This third in a series of articles is taken from here: http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26379

Jim Rooney <<jim>> writes:

One of the biggest problems I see is that training hills are
horrible places to learn to land. At your typical training hill, you can't pull
in for landing speed as you'll contact the earth. It's also bloody hard work to
get any sort of repetition in.

This is where scooter towing becomes so valuable. I've not seen, nor can I think
of a better landing instruction tool.

As for student progression, most I've seen are taught to approach the earth at
trim, then when it gets close to flare. They're at the level where they can just
barely not smash into the earth anyway, so filling their minds with more things
to do doesn't really work out all that well.

When they do progress to the point where they can mentally handle more, then
yeah, the "ballooning up" problem arises. It's a hard one because once they
encounter it, they become more timid, which is exactly the opposite to what they
need to do to not balloon up. The cycle gets worse and worse till they just give
up and go back to what they know, which is approaching the earth at trim and
running it out. It's not perfect to them, but it sure beats smashing into the
earth.

Holding the flare if you balloon up is critical. It's also intimidating as hell.

The full "show stopper" flare (as I call it) is a hell of a big step to ask a
student to take. Some make it. Most do not.

Most students btw, are not taught to make the glider climb. Students do not have
a middle switch, things are "ON" or "OFF," subtlety comes later. So you'll be
hard pressed to find an instructor that's comfortable telling a student to do
something that can worsen their situation. When you tell a student "Climb a
little", what actually makes it across is "Climb". Not good.

Most students are taught to "feel the glider kick back". Keep a loose grip and
when it bucks, flare.

Holy god is this a horrible way. That "buck" is the nose stalling. Now, you have
to have good body position and a strong flare to make it work. This is why
everyone is so focused on body position for flaring. And it's just how to fix a
late flare. The better way is to not flare late.

But that's easier said then done. Remember, students are not subtle. And they
don't process subtle either. They've also not got a "feel" for anything yet.
They're barely flying, let alone noticing subtleties like glider "energy".

You need a timing cue the size of a building.

That's technique #2 Trim+1