sutter@osu-dbs.UUCP (12/05/83)
Regarding what rating it is preferable and/or advantageous to acquire first: I think that this is another one of those issues like, "the first plane I ever flew had the best/most forgiving/whatever handling characteristics", or "the first operating system I ever used heavily was laid out the most logically", or "my first girlfriend was the one I really should have married"... You get the idea. All the power pilots will be convinced that the direction they transitioned will be the best, and all the sailplane pilots will be equally convinced. I am a sailplane pilot, and haven't yet made the big jump to carrying around a noisemaker on the nose, so I won't voice an opinion on this one just yet. All I know is that I'm much more comfortable in a slow, steep, incipient-spin configuration than my power- instructor father. Maybe that's good, maybe not. But here's an interesting observation: The best-transitioning pilot I ever saw taking up sailplanes in our club was a guy that stopped in a couple of summers ago while he was on furlough from flying big helicopters to oil rigs at sea in the United Arab Emirates. You have *never* seen anybody so steady on final!! Truly amazing, inspirational, and frustrating. He put all our best pilots to shame. I, of course, just stood there with my jaw slack. Does this mean that to make the best pilot of some sort (that we aren't already), we should all learn that guy's set of skills? I think not. Most of us wouldn't get far. I, for one, can't afford a rotary-wing rating. And I think this might prove to be the arbiter of what rating people get first. I got my sailplane first because I was/am a "poor starving college student." Soon, though, I hope to go to power. But still, as I observed before, I think my one true love, no matter how many cylinders or turbines I hang on how big of wings, will be the silent style. And while I didn't marry my first girlfriend, I am still quite happy... Rising Quietly, Bob Sutterfield -- Human: Bob Sutterfield Usenet: sutter@...cbosgd!osu-dbs Workplace: Advanced Design Methods Laboratory, Ohio State University MaBell: (614)422-4669 or -4691