Transition path

Flying is a continuous learning experience.  While you can get pretty good at it after awhile, you simply never will know everything.

For us newbies, our learning curve is both steep and long.  Most of my non-pilot friends and relatives are happy that I've gotten my rating and ask me if I'm relieved that it's over.  Actually, I'm on pins and needles.  I have a pretty good idea  of what I don't know and it definitely worries me.

The only way to fix that is to fly, of course.  And make good decisions about when the conditions are not right for you to fly or when you don't have the skills to accomplish what you need to.

One way that new pilots gain experience is to fly new aircraft types.  You fly progressively more sophisticated or higher performance aircraft in order to widen your skills.  Each aircraft will teach you something new about flight as they all handle a little different, fly at different speeds, or perform differently.

Right now, I'm on the bottom rung.  The Schweizer 2-33 that I have learned to fly is a basic trainer and that means that it is as docile and idiot-proof as it is possible to build a trainer.  This is a good thing, but it does bring a number of compromises with it.  Namely, it doesn't cover much distance when the wind is blowing.  You better stay near the field or a suitable farmer's field when the wind is blowing very hard.

Higher performance gliders can fly quite a bit faster than the 2-33, which will go

 22 feet forward for every foot of altitude it loses.  While that may sound good, when you add in some wind, that is easily cut in half or more.  If you are 2,000 feet above ground and the wind is blowing, you'll be very lucky to cover more than 3 or 4 miles before you come back down.

My transition path for the next year or so covers some familiar and not

so familiar aircraft.  Up next for me is the Schweizer 1-26, my first single seat glider, but supposedly one that flies very much like the 2-33.  That's good because even though the 2-33 is on the lower end of the performance spectrum I've come to appreciate its ruggedness, predictable handling qualities, and simplicity. 

The 1-26, they tell me, is a blast to fly.  It operates pretty much at the same speeds the 2-33 does but the controls are very light, like a sports car.  The dive brakes allow spectacular rates of descent without gaining airspeed.  The short wings allow you to rack it around into a 60 degree bank with little effort so you can circle in the tightest thermals.

After I become friends with the 1-26, it will be time to move up to the 1-34, also a Schweizer product.  This is a glider that I don't know much about other than it has higher performance than the 1-26.  According to my instructor it is a great flying glider and it flies great.  This one will be my bridge to higher performance flying and is made of aluminum.  Right now, the 2-33 and 1-26 have fabric fuselage and tail feathers.  The 1-34 is all metal. 

I expect that will be it for this flying season.  By the time I'm circling in the 1-34 it will be getting pretty cold and I'll fly very little, if at all during the winter.  In the Spring, I'll probably fly the 1-34 to get my skills back and then it will be time to move on to the ASK-21, a 2 seat fiberglass airframe and the first modern glass glider I will fly.

I've got a lot of learning ahead of me and I'm looking forward to every minute of it.