It is pleasurable to see aus-soaring delivering a broad range of thoughts on serious gliding core subjects.
Contributing elements to the diverse breadth of commentary are both the diversity of ‘gliding’ styles (as previously listed) and the variety of attitudes brought by individual pilots to gliding. >From ‘pilot-in-command’ self-responsibility at one end of the spectrum through to ‘flying-to-the-rules’ satisfaction that doing what the control agency says by rote is the way. The latter may work in a world where boring holes in the sky is aviation, but gliding in all its forms, even when motors are involved, is more complex. Where complexity includes giving more focus on thinking ahead about possible actions needed with regard to change of aircraft state (engine on to engine off and vice versa), varying flight path to suit weather (lift lines) and proximity of other traffic (gliders circling); which don’t occur in other flight forms. Thus gliding appears to require a much higher order of independent thinking, together with action at closer time frames than does ‘regulated flying’ at constant heights, speeds and straight line ‘go to’. Instructing has traditionally focused first on pilot skills, then pilot decisions regarding weather interaction, and seems yet to need to get to the ‘human factors’ stuff in terms of individual pilot psychological make up. Several decades of the impression that the sport is ‘controlled’ top down seems to have created generations of pilots happy to bumble along in contrast to the primacy of the pilot at the pointy end needing to make decisions and act. Emilis _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.base64.com.au http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
