Crestline Soaring Society

Thanks, Mike! I found a Falcon 195 and a harness has found me. I'm still looking for a chute, large helmet, and instruments. I have my first tandem lesson scheduled for next Tuesday with Joe Greblo. Hopefully, my skills and judgement are adequate to get an efficient training program arranged. Can anyone tell me whether the Crestline bunny hill would be a more viable option over Dockweiler?

Thanks! Jonathan

I trained at Dockweiler before there was the 85' training hill and Rob had the gator.

I found that Dockweiler did not prepare me for the Andy Jackson LZ. Dockweiler slopes down while the AJ LZ slopes up. Dockweiler has smooth laminar flow and soft sand, where AJ has a wind shadow from the upslope.

I ended up taking a lesson well after I had my hang 2 on the AJ hill, with Rob, because I didn't feel satisfied with my skills. I found those runs exponentially more instructive than further runs at Dockweiler would have been.

Further, Rob teaches a more traditional style of landing. At Dockweiler, they teach the Greblo style, which is to run 'em out (Rob teaches how to do that, as well, he has a good "swing the bat" analogy I'll leave to him). I'm not saying which is better, but it's nice to learn both.

I think Dockweiler is good for learning to launch of for getting over your initial fear of landing. I don't think it's all that helpful for learning to burn it in to an inland LZ.

My 2¢

Thanks for the input! Your 2¢ is worth plenty to me. In my former days '73 to '82 I had a broad range of landing conditions. Hopefully, I'll be flying at SHGA on radio before too long. First we have to establish where my skillset lies and what bad habits, if any, need to go. For now, I want to know what my local options are. Cheers, Jonathan

Don - You make a lot of good points. I'll bear all that in mind when I progress back to where I was and, hopefully, beyond! Cheers, Jonathan

easier = safer = better.
pilots may choose to challenge themselves by deliberately altering their approach paths or slopes anywhere they choose to land. best to practice RLF or crosswind approaches over wide open areas rather than put themselves into the situation untried.

Ok, I watched Steve land his Fusion on the 750 Launch (now an LZ) Really Nice Job Steve.

The "Greblo Style Landing wont work if you have tons of rocks and stuff in the way.

....I had done run-out landings, full flare, top landings (in a rotor :-( ), wheel landings, etc. I once muffed a top landing at the Indiana Dunes and cartwheeled my Mega 2 in front of Bill Moyes. He was vainly trying to signal me to do a go 'round when the wind had suddenly shifted. One of my nuttier landings was in my friend's backyard at dusk: http://imageevent.com/aero92/gliders (photos 26-32).

It seems that now I'll have to learn and do whatever is required to meet with the approval of the instructor/observer so I can get my rating back as well as have the skills to safely land whereever. So much to learn and just so much time.