Home Forums Safety TIME TO RECONSIDER RULES FOR P2/H2 PILOTS Reply To: TIME TO RECONSIDER RULES FOR P2/H2 PILOTS

#9828
Jerome Daoust
General Member

Reading some of the comments here, suggests that some are not aware of the available P2 signoff: CSS Paraglider Novice Sign Off. It covers things like time of day to fly, and use of a streamer. This process allows a local instructor to issue the signoff, after which the P2 pilot can fly unsupervised from Marshall or the 750, ahead of the general P3 requirement. The P2 pilot may have learned at the site from the start, or learned elsewhere and then work with a local instructor to achieve it: Like a “site tune up”.

For the “P2 from elsewhere” pilot, yes he will cough up a bit of money, for learning what is special about this flying site and adjust his skills to match. Our thermal flying site’s challenge isn’t really about our nice launches or LZ, but more about choosing the right conditions to fly, and being able to predict the air you are about to launch into, before you leave the ground. Our local instructors are best suited to establish the knowledge and skill gap to cover on a case-by-case basis. If our P2 guy has awesome launching and landing skills (as most proclaim), then the adjustment and corresponding fee charged by the instructor will be minimal. If more improvement is needed, the P2 pilot will learn what is needed and compensate accordingly for the time and effort of instruction. This system is a good compromise to insure that those who fly our site have the basic tools to do so, to minimize the riskĀ  to themselves and the site. Experience has shown that some of the worst damage done to a flying site, is by visitors who then leave their mess behind.

Beyond the signoff, there is much more to be learned, and at that point the P2+signoff pilot should seek a mentor or trusted friend to keep enjoy flying the site and continue improving his skills. For best results, treat your mentor well.