new members and mentors

[l.dan...@comcast.net]

Hi everyone,

 

I just had a recent e-mail exchange that reminded me about how tough it can be for new pilots who recently received their ratings.  I just want new pilots to know that we do have a list of mentors on our site guide (please asked to be removed if you don’t want to be there):  http://www.cascadeparaglidingclub.org/pages/mentor.php .  Many of us have been in that window, as newly ordained pilots, where we could easily have discontinued the sport without continued guidance from our instructors as well as other pilots in the club (I certainly owe a huge debt of gratitude toward countless club members as well as continuous support from my instructor).  Sometimes we forget their may be a new person on the hill who is alone for the first time and it can be scary (actually I think the scary factor lasted much longer than that for many of us).  It can also be intimidating just to go out and meet people to fly which from my end was a result of having unideal days off and less than stellar social skills.  If you know of a new pilot I would encourage you to encourage them to join our google group so they know when people are flying (periodic special invites to new pilots on calmer days might be a good idea also).  If you are an experienced pilot it would be great if you could reach out to any newer pilots at flying sites just so they are more comfortable about asking any questions or raising concerns.  I would also encourage instructors to introduce there new P2 graduates to the club via google groups or at the meetings (I think DAR does a very good job at this and they have a lot of pilots for the population there).  I know Discover does this sometimes and Kelly used to introduce new pilots at the meetings.  I think continual social inclusion will help to make pilots more comfortable about making decisions, asking questions etc... and will result in fewer pilots giving up so soon.

 

Luke (just my 1 cent worth of thoughts)

[jeff (JJ) johnson]

Thanx Luke. I feel like that totally was directed to me and I appreciate that. I've been making more of an effort to be involved and get to know more pilots and this is a great avenue. I am a new P2 and feel completely clueless at times. Thanx for remembering the newbies.

JJ

[l.dan...@comcast.net]

Welcome to the paragliding community Jeff (and other new pilots) .   Just post on days when you can fly if it seems reasonable somewhere.  If you are not sure if there is anywhere reasonable to fly on a particular day, feel free to post and you will most likely get public or private feedback (we have a lot of members so sometimes it is assumed that someone else has responded and no one wants to flood the respective mailboxes with redundant replies ... so just don’t take a lack of response personally if that happens).  The following has been mentioned many times before but worth reiterating I’m sure:  There are certainly flyable days when people don’t post for many reasons, hence sometimes it just takes one post to get the ball rolling on an otherwise dead day:  Chehalem on monday was a good example where I wanted to fly but it didn’t look good anywhere and Vince’s post just got me out there for an expected sledder which turned out better.  Sometimes people don’t post because they don’t want to appear ignorant about the weather or sites (we all know more now than we did as beginners and less than we will know next year and there is a learning curve that is different for everyone).  Some people just prefer private correspondence because that is how they are more comfortable.  Some people are flying a more advanced site under sketchier conditions and don’t want to seemingly encourage pilots to fly in a potentially dangerous situation (danger always being a relative term of course).  The point is mainly that if you are new then let someone (or us) know you want to fly and you will usually get feedback one way or the other (if all else fails then Forslund will send you a ouija board prediction for the day ).

 

We hope to see many new pilots out there this year and of course we hope to see you at the meeting on tuesday where you can meet other pilots and ask questions (I promise no serious topics this time ... )

 

Luke (another cent worth)

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[John Saltveit]

This is an excellent idea. John Saltveit

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 12:03:19 PM UTC-7, Luke wrote: