spend some time with George Moffat's "Winning
on the Wind" and/or "Winning II". In the latter he passingly notes the high
preponderance in the U.S. of "eastern-type" sailplane pilots in the top ranks
of national/international competition results. As an eastern
born-n-raised-n-licensed glider type who moved permanently to the west with
~100 total hours (decades before "Winning II" appeared), this particular truth
was obvious to me without need for reinforcing validity from a 2-time world
champion...and it wasn't long before I began encountering a not-then-uncommon
('late '70's/early '80's) "western attitude" that any lift beneath (say)
500fpm was: pure survival desperate; not workable; not lift. Somewhat
mind-blowing, to me, it was...

How a person thinks, matters!

5) I work in the tech industry, and thus am fascinated with the progression
of tech used for soaring and sometimes the seeming "lack" of progression of
tech. I have been playing around a bit with both iGlide and WinPilot - both
are neat, however, I don't expect my CFI to be well versed with either of
these. While learning about iGlide, I noticed the completely sexy line of
Air Avionics systems and the Butterfly S vario... Then I started reading
about it and noticed this really crazy part of the docs.

Something to the effect of "Note: The artificial horizon feature is not
allowed for contest soaring".

Help a newbie mind understand this concept. I mean, I get it - you are not
suppose to fly in clouds, however there are definitely recent incidents
where pilots have been caught in clouds unexpectedly and wouldn't you think
that any type of safety device would be more helpful than no safety device?
Why would a AH not be allowed?
I'm sure others will opine on this one! I spent most of my engineering career
in the "high-tech industry, beginning with high-end 9-track tape drives
through the evolution of hard disk drives'
creation/miniaturization/commoditization, and am neither ignorant of nor a
Luddite in the "technology arena", but definitely fall into the "less is more"
and "choose your tools wisely" schools of life philosophy. While humankind's
soaring abilities almost definitionally depend upon some level of advancing
technology, once beyond "some early minima," later technology is not
*required* in order to achieve eye-popping distances and life-enduring
satisfaction from the activity. If "the latest technology" winds your clock,
by all means go for it!!! Just don't fall into the trap of believing it's
*necessary*.

6) Anyone know what the percentage of participants in the SSA own their own
glider, vs have a private partnership, vs rely on club gliders only?
Not I. Successfully and "satisfactionally" BTDT in each category...

Greetings, and it's good to be back (almost)
Welcome to "the tribe!!!" So far, our internecine squabbles haven't resulted
in any bloodshed of which I'm aware!

Bob W.