My first and only (so far) full-scale glider flight was with a guy named
Bill Bartel, who I understand is a very good competition pilot. I recall
him saying that he started with r/c too.
At 09:17 PM 6/2/01 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>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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>
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