PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Probably a really stupid question
View Single Post
Old 24th Feb 2012, 22:21
  #71 (permalink)  
abgd
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: The Wild West (UK)
Age: 45
Posts: 1,151
Received 6 Likes on 3 Posts
I have some sympathy for the OP - part of the PPL exams in Britain is to learn the structure of the AIP and where to find information. Without knowing about that, you could end up looking through all manner of acts of parliament etc. and still not be quite certain that you had the most up to date information.

Not speaking about the poster specifically, a lot of people aren't very good at using search engines either. For example, as few as 10% may know how to use control-f to find something in a document.

Crazy: 90 Percent of People Don't Know How to Use CTRL+F - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

~~~~

Having come to my PPL from a hang-gliding background, I have to say that I didn't see a great difference in the calibre of pilots from different backgrounds. Perhaps a few of the paraglider pilots were a bit rasher, but by and large if you'd mixed up all my hang-gliding buddies with the people I met doing my PPL, they'd have gotten on well and found plenty to talk about. I can think of a few mildly reckless folk from both camps - admittedly more from the hang-gliding fraternity.

A big difference between hang/paragliders and powered aircraft is that it really takes quite a lot of work before you get from the slope-soaring stage to the point where you can fly long distances cross country. I never got there. Anyway, if you're 30 miles from a hang-gliding site and meet a hang-glider, chances are the pilot is quite experienced and flies regularly. If you're 30 miles from an airport and meet a light aircraft, it doesn't say much about the pilot's experience or competence - could be a 25 hour pilot on a solo nav. And certainly, there's a lot more reason to keep your head in the cockpit whilst flying a light aircraft as opposed to a hang-glider. I don't know much about fixed wing gliding, but I would have guessed the same may apply (probably to a lesser degree?)

Another difference is that mid-air collisions are more likely for glider pilots than they are for powered pilots, perhaps simply because gliders are more likely to be clumped together on the same hill or in the same thermal.

From 1995-2004 there were 5 midair collisions involving powered aircraft out of a total of 102 accidents (5%) and 10 midair collisions involving gliders out of a total of 38 fatal glider accidents (25%) (both figures include one power/glider collision). To my surprise, there were relatively few foot-launched midair collisions (2/36). (regulatory review of general aviation in the UK, report to the CAA board 2006 www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/RegReview.pdf).

Anyway, if glider pilots are more attuned to the risks of mid-air collisions than powered pilots, perhaps it could be because they're simply a much bigger issue for them, and because the remedy (see and avoid) may work better for them due to lower speeds (I'm aware that some gliders can be very small and very fast).

~~~~

I'm surprised by Mary's comment regarding male powered pilots. There are very few woman hang-glider pilots about, and only slightly more paraglider pilots. My observation had been that a much higher proportion of powered pilots seem to be women. I can't speak for gliding whatsoever.

Last edited by abgd; 24th Feb 2012 at 22:40.
abgd is offline