landout kit

We start our soaring career with training flights, where the duration is rarely longer than an hour long and our early solo flights are usually less than 2hrs.  Fortunately for these flights, being hydrated before take-off, having a good hat that won't scratch the canopy, and sunscreen on exposed body parts are all that you need.  What will we need when flights start extending past these

In the cross-country mentor programs that I do, a very frequent question or topic that comes up is, “what things do you keep in the glider for contests or cross country flying?”   Aside from the obvious items such as food, fluids for drinking, urine elimination items, and an oxygen system (if needed where you fly), there are many things in my glider that I have found to be helpful

During a landout in a glider, you may find yourself in a hostile environment lasting for several hours to several days. While most US pilots think of the desert or Rocky Mountain areas as the likely place for an extended stay to occur, it can just as easily happens closer to home. In April 2007 a very experienced ridge soaring pilot went down along the forested Alleghany Mountains in Pennsylvania.