How I Learned to Glide Faster and Why it was Backwards 

To me this is the gliding video of the year. Well made, funny and educational. You touched upon the things that still limit me.

After a life time of having "sampled" so many types of aviation, this is one of the most honest discussions I have ever heard. WHY we fly is so much more important that HOW TO fly. Especially so when it comes to recreational aviation. Fly safe!

Awesome point! As pilots, we often are conditioned not to show or express our emotions. Because there are many times in the cockpit where that might not be the best course of action. But we need to learn to express and accept them and learn to listen to our fellow pilots when they need to express how they feel without making them feel inadequate. Expressing how you feel in a healthy way is a sign of strength and courage. And we should only encourage that! ❤ “Courage” comes from the French word for heart “Coeur”. To be courageous is to speak and act from the heart.

you make many great points. If you always aim stay in your _comfort zone_ the learning of new things is very slow (they become accidental). Therefor, you need to dip into the uncomfortable - however while staying safe (There are no bold old pilots). Staying safe means: you have to know what you can do and what you cannot do - in other words you must know and understand yourself and your capabilities really well. No gliding theory books teach you this, of course!

Great video, pal! Good to see you back in the cockpit. Soaring is so underrated. It's about psychology, physiology, exploring nature and yourself. Goals and destinations are cool. But finding yourself enjoying the process is priceless. Truly poetical sport.

I took up gliding when I was 17 and gave it up when I was 18 to join the Royal Air Force and then the airlines. I have 16,000 flying and instructing on anything from 1500 kg turboprops to 380,000 kg four-engined airliners. I’ve pootled at 90 mph in a Tigermoth and achieved Mach 2 in a fighter. Last year I revisited gliding and was immediately bitten. Now at the age of 60 I’ve bought a glider, finished, after a 41 year hiatus, my silver C, done my first land-out and achieved my first 300 Km triangle. My LX9000 tells me all about McCready but this video has told me more about gliding. Thank you for posting an insightful piece. David.

Possibly the most spot on aviation video I’ve ever watched. Keep doing what your doing.

Nice work. Fear is indeed the unacknowledged "pink elephant in the room". My cross-country flying was finally launched when a friend said to me "You're not going flying in a twin. You've got a share in a Discus, so strap a parachute to your backside and a glider to your parachute and get going!" That has made all the difference, along with landing out on the first day of my second contest and realising that I hadn't killed myself. Please do another video with more of your thoughts.

One of the most inspirational videos i have seen in a long time. As a glider pilot who is just starting their XC flights and scared of outlandings, every word you said just made sense.

Very good video and pinpoints most of my experience about gliding. The fear of landouts and the need for staying high. Changing focus from fear to exitment for the unknown is a very good way to expand the gliding experience and be faster

Great!!!! Soaring is an emotional experience; the engineering of flight is just enough for safety, but emotions make us go higher and faster, as you teach with your video...thank you

As a recent solo student pilot with XC and contest aspirations, this was incredibly poignant and helpful. Thank you for sharing!

I just shared this to my channel man... I can't state enough how great you described everything involved in XC soaring.

I'm so grateful for this video. What you have covered in these 9 minutes trumps hours of reading theory in books. I now see gliding as a mental challenge with some technical things that are nice to know. Just looking back on this year's season, your video connects a lot of dots for me and has straightened out a lot of my thoughts. You've put it so well, I'll be sharing this :) Thank you!

great video, thanks for being so candid!!! I learned cross country many years ago, mostly by experimentation. Landouts weren't taboo but were seen as a sign of weakness and failure until one of my mentors/instructors landed out and then it all went "click"... he was one of the top pilots in Canada at the time, so if he landed out, then there must be a reason for it. Since I've become an instructor, I've taught my students to prepare for the flight, including the landout. We train on how to pick good fields, we fly from landable area to landable area. You're 100% right that knowing someone will come get you frees up the brain to allow you to push farther away. The speed comes with confidence, better decision making, in-flight forecasting. I've raced in contests, I know I'm a middle-of-the-pack pilot. I was dead last for two Provincial championships as I was instructing more than I was flying x-c. Once the CFI told me to take 2 hours off in the middle of the day and grab any club plane at the flight line and take it away, my x-c flying improved ten-fold. Since I bought my Jantar from two friends 9 years ago, I've gone farther and higher and faster and had much more fun. Being able to change turnpoints on-the-fly is really important, unless you're on a declared task and then you have to be really good with the weather so that none of the turnpoints requires flying through crud/overdevelopment etc. Landing out is always a logical outcome of flying a motorless plane, the sooner one accepts it (and does it) the easier it gets. Pick good fields :-)

Very true, most gliding clubs should pay more attention to this in their training program.

