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Next steps - Post 'A' test


Robert Rundle 1
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Read the guidance booklet for the B test. It is an excellent aim for developing your skills. Always have an idea of what you want to achieve in each flight, taking off without an idea of what you want to do can lead to fairly aimless flying.

 

Perhaps start with the aim of improving the accuracy of the 8, then introduce the inside loop and rolls, at height for starters. A little progress on each flught is what you should aim for.

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My advice is, if You really want to learn to fly well, learn to slope soar, get a foamy then progress to  "full house" model, that really reaches you how to handle something in the air as there no safety blanket of an engine when its going tits up. all the best flyers I've seen fly slope. plus you can fly for literally hours at a time, none of this 10 mins a tank or battery stuff ha.

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What ever floats your boat r6dan but perhaps you could clarify what you mean by "all the best flyers I've seen fly slope".  Does that include those who you have seen flying power models at other venues or do you just think that you have to fly slope to be a good flyer?  I used to fly full size gliders and I know what you mean about learning how to use the air be it thermal lift or slope lift.  I would observe, that slope lift is, provided the wind is blowing in the right direction, akin to having an engine fitted whereas finding thermals, particularly on blue days is certainly more skilful than sloping.

By the way, flying for literally hours at a time may be dead easy on a slope whereas flying an aerobatic schedule with 17 manoeuvres in 8 mins might be a tad more taxing don't you think?  Just saying!

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What we fly and where we fly is our choice. Stick time is the key, for some multiple short flights are better than a few long flights, my concentration span could be as little as four minutes beyond which I stopped learning and accuracy dropped off. Fly every day and have fun. 

 

Steve

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5 hours ago, Peter Jenkins said:

What ever floats your boat r6dan but perhaps you could clarify what you mean by "all the best flyers I've seen fly slope".  Does that include those who you have seen flying power models at other venues or do you just think that you have to fly slope to be a good flyer?  I used to fly full size gliders and I know what you mean about learning how to use the air be it thermal lift or slope lift.  I would observe, that slope lift is, provided the wind is blowing in the right direction, akin to having an engine fitted whereas finding thermals, particularly on blue days is certainly more skilful than sloping.

By the way, flying for literally hours at a time may be dead easy on a slope whereas flying an aerobatic schedule with 17 manoeuvres in 8 mins might be a tad more taxing don't you think?  Just saying!

Yes it does include those flying power models on the strip, the guys who fly gliders always seem to be more skilful. I've actually seen certain  members of this forum actually fly aerobatic schedule manurers like they were flying power. you don't have to fly slope to be a good flyer but literally everyone I know that fly both are better. everyone. im presuming you may be in slight disagreement as you don't fly gliders too?

 

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There is no doubt Dan, at all, that visiting the slopes gives you an appreciation of flight and time on the sticks, like no other activity,

But, for half my club, and myself, if we returned to the slopes, we would need air lifting down by the emergency services.

For a novice, if sloping appeals to them, then they should try it.

Some flyers remain on " page one " all their lives, but they enjoy their 3 - 5 minutes in the air.

Some flyers are good, but never quite " move on " from reliably getting into the air, and getting back, but they too love the day out with the lads.

A few flyers become great at it, always smooth, always go home intact, but there is no guarantee that all flyers will become good flyers.

My advice for the " A", is not to fly about aimlessly, but at least once or twice a day, to try to fly the " B " schedule, and tidy up all other manouvers.

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True, but it certainly drives home the fact that the elevator is for controlling speed, not for gaining height! One of the funniest memories though was watching a very capable slope soarer (my instructor, in fact), making his first attempts at taking off with a tail dragger!

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2 hours ago, r6dan said:

 

Well, it rather depends on what you mean by better?  As regards full size, where I had roughly the same number of hours in gliding and power flying, a glider pilot was better at assessing the weather conditions and better at flying a circuit as there was no chance of an overshoot if you got the approach wrong.  Navigation was also a test as you had to devote much more time than a power pilot when flying cross country in trading off lift conditions and how best to reach either your destination or turning point.  On the other hand, I very rarely flew on instruments in a glider as that was a more difficult procedure than in power flying.  What I would say though is that slope soaring, which I only tried on two occasions seemed a good deal easier to find lift than flying in thermals only.  I didn't have enough experience of wave flying to determine whether that was a difficult or relatively easy discipline.  Flying an instrument approach though is as demanding IMHO given the need to obey ground instructions on speeds, heights and directions to fly.

I don't think therefore it is possible to say that a glider pilot is more skilful than a power pilot as a generalisation.  What is undoubtedly true is that if you fly both disciplines then your skill set is widened.  It's a bit of a step to then say that a pilot who flies both disciplines is better than one who flies power only.  What do you mean by better for example?  Is someone who is a world champion in power not as good as someone who flies both disciplines?  We don't compare track and field athletes so why compare power and glider devotees?

All of that having been said, this is a bit of a sterile argument.  

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