When I was stationed in France in the late 50's, I accumulated 10 hours in
gliders. They wouldn't let me solo because the glider field was in the
approach path of my USAF base and they figured if I wiped myself out, they'd
be shut down. I loved the flying and vowed to take up sailplane flying later
in my life.
During my R/C sailplane career I investigated flying full-scale sailplane
piloting. Too far, too expensive and I was having too much fun with R/C
sailplanes. Eventually, I didn't miss the idea of full scale soaring at all.
Recently, after a 20 year hiatus, the thermal I hit was just as magic as the
very first one in 1971! If you can touch the magic, why not?
That said, my opinion is that R/C sailplane pilots make fine full-scale
pilots. They know how airplanes fly, respect them and let's face it - we've
all crashed and know that things that fly can come down unexpectedly and
suddenly; many full-scale pilots refuse to acknowledge this! I was told
recently that several of my generation of late 70's R/C flyers are now
nationally competitive in sailplanes. I think one was Rick Walters and there
were a couple of the other guys whose names I can't recall. Maybe a lister
will fill in some details.
Richard Shilling
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