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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1922.PDF
59° FLIGHT NOVEMBER I8TH, 1948 Gliding and the Royal Air Force training of a service pilot. Unfortunately the number of service pilots who started tHeir flying careers in the cockpit of gliders and sailplanes is too low to arrive at any definite conclusion. However, the case of a navigator who took up gliding at one of the R.A.F. gliding clubs in Germany may give a fair lead. Trained along standard German lines, he flew a variety of German gliders and sailplanes, and com- pleted the tests required for the International Silver Gliding Badge. After his return to Britain he was sent on a pilot's course, where he was subjected to the usual thorough tests and observations which gave the following picture. The pupil experienced no special difficulties up to his first solo which was reached in the average time of eight hours. Though perfectly familiar with the effect of the controls, he found accurate flying difficult. Lack of co-ordination and judgment were his instructor's main complaints. While the former improved, he continued to find forced landings —judging gliding angles and approaches in elementary aircraft—difficult. Bad co-ordination was also evident during early attempts at aerobatics. There were several comments on points of bad airmanship, a tendency towards "ham" flying, and poor engine handling. A definite improvement in all these points was, however, observed during service and advanced flving training. Where Glider Training Fails From this we may perhaps draw the following legitimate conclusions: granted that gliding experience gives the pupil a certain amount of air sense—a familiarity with the element with which he will henceforth be required to deal—the time spent to the first solo in a powered aircraft will be reduced only by a negligible amount. A haphazard, possibly "ham" way of handling the controls which may have been acquired while flying gliders will not easily be unlearnt, while the solo method of glider training is not conducive to accurate flying. We are all inclined to excuse our own faults even to the extent of ascribing an incorrectly banked turn to bumpy conditions or a faulty turn-and- bank indicator—but an instructor in the other seat will hardly take as lenient a view! Lest this be taken merely for an argument in favour of two- seater glider instruction, it is necessary to stress the time factor. Eight to twelve hours are normally all the time required to attain solo standard in an elementary powered aircraft. This instruction can be given as efficiently and cheaply, but much quicker, than the equivalent training in either single- or two-seater gliders. There is, however, one feature in favour of the solo glider method. Most pilots will remember, in their early flying days, an excited state of mind which I can only describe as the "solo complex." After a few initial trips with an instructor, the first solo flight assumes in the mind of the expectant pupil a significance out of all proportion to its real importance. This state of mind has often been respon- sible for delays in the pupil's progress. The solo method of glider training, with the pupil as the sole occupant of the machine right from the first gentle hop, completely eliminates the solo complex. The difficulties experienced with forced landings on elementary types may cause some surprise, as gliders and sailplanes often have to land in confined space, particularly after cross-country flights. The glider pilot has, however, dive brakes at his disposal with which to control his gliding angle, without affecting his gliding speed. Also, a shallow angle, as with a high-performance sailplane, may be easier to judge. It is significant that the pupil whose case is given above experienced no difficulties with forced land- ings on service aircraft in which he used flaps rather in the manner of sailplane spoilers. We must now deal with the question of engine handling. It is, of course, self-evident that the glider pilot will not know anything about this all-important subject until he comes to deal with powered aircraft. When he does reach that stage, he may take his engine far too much for granted. It may be argued, perhaps rightly, that since his entire flying career will be intimately concerned with engines, it may be as well to fly with them right from the start. Jet fighters may not be affected by torque or swing on take-off (the reason why the German glider-to-jet, and rocket, training method was so effective) but as long as service pilots are required to fly all types of aircraft, the correct use and handling of engines cannot be taught too soon. Summing-up the claim that gliding helps directly in the flying training of service pilots, it may be held that gliding gives a sense of familiarity with aircraft and their element, teaches the effect of controls, simple manoeuvres and land- ings, but does not teach accurate flying, nor does it necessarily remove a tendency to be "ham-handed," or improve judgment. •In the matter of meteorology and theory of flight, how- ever, there is no doubt that the advocates of glider training are on much firmer ground. The importance of these two Exertion—a five-man-power launch, using a " bungee " cable. Cliding trainees relax round a primary glider while watching 0 winch-launch. subjects to the service pilot is recognized by the authorities, though they are probably not aware of the extent to which gliding and soaring may be used to teach them. Right through their training, all categories of aircrew are given an intensive though necessarily somewhat dry grounding in meteorology. They are taught to classify clouds, to beware of cumulonimbus, to draw the standard pressure distributions and standard fronts, and many other essential things. But there is unfortunately only a small minority to whom all these mean a great deal in practice—a strange contrast with even the newest gliding tyro bristling with meteorological information, from orographic lift to the standing wave! To the man who has sailed along a cold front or consulted a tephigram before circling serenely | under cumulus, meteorology can never be just so much theory. If the art of soaring is the application of meteorologk il conditions, it is just as much the application of pure prni- B 12
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