Short video of a young pilot on his first glider solo flight

Great video - congratulations!

BTW, I believe it would be safer to hold the stick in the right hand all the time during those sensitive parts of the flight, so that the left hand can reach instantly for the release or the brakes, if necessary - see 1 min 18 sec. They say what you learn in the early phases stays with you and is difficult to get rid of.

Tom

On Saturday, November 19, 2016 at 9:35:32 PM UTC+3, Tom BravoMike wrote:
Great video - congratulations!

BTW, I believe it would be safer to hold the stick in the right hand all the time during those sensitive parts of the flight, so that the left hand can reach instantly for the release or the brakes, if necessary - see 1 min 18 sec. They say what you learn in the early phases stays with you and is difficult to get rid of.

I was a bit concerned about this too. Maybe he just isn't strong enough? I learned in Blaniks (L13, not L23) and the stick forces were pretty high, especially on tow. Worse, half of them seemed to be mis-rigged and needed constant pressure one way or the other on the ailerons. I found it really quite tiring on arm muscles on tow and I was in my early 20s, not 14.

I've never felt anything similar in Grob or DG training twins, or even in Ka7/ASK13 that I can remember.

But maybe the L23 is better. I've never seen one.

Why have a password "protecting?" this video?

I would love to share this with permission. (Sans password locked.)

We all should share this on our various social media sites with the caption - "What did your 14-y/o do today?"

Congrats!

What did our 14-year old do today? Well, I'm heading out to the field for our lesson. After reading a good article about stall training versus stall-avoidance training, we'll discuss that. Also, we'll work on how many hands to use to hold the control stick.

After over 40 years of instructing, this was the first time that I was able to "see" what is really happening in the cockpit during the first solo. Prior, I just had to imagine what was going on while standing at the end of the runway looking up. What I saw in the video is a young man with good focus in his eyes for the tasks at hand (no pun intended for the two-hand question, which will be discussed).

Raul Boerner

Hi Raul, I have a young student 15, about his size that I have been training along with other instructors. He has some strength issues on long flights, 1 hour, and uses two hands on the stick at times. We are training in 2-33s and the stick can be a bit stiff. I think adding to that the nervous reaction of over controlling and the death grip on the stick has an impact on his endurance. I think with more stick time and comfort with his flying that will sort itself out.

On Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 8:37:03 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Hi Raul, I have a young student 15, about his size that I have been training along with other instructors. He has some strength issues on long flights, 1 hour, and uses two hands on the stick at times. We are training in 2-33s and the stick can be a bit stiff. I think adding to that the nervous reaction of over controlling and the death grip on the stick has an impact on his endurance. I think with more stick time and comfort with his flying that will sort itself out.

Agreed! - Raul

Sean, the reason for having a password protected video has to do with the music. Public source music does not require permission to use, but selection is limited. The music in this video is still private, thus the video has to be private access. It is a legality thing. - Raul Boerner