Lead and Follow

We all love flying around with our mates, but flying around with a coach (who can also be a mate!) in a lead-and-follow exercise is a fabulous learning experience.  In Australia, we used to run an annual ‘teams challenge’ coaching event, which notably had one coach assigned to no more than three followers in comparative gliders.  There’d be some lose scoring to motivate, but the focus was on advancing everyone’s XC skills and having a great time doing it!

One thing for sure is that it should be done over a set course with thorough preflight planning, this focuses the minds and keeps you on track to achieve the day's goals.  Also, a set of procedures should be discussed preflight in order to keep the group together, or what should be done if one falls behind.  Communication too is of course a big topic, what works for some, doesn’t work for all, so speak openly about it.

Objective

• To gain practical experience in cross country soaring techniques from an experienced pilot, while flying your own (the club's glider included!) glider.
• To learn how to successfully plan a cross country flight, in spite of less than ideal conditions
• To have fun exploring the skies with the safety of your leader as a guide

Advantages over two-seat coaching

• The best part, you’re in control of your sailplane.  So this means that you have responsibilities of a safe flight or outlanding, so some decisions will need to be yours.
• Regarding the responsibilities comment above, it will be in your own hands for the success or the failure of the exercise, which has the added benefit of greatly enhancing the sense of achievement, this, in turn, will build confidence!
• Confidence too in knowing what your glider performance can actually achieve
• Learning what you and your glider can do, will greatly expand your horizons and enjoyment of this magnificent sport, which is quite possibly, the most important thing!

Out on task

• The group must start together, with the leader at the bottom.  I’ve found that if the experienced pilot is in front and lower, it always gives a sense of safety to the followers.
• When you enter a thermal and have it centered, the leader should open brakes and descend to the lowest in the group.
• When you head back into the cruise phase, the leader should make their way to be at the bottom
• Quite often the leader will fly through thermals that you would otherwise accept, resist that temptation to turn. Even one turn can put you far enough behind that it’ll make it difficult to catch up, as you’ll be flying through different air in the cruise, missing that valuable experience too.  So to get the full experience, try to stay close together.
• It’s important to stay close together, but also remember, safety first!
• Flying behind and off to one side is ideal, as it gives you a chance to connect with a thermal they may miss, to stay in the better air to help with keeping up, alternatively to help avoid the bad air too!
• Communication is king, if you’re having any concerns, don’t be afraid to speak up, it’ll help the leader judge many things – in-flight health, to reassure the follower it’s ok, or stop to find a thermal now to regroup, etc

It’s a lot of fun & you will learn a lot, if this interests you, then I recommend you speak with your peers and try to line it up sometime soon!

Banner photo by Mika Ganszauge

 Adam Woolley was born into the gliding world, being the 3rd generation in his family. Going solo at 15, his thirst for efficiency in soaring flight & quest for a world championship title to his name has never wavered. One big passion is sharing his experiences & joy with other glider pilots all around the world. Adam is an airline pilot in Japan on the B767 & spends his off time chasing summer around the globe. He has now won 7 national Championships & represented Australia at 5 WGC's & 1 EGC.