Well done! I love the tone: “Mr. Rogers soars into dinosaur country.” The most individual of sports is also the most rewarded by camaraderie. It is a part of our history we are rediscovering. However, I should add, my group proves your friends can be immature and silly, but it still works. Glider 2

Oh, yes! Thank you, thank you. I'm a very experienced pilot, but a total fledgling glider pilot. My biggest fear is landing out! My next biggest fear is getting low. Finally, there is how much I don't know, and the confusion that can stem from thinking "I've got it, I understand" - when I don't. You just lit a spark. Thank you. Thank you!

Process, oriented goals; I love it!

You've improved your RU-vid game by at least as much as your XC game. Well done!

G Dale is a great pilot and excellent teacher. Nice video :)

Thank you for a well presented thought out video. Gliding is so much more than strapping into our machines and heading skyward. This student pilot returned after a 30 year absence and just completed my first cross country task under instruction. I'm looking forward to getting further out there regardless if I'll be competitive or not. I want to push myself though to make the best of it. Love the video. Sums things up perfectly.

Great video and reflection about what soaring means, especially when someone wants to improve and compete. Greetings from Argentina

Very insightful and honest. Thank you

Fantastic video. One of the most important bits of information was the joining of (or flying from) multiple different clubs to get their different "vibes". Early in my gliding life I visited another club because my club was grounded due to weather.....again. The DDSC was a club focused on cross country soaring and had some fantastic mentors. From day one I had to have organised a vehicle and crew to recover me when I out landed, everyone did this at the club. Trust what you know,

Beautiful video my friend. Congratulations and THANK YOU❤

Your point about having all your ducks in a row is crucial. So much of the activity of gliding is being able to have all your stuff (physical, emotional, logistical, material) in the right place to get to the launch line. They don’t tell you how intensive all the preparations are to get your truck/glider/camping gear/suitcase/food all figured out, but it’s huge. Relatedly, notice how many of these old wisened glider guys who make it look easy come from a certain generation… to get a sense for what I mean, ask them who does their laundry. Half of them wouldn’t be wearing underwear if their wives didn’t wash and fold it for them. Talk about some unseen labor.

I have been thinking about your content here. The title could be "Why I am attracted to difficult and scary activities and how to tame my mind to de-couple the goal from the process". That has been true in my experience as a long time surgeon, aerobatic pilot and recent convert to soaring. All of these emotions and struggles, as well as the joys, are so unique and freeing that it is a very profound journey. A lot of it, after learning the technical aspects, obviously has to do with managing ego. That's the magic sauce. That's what changes us.

just stumbled across your channel. Great video. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's felt like this. Fly well, have fun!

Hello young stranger pilot who is also a friend. Your soul speaks of flying like mine does too. Thanks for making this video, it was nice and fun. Happy travels and skies to you.

Great video. Thank you very much. You definitely touched on several mental aspects I need to work on, especially the mental ground preparation.

DEFINITELY the best gliding video of the year.

"Emotional MacCready" Well put. That phrase packs so much meaning to mental performance and cross country glider flying. Bravo ! Most of my most memorable flights involved landouts and have given me some incredible stories I now share with my fellow glider buddies around the campfire.

I had exactly the same doubdts and development when starting to fly cross country on paraglider. The same mechanisms are at work.😊

Great advice and good video

I started gliding about the same time as you (beginning of 2015). I took my glider away to Narromine in December 2017, to experience some "big skies". The weather was less than spectacular, and on one of the flights I landed at an airport 80km away, although possibly could have got home if an intermediate airport had been in the electronic maps. I was obviously new to the area, and we had also been cautioned about landing in the paddocks that year. I felt like I was chastised for going beyond the "safety" of the local airport region, but felt like I had been let down by the electronic maps, so was feeling a little miffed. I was "encouraged" to fly a "more local" 300km declared triangle, which I modified to be slightly less local, but FAI badge compliant. Being a bit annoyed, I probably flew with more anger than at any time in my life. It turned out to be a good flight - hahaha. I got my declared 300km badge at 93.3kph in an Astir CS - which wasn't too shabby.

Woooohoooooo Great video! Good music and great emotions.

GREAT video!!! I enjoyed meeting you at the convention and talking with you. I came here looking for Jonker’s JS3 RES first flight video and found your channel instead. Nice videos!

