Safety Margin

I went cross country with a student last week in the mighty Grob 103, we covered about 100 km. The student (actually he has a license) has been very reluctant to go cross country in his own glider. We looked at the weather and he had been watching SkySight for a few days. The

It does not take extra Risks to Race. I hear from people all the time that say they would never race because of the additional risk involved. I would not expect my newly soloed student to get away with a low climb that I might do flying solo or at a contest. There are times when a low climb is not safe and I would not attempt it. There are times when you race on a day you normally would not have gone

This is the second installment written by Orion Kingman, his focus is on using the FAA's Risk Management to help pilots and organizations mitigate risks. Many times it is a cultural change to become safer. You can download the FAA Risk Management Handbook

The next two newsletters are written by Orion Kingman, his focus is on using the FAA's Risk Management to help pilots and organizations mitigate risks. I would recommend taking notes at the end and discussing with fellow pilots over an after-flight beverage. Many times it is a cultural change to become safer. You can download the FAA Risk Management Handbook

Do not be intimidated. With new students, there is one glider circling and they want to run the other way, while I am telling them to aim for the glider. Visualize their circle and merge into it just as you would merge onto the freeway. The concept is the same with 1 glider or 50.

However, 50 leads to other problems. It can get very inefficient and hard to get away from once you have joined.

I received a fair amount of feedback from last week's article and felt I should continue with this topic. Then the picture above happened on Wednesday (they were not in the air).

My article last week was about staying away from the storm. It is very common for pilots to want to return or beat the storm back to the airport. But as I said last week now you are on the ground and the glider is outside

The FAA recommends avoiding thunderstorms by 20 miles (see AC-00-24c). However, sometimes we might fly a little closer to fly in the strong part of the lift. This does not come without risk. I have talked to pilots who have had the spoilers open at VNE and still climbing.