If the CEO of Delta issues a statement about the incident, then changes his mind, would that be a…
flap flop flip-flop?
♫ The flaps began to flop, the door plugs to pop
& suddenly Boeing planes did fall on hou-ses top ♫
Cooler heads prevailed. Flying a plane is easy if you understand and can keep the airspeed between the lines, can operate the radio (no small feat in itself), and have a long enough runway. What they did was very very impressive.
Yes – that would have been my downfall, for sure!
One thing that is nice about sailplane training you get waaaaay more weather and far less radio and navigation.
Most soaring is local and in sight of the airport. If you stay in the recommended 45 degree angle regardless of height you can always get home.
Oh to be younger, single and footloose again. Some 40 years ago
Damned fine Blanik there. A blast from my past too.
Cool plane, the Polish airforce used to train with them. Full flaps, retractable gear and rattled like tin can full of pebbles soaring near stall speed.
Fav plane was the Grob single. Craziest was the 17m Lark…damn could that thing motor in a cloudstreet.
I was whipping along at 100 knots under a good street in the Lark and I literally ducked as all these baseball sized black things came straight at me…a cloud of migrating Monarch butterflies migrating …also making use of the cloud street…and we think we are soooo smart.
Somehow they can make a circuit of a big chunk of North America over several generations…not sure anyone knows how.
The Lark was also terrifying quick to spin …good reminder to keep airspeed up when turning for final…that training spin at 4,000’ is still very clear in my mind.
The Grob you literally could not stall or spin…noobs have it easy. 
I envy those who flew gliders at an early age. I often wonder if there should be 10 hrs of glider time logged before getting pilot certification.
Usually 40 flights to unsupervised solo
30 flights to supervised solo.
Now sailplane flights are often short …not really measured in hours especially in training. At the very end of my training once I was solo I was popping up for a 1,000’ tow and then almost directly into circuit to complete the flight numbers for full pilot.
It’s quite easy for certified sailplane pilots to move to power and even easier in the other direction.
It for sure is the least expensive path to flying with most clubs doing free training with a $3-500 membership fee plus some insurance cost.
Then it’s just the cost of the tow and flight time for the sailplane.
But of course there is some club requirement for unpacking and packing hangars expected and serving as field officer.
Most of the time that was easy but one time we had 22 sailplanes fall out at once…THAT was ahem “exciting”… there are no go arounds so planes were scattered in all directions getting down and off the runaway and landed members running to push the planes out of the way.
How effective that idea of sailplane training of power pilots would be is a question but I must admit once you’ve flown you do not forget quickly.
I took 5 years off and the safety pilot just had me take one circuit while he watched and let me fly as normal.
We had a sneaky way to get around the 1 hour maximum rule …if you flew before 11 am you had unlimited flight time …but it was tough to stay up.
I’d time it, take a tow to 4,000’ and drift down leisurely as narrow thermals finally built.
The other way was to attempt a 5 hour endurance flight so the 1 hour rule was avoided. The main thing was you could do it over and over until you completed
I have nothing to add except I went in a sailplane when I was about 8 for a joyride - I cannot remember how I got there, it was a total stranger piloting… but man, it was cool. Also I got to wear a parachute, although not much in the way of instruction on how to actually use it.
That applies to all solo sailplane pilots…chute mandated…no instructions provided. 
Were you front seat?
I was. It was amazing. Suprisingly loud, as the wings flexed, but glorious.
Yes, same here. My first solo was in a Blanik.
Mine was in a 1-33 and the shortest on record. 
Turns out the tow pilot was also a first timer for towing on his own and had forgotten to take up slack.
Suddenly I felt this great jerk …WTF!!!..training kicked in and I pulled the release and coasted a few yards down the field and turned off.
It was really fortunate and it could have killed the tow pilot ( we had one famous aerobatic pilot who was towing a student and he was pulled over in a similar event and landed upside down and burst into flames ) He survived but with extensive injuries.
Now it really was drilled in training - not a lot of thought but I was crowded around by other pilots thanking me…I still had no idea what had happened …thought it was something I had done. 
The second solo effort was a nice 40 minute flight without drama and of course the first round had burned out any nerves I might have had and I was very calm.
My first x-country ( 50km ) was in a 1-26 and I almost fell out inside a Wildlife Reserve with big cats. Was down to 800’ and in theory should have been in the circuit …not desperately trying to reach the Cu I could see ahead of me in a plane that had just about zero penetration …then the vario kicked in and up I went to 9,000 ft and ended up almost overflying the destination airport.
That 1-26 could out turn and out climb any fancy fibre glass jobby…it really felt like I had wings…not in a plane with wings.
BTW I HIGHLY recommend this - audible or the book. Totally inspiring.
We have a Doper here who’s active in the senior division of the SSA racing circuit. I leave it to him to out himself if he chooses.
April a year ago he kindly invited me to join him for a competition held a couple hundred miles from here. He’d be down there a week, and I came up there for a day and a half. We got in one non-competition flight together in his SCHEMPP-HIRTH Flugzeugbau GmbH: Duo Discus XL. The weather was reasonably helpful and we had no trouble starting from IIRC 2000’ staying up ~90 minutes and covering 100+ miles. Could have stayed up indefinitely.
I’d been in high school when I last flew a sailplane. Mostly 2-33s and the aforementioned Blaniks.
There is simply no comparison between the experiences. Like driving a race car versus a family wagon.
Gorgeous aircraft and this is incredible
With extension of the airbrakes, a trailing edge flap extends downwards simultaneously, compensating the loss of aerodynamic lift when the airbrakes are extended, so the lift coefficient remains practically unchanged. At the same time, the total drag of the aircraft is increased, which allows for a steeper approach angle and, even more important, for a slower landing speed with extended airbrakes and trailing edge flaps.
The extended trailing edge flaps increase the longitudinal pitch which results in even better visibility to the landing point.
As the trailing edge flaps and airbrakes are mechanically coupled, the trailing edge flaps react opposite to the airbrakes upon extension. An unlocked airbrake can therefore not extend itself, which prevents the situation of taking off with extended airbrakes unintentionally.
As there is no extra lever needed to operate the trailing edge flaps - they work in unison with the air brakes - there is no additional work load for the pilot.
The improved effectiveness of the airbrake system (the airbrakes moved 4 cm to the leding edge and are now 15 mm higher) makes it now possible to approve the Duo Discus XL for simple aerobatics including spinning.
I still recall the first time I flew the Astir single with lovely giant air brakes…landing became soooo much easier.
Then there was trying to land the 1-26 down wind with airbrakes the size of a piece of toast
Ended up going back into the wind…just could not get it down.
I saw “FIFI”, the CAF’s B-29 return home a few minutes ago (in fact, I can hear it making its landing approach now, and I’m pretty sure I heard it head out yesterday). I first saw it when I was about 15, great to see it still in the air.
Oh, no… 
From teh crappy fragmentary reporting, and probable translation from Italian, it’s darn hard to tell in detail what happened.
But somebody unauthorized to be on the field ran out there among the airplane(s) and got inhaled. Sounds like a planned suicide, or just a crazed / drug addled utter disregard for personal safety.
Not really an aviation safety problem.
What’s it take to certify for flight an engine that’s ingested a human?