Inspiring video and well narrated. I’m still timid when it comes to venturing out of glide range of my home airport, so your experience is super relatable. Thank you for giving us some things to think about!

Thats a great vid for new xc pilots

What a great video. Applies to life in general outside of gliding. I’m going to bookmark it. As an aside, I had the pleasure of several interesting conversations with McCready back in the day

Great video. Super motivating as I start my xc career. Thank you for sharing your insights!

Great and inspiring video. Just getting my license now so too soon for me to have an opinion on what you say but I feel you are totally right. Thanks.

Thanks for the video. Enjoyment should be the most important part of any interest like this. I never or rarely raced my 44’ sailboat. I had enough competition in business. I sailed to enjoy nature and the experience at sea. When I was gliding, it was the same philosophy. Enjoyment is first.

Thanks for sharing and it is very much a mental game! I also did my first 500km flight this season :D Quite often I hook my glider trailer onto my car before I go fly, so it is ready to go should I need a retrieve later. Being prepared negate the mental stress of a prospective outlanding, and an outlanding is a real prospect on _every_ flight. I would also rather land out 5km away from the airport vs crashing 1km away due to bad final glide decisions! Happy flying :D

Thank you so much for posting this. We need much more content like this. In some countries, there's still a lot of toxic masculinity and people aren't so willing to openly discuss their failings (or indeed their feelings). I'm lucky at my club, most people are open and honest about mistakes and willing to let others learn from them. Just last week after a really awful approach and landing, I cheerfully listed my mistakes to the newer members of the club. That made them feel much better about their errors - 3 different people told me that they thought they were the only ones struggling in those marginal weather conditions. It's really important that we share that part of gliding with one another - the fear, the mistakes, the close escapes, the bad habits and how to fix the issues, if we've solved them. I think it's very brave and hugely positive of you to make videos like this. I've learned so much from the honesty of people willing to humble themselves and explain their mistakes and how they fixed them. Top work, mate!

Thanks, needed to hear this. I can't wait to get up again, I'm starting my journey next month.

Excellent video! Ive been flying Hang Gliders since I was a young man, started when I was 18 and Im now 66 and recently decided to evolve into sailplanes.. All the issues you talk about start creeping back into my mind. I really enjoyed this video probably more than any other Ive seen recently..

Awesome video! Thank you!

Thanks for posting... I'm in season 2 of owning my own glider and I to have similar struggles but for me the issue is it's in my nature not to be a bother to others. I guess I'll have to wrestle those demons myself. (subscribed)

Great video!

Greetings from the Czech republic. Beautifully true. thanks. M

Love the video Love it love it

Can relate to all you say. Thanks.

👍👍👍, many thanks.

A very thoughtful video! Fear is a limiting factor. Overcoming fear especially in mountain flying is also a process. Experience helps you adjust your risk tolerance. Then when anything new happens, you face apprehension once again. It's best to go slowly and, if possible, to be accompanied. When I go some place new, I usually beg a ride with an experienced local pilot. I've done this recently too in order to safely discover wave flying in the Alps.

the "Process oriented goal" really hit home with me and is spot on. I've read allot on XC/gliding including vol 1,2&4 of Gdale books, now I'll buy Vol 3. I recognize it was the Process I was unsure of, not the actual flying/landing out. Looking forward to start working on that.

Thank you so much for this video.

Great video and I can totally relate with your thoughts. I am in the same position right now, just a year and a half after the license. You have to constantly push yourself and set process-based goals. Just recently completed a declared 320km FAI triangle task and it felt great. Due to a misjudgment of the weather came low at a certain point, but used all the knowledge and experience and was able to recover and finish the task. Best feeling ever. 😀 Keep up the good work and hope you will find the time to continue this type of motivational/learning type content channel.

Not a glider pilot but really appreciate it and your honesty about what the experience of being one is actually like

How come you don't have 100k subs! Brilliant gliding video well done.

I've taken up chess during the pandemic. Initially I was learning all the rules, watching videos on how to get better and so on. But after a while I realized I knew everything but still kept making mistakes I knew how to avoid. I then realized that chess is a game you play against yourself, not your opponent. I think most things in life that are hard can be classified that way. The daoist concept of wu-wei (doing without effort) has been really helpful to me. Take the pressure out, increase the enjoyment. And after you've managed that, maybe try to perform better.

So much of what you said rings true with me. My biggest hinderance is what I call "hang glider brain " After flying hang gliders for 36 years I found it hard to let go of the poor performance of a hang glider and trust what my 19 meter Kestrel can do for me .I am gradually stretching those boundaries where I fly, which has very few out landing fields but I certainly can do better, and still remain safe. Thanks for this great video.

