Customer Reviews

Joy of Soaring: A Training Manual

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THE JOY OF SOARING: A Training Manual
First published in 1969,by the Soaring Society of America, revised by The Soaring Society of America (SSA) in 1989

In the mid-1960s, soaring experienced a tremendous surge in popularity across the U.S. as thousands of pilots came to the sport. Many got their first look at the sport through Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" TV feature "The Boy Who Flew with the Condors." Although interest surged, at the time there was no standardized training manual available to student glider pilots, only the individual manuals used at various soaring sites around the country. The "Joy of Soaring" collected and repackaged the very best practices in a readable and well-illustrated format. It has since been superceeded by other soaring texts for the Practical Test Standards for a Glider Rating. Many other specialist publications give detailed treatment to more contemporary aspects of soaring today. This book's lasting appeal as the best-loved soaring primer comes from its practical, readable, common sense approach to the nuances of proficient glider flight. The book contains many black and white photographs of classic gliders. Illustrated by Gil Parcell, who was well known for his cartoons in Soaring magazine, this book captures the essence of soaring during its heyday. It is still the preferred introduction to the sport of unpowered flight. It remains in print, so a reader has the choice of a crisp new edition, or the nostalgia of owning one of the ubiquitous original, used copies.

A good, reasonably comprehensive training manual, easy to read. More modern, less technical than American Soaring Handbook (out of print). For many years Joy of S. was the primary basis for FAA Glider Pilot Certificate testing, and I issued hundreds of certificates based on it; now superceded in Practical Test Standards by a different book of slightly inferior quality (Jeppesen).

This is quite a good book for the new glider pilot. It caters primarily for the American pilots. Good graphics. Alternatively, check out the Books by Reichmann and by Piggot

This is just the book your looking for if you are going to start soaring lessons. It has all the concepts you need written in a format that is easy to read and understand. It is elementary so it does not tax the mind as you try to sift through the material. I'd recommend it to anybody, young and old. This is a beginner's manual that's a classic.

It's the classic beginner book. A practical how to book. Recommended by the soaring club I joined. I will have read it multiple times by the time I have soloed.

The best soaring book for the beginner. Not up to date on some legal details, but very good over all and well written and illustrated. I also enjoyed it 30 years ago.

L.S. Moore, Naples, Fl

This book is THE standard training manual for sailplane plots in the U.S.. It is very easy to understand and should be in every beginning pilot's library.