I was the one that said it seemed weird. What I meant was, using slope oriented planes for teaching flatland thermalling seemed weird, mostly because the slope planes tend to have shorter spans and fly faster. While there are polyhedral slope planes and you can fly regular flatland ships for slope, the great majority of slope planes are flat winged aileron and elevator ships or more sophisticated full house setups. Neither of which necessarily are optimal for flatland thermalling training.
I understand and agree with your point about the benefits of learning on the slope in terms of total airtime. Though that never worked for me; I am based in very flat territory and get maybe two days a year where I can travel to some place with even a mediocre slope. Those times I've been to the slope, I have never had a successful flight, in over ten years, sorry to say. I know am just doing it all wrong, as I never even get into the lift band, and every flight winds up a long walk halfway down the hill or more. Those guys making the long LSF times on their local slopes make me insanely jealous.:-)
Anyhow, my sorry experience is not germane to the initial post that led to this discussion, which was, if I have it right, a guy wants a good ARF design for teaching a beginner youngster how to thermal soar. So recommending slope planes or slope flying is just not germane to the particular situation. Right tool for the right job and all that.
have a great flying day
Mark S