I didn't need to watch the whole video to subscribe. You have a gift for storytelling.

Good thoughts!

Well done. Timely, as I’m trying to break through similarly! You articulated this journey really nicely.

I’m a 37 year glider pilot, 30 year CFIG, XC OLC and contest pilot. You’ve got free tows from me anytime pal. Ames Iowa

Great video and 100% agree, I definitely struggle worth anxiety and fear flying. Not really about landing out as much as landing out and damaging myself or the glider. Having gotten close to doing both on two landouts I realize it is at least a possibility.

Great video buddy

great one, really inspired me

Many good points here. Flying and especially flying XC takes a lot of emotional and psychological training. I also see that some pilots are too shy to express their emotions and not only to other pilots, but to themselves as well. To compensate for the lack of confidence and- often- practice, I see some pilots jump into a rowdy air once in a while l, but I doubt it dies anything good for them. Practice and practice some more is what builds my confidence. Mental work is important as well. Flying is a very honest activity, so no reason to be shy about it.

Amazing. I have only glided in msfs. Really hope to make it a reality one day.

f’n bravo man!

Also I like to separate safety risk (damage) to sporting risk (inconvenience)

Awesome :)

Thank you so much for this. I'm struggling with fear of landing out too. In my club there's a culture of buying turbo-equipped gliders, so it's not at all common. Finding someone to pick you up is difficult.

Nice to hear the discussion of fear of land-outs, and other fears you bring out!! Still stuck in that land-out fear zone. Ive studied the land-outs and toured them with my CFI and club clan - this helps reduce the fear and is critical in So. CA. where our land-outs aren’t soft hay fields. Will look and read G.Dale, vol.3. Sounds like good mental learning and training (reading vol.2). Btw. ❤️ the 360 camera footage. You look to be in a bubble glider! Also - looks like your a central Ca. Pilot. Im down the way in AVSC. Also.. take a look at “AVSC Porch Chats”’on Y.T. Dan Rihn talk on studying pilots on See You (and other XC Soaring cool talks).

New sub ! Liked 🙏🤘

Great video! As a paraglider pilot having dealt with the anxiety of landing out and considering a switch to gliders I found this video very interesting. Which airport do you typically fly from?

Great and valid points, thank you for a good video. Now, as you seem like the growth mindset type (according to researcher Carol Dweck) I’d like to offer one small piece of advice on your sound editing. During the parts where the soundtrack was loud, it was hard to hear your words. CC helped out, so no worries. But your next video will be better if you lower the relative volume of the music to somewhere between -12 to -18 db. Again, thanks for a great video with a lot of substance.

What a well made and thoughtful video. And I can confirm the airline pilot syndrome. I hear it all the time, because I'm the one saying it 🤣 🙈

Flying contests is the ticket. Speed tasks teach you to stretch your glides, fly McCready interthermal speeds and - most of all - observe what the good pilots are doing. Following pilots who know how to "read the energy lines" is most important. Fly with goals, analyze your flights on SeeYou, reduce your thermaling percentage. You most of that already.

Love your orange pants (would make it easy to find you if you landed out) where did you get them? Are they breathable?

My last land out ended with having beers with the locals so you never know LOL We need to be good diplomats for our sport.

Great video, little suggestion next time, though turn the music down. Really hard to hear you with the music blaring in the background other not awesome footage.

If you want to become the next Sebastian Kawa, you still have a lot of work and maybe with all that work you won't succeed. The most important thing is enjoy yourself , it's allready a blessing to see the world from that height , enjoy the sightseeing .

Do you know who did the Canopy conversion on your Jantar? Wanting to have mine converted when I get it refreshed.

Can you recommend soaring reading material?

if you wanna go fast, slow down

I don’t understand the “Belleclava” or the Orange coveralls ?

Minecraft theme music vibes 👁️👄👁️

im not having fun piloting any vehicle, till i get into stressful situations and need to make something happen... lol

Nice videos ! A longer microphone would suit you well in your glider.

I still can't understand how you get such long glide slopes in those gliders... seems to break the laws of physics. I'd be a nervous wreck without a motor.

keep the music off

Great video, but please, lose the awful music. Distracts and detracts from great content

this music ruined a good video

Now learn how to title your videos properly ..

if you don't like being scared when pushing the limits flying, then get another hobby

Great thoughts! Have you had a chance to review the new Cross Country Handbook from the SSA? Give it a review....let me know what you think? I like new approaches as well...Thanks Shawn