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Jeff, following with our discussion with John,
(felt like writing, sorry it's kinda long.)
Well I usually broadcast from down here on earth John, but have been known on occasion to broadcast with my head in the clouds. : ) That said, no, in fact I'm too new to fly cross country. Try three years or more too new! The club I frequent is an excellent aerotowing club in Michigan, and it is true, I haven't seen any blood yet. Would like to keep it that way too, if possible.
Oh my! How did you manage to 'hang' around seeing that? Where in the hell was this? Remind me not to learn there. : ) If those were my experiences, I probably would drop out too.
Oh, the hang straps were three inches too far back? Ohhhh, that explains it... <g>
Indeed we may exist in completely different worlds altogether. I just can't imagine that...
Here we have no bunny hill or new student trying to land an unfamiliar wing properly 500 times. During our instruction we're towed on a tandem glider to our desired altitude by a ultralight tug and land on wheels. Then it progresses to towing a docile single-place glider on large wheels, then, after the flight skills are honed adequately, landing without wheels is learned. The flight experience gained makes learning the landing much easier. It appears to be a much safer way to learn! You can accumulate 15 minutes to about an hour and a half of airtime in one flight. That alone must reduce the whack n' crash statistic a LOT. You get more experience with less work and without those 500 potentially dangerous landings.
If you learn hill style, I hear two things over and over and over... always keep thy Wings Level, and maintain thy Airspeed... golden rules... but the instructor should burn that into the student's head already.
That's a good question John. I'd estimate from what little I've seen, perhaps 15% H1, 25% H2, 50% H3? Not having alot of experience, all I can add is that during aerotowing instruction, the Hang-1 rating is practically omitted. The experience and airtime you have learned can qualify for a Hang-2 rating immediately upon graduation.
I do believe the current learning status may be more oriented towards individual, personal instruction rather than group instruction. But that could just be due to our declining numbers- more [older] teachers remaining and less students [now] participating.
HG doesn't seem intrinsically dangerous from what I've seen. We go by every checklist and all rules are followed to the letter every time. Allmost all the dangers lie in pilot judgement error I believe. Equipment failures are greatly reduced nowadays and strict, positive preflights and launch checklists remove a large portion of the hazard. We all would like to remain alive, with undamaged bionic landing gear and macro-processor intact and functioning.
For those people's sake, I hope you are wrong.
Best thermals,
SS
* Sharks can Fly! *
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