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The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 10th 20, 01:55 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
S Aero
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

Is this still a good reference today?
..... or is it outdated with much better information in the multitudes of books printed now?
  #2  
Old September 11th 20, 12:25 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tim Taylor
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 6:55:32 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Is this still a good reference today?
.... or is it outdated with much better information in the multitudes of books printed now?



It is still OK, others are better written by glider instructors (Wander Knauff, etc.) :

The handbook is free on-line:

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...ider_handbook/
  #3  
Old September 11th 20, 04:03 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 7:25:08 PM UTC-4, Tim Taylor wrote:
On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 6:55:32 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Is this still a good reference today?
.... or is it outdated with much better information in the multitudes of books printed now?



It is still OK, others are better written by glider instructors (Wander Knauff, etc.) :

The handbook is free on-line:

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...ider_handbook/


That "handbook" has so many errors that asking your students to find the errors may be the best use of it. My favorite example (from chapter 5):

"The stall speed of a glider increases with the square root of the increase in weight. ... For example, a 540-pound glider has a stalling speed of 40 knots. The pilot adds 300 pounds of water ballast making the new weight 840 pounds. The new stalling speed is approximately 57 knots (square root of 300 + 40 = 57)."

- As some famous physicist said, it's "not even wrong".

Tom Knauff says his team made 12,000 changes in turning that handbook into his version.
  #4  
Old September 11th 20, 01:45 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
S Aero
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

Very interesting! Thanks for the feedback.
  #5  
Old September 11th 20, 04:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Steve Leonard[_2_]
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

The American Soaring Handbook, available long ago from the SSA, is not the same as the FAA Publication, "The Glider Flying Handbook", linked above. If you want to see how things use to be, I would encourage getting a copy of The American Soaring Handbook. If you are interested in good, glider flying and training books, get something current.

It is always amazing to me how things are done now and thought of as "new, and innovative", and you look back and, nah, that was done first in the 1930s. But we have learned a bit since then, and can do it better now than we did back then.

Steve Leonard
  #6  
Old September 11th 20, 04:30 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

"The stall speed of a glider increases with the square root of the increase in weight. ... For example, a 540-pound glider has a stalling speed of 40 knots. The pilot adds 300 pounds of water ballast making the new weight 840 pounds. The new stalling speed is approximately 57 knots (square root of 300 + 40 = 57)."
- As some famous physicist said, it's "not even wrong".


Isn't not disclosing the right equation just as useless as the wrong equation?
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-cal...of-an-aircraft
  #7  
Old September 11th 20, 04:59 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
S Aero
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 11:30:05 AM UTC-4, wrote:
"The stall speed of a glider increases with the square root of the increase in weight. ... For example, a 540-pound glider has a stalling speed of 40 knots. The pilot adds 300 pounds of water ballast making the new weight 840 pounds. The new stalling speed is approximately 57 knots (square root of 300 + 40 = 57)."
- As some famous physicist said, it's "not even wrong".

Isn't not disclosing the right equation just as useless as the wrong equation?
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-cal...of-an-aircraft



Thanks for the replies and thoughts. My library is current and diverse. I don't have a copy of the blue book so I was wondering if it was still relevant. I will have a copy soon and read it for historical perspective. Thanks again.
  #8  
Old September 11th 20, 05:12 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

I've got a half dozen books specifically on this subject. Some are dated but I think still relevant. Others are 'current' but as was pointed out, inaccurate or have other issues.

If you provide the 'right' incorrect answer to a test question on a written exam do you still get credit if all the other answers are wrong? How about a checkride? If a question comes up and you give the 'correct' (wrong) answer exactly as it appears in the FAA's official publication do you flunk the ride even though you're using their 'official' publication?

I'm rather fond of Russell Holtz books at this point but I admit to using several others. I've always been promiscuous when it comes to reading technical things. So far he includes a lot of stuff that will probably be much more helpful to me over the long haul BUT.....they aren't cheap books.

The FAA handbook was recently revised. Who did the copy editing? I see a list of credits in there. Did any of those folks actually read it? If they did read it did they tell them the necessary changes? How do you screw up a grayscale print AND refer to colors in the text below? (No, Wes, I'm not making this up).




  #9  
Old September 11th 20, 08:09 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Frank Whiteley
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 10:13:00 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I've got a half dozen books specifically on this subject. Some are dated but I think still relevant. Others are 'current' but as was pointed out, inaccurate or have other issues.

If you provide the 'right' incorrect answer to a test question on a written exam do you still get credit if all the other answers are wrong? How about a checkride? If a question comes up and you give the 'correct' (wrong) answer exactly as it appears in the FAA's official publication do you flunk the ride even though you're using their 'official' publication?

I'm rather fond of Russell Holtz books at this point but I admit to using several others. I've always been promiscuous when it comes to reading technical things. So far he includes a lot of stuff that will probably be much more helpful to me over the long haul BUT.....they aren't cheap books.

The FAA handbook was recently revised. Who did the copy editing? I see a list of credits in there. Did any of those folks actually read it? If they did read it did they tell them the necessary changes? How do you screw up a grayscale print AND refer to colors in the text below? (No, Wes, I'm not making this up).


The FAA web site lists the Glider Flying Handbook as 2013. There is an errata sheet from 2015 available. This is despite the 2020 date on the Amazon copies. When I first say the Amazon copies with the 2020 date, I reached out to the SSF to see if this was a new revision. It is not. However, if someone has a copy of the acknowledgements page from one of these "2020" copies, would be curious to see if it still says SSA.COM for Soaring Society of America.

Frank Whiteley
  #10  
Old September 11th 20, 09:27 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default The Blue Book, American Soaring Handbook

On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 2:09:07 PM UTC-5, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 10:13:00 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I've got a half dozen books specifically on this subject. Some are dated but I think still relevant. Others are 'current' but as was pointed out, inaccurate or have other issues.

If you provide the 'right' incorrect answer to a test question on a written exam do you still get credit if all the other answers are wrong? How about a checkride? If a question comes up and you give the 'correct' (wrong) answer exactly as it appears in the FAA's official publication do you flunk the ride even though you're using their 'official' publication?

I'm rather fond of Russell Holtz books at this point but I admit to using several others. I've always been promiscuous when it comes to reading technical things. So far he includes a lot of stuff that will probably be much more helpful to me over the long haul BUT.....they aren't cheap books.

The FAA handbook was recently revised. Who did the copy editing? I see a list of credits in there. Did any of those folks actually read it? If they did read it did they tell them the necessary changes? How do you screw up a grayscale print AND refer to colors in the text below? (No, Wes, I'm not making this up).

The FAA web site lists the Glider Flying Handbook as 2013. There is an errata sheet from 2015 available. This is despite the 2020 date on the Amazon copies. When I first say the Amazon copies with the 2020 date, I reached out to the SSF to see if this was a new revision. It is not. However, if someone has a copy of the acknowledgements page from one of these "2020" copies, would be curious to see if it still says SSA.COM for Soaring Society of America.


Frank Whiteley

My hard copy has the corrected URL for SSA.

Also, all of the published errata have been incorporated along with the rebranded "2020" on the cover which is missing from the online copy at the FAA website. The PDF version still shows 2013 and still shows "ssa.com". None of the errata have been incorporated. Rather strange. How tough could it have been to upload a copy before they sent it to the printers?






 




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