My Flying

This is in response to a message posted on Avcom.

I don't know if you have been following my own 'blog' in the pages of SA Flyer, but I've been reading your blog - full marks for perseverance - keep it up
It is clearly a lot harder to learn to fly using winch launches in a place without much thermals than it is for me at Brits using aerotow (at R150 a pop)

Don't let the accident keep you down. Learn from it and grow. GL

Hi GL

Thanks for the kind words. I am definitely very shaken, but have not considered moving away from aviation or flying. This is of course a completely different matter where my wife is concerned.

I do follow you progress in SA Flyer and it is interesting to note how things differs and are yet the same. Keep up the good work!

The greatest obstacle I have found in learning to fly gliders is the instruction. Sometimes an instructor will not arrive for duty, and then all students are naturally grounded for the day. But even more difficult to cope with is not having a designated instructor, but having to be instructed by one from a group of seven instructors.

The problem with this is that, not only do their styles and priorities differ, but even more so you can’t really develop a relationship with one. So he can’t truly follow your progress accurately and help you to concentrate and work on areas that need attention. I think this really slows down the learning process.

Follow up:

Of course instruction is for free, so one can’t really complain too much. This brings me to the second biggest obstacle in learning to fly, and it is of course money. Gliding is definitely a very cheap form of flying, but it does cost money. This is my main reason for sticking to winch launches for now as at least I get to fly. Anyway in Uitenhage, mostly, a long aero-tow is pointless as all it allows is a longer glide back to earth.

Winch launches and 5 minute winter flights actually do have their advantages. You get a very quick turn around time on the trainer which allows all the students to do at least a few circuits each weekend. And as we all know, landing is the truly challenging part about flying.

Once the dust of Saturday’s accident has settled some what, I will post some more information regarding the accident.