Transition To Single Seat Gliders ...Made Easy!
A Comprehensive Guide To Flying Single Seat Gliders
Author:  Bob Wander
From Bob Wander's "Gliding ...Made Easy" series
Paperback, many illustrations and black and white photos, 40 pages
Dimensions: 8.31 x 11.0 inches (211 x 280 mm)
Table of Contents
About the Author

Makes single seat glider checkouts safe and fun. 

Assembly, cockpit considerations, flaps, trim, and airbrakes, towhook location and considerations, ground handling, takeoff and tow, free flight, patterns and landings, emergency planning, positive control checks . . . everything is covered. 

Introduction
The majority of gliders in the U.S. fleet are single seat gliders. Accordingly, when most people think of soaring, they dream of flying a sleek and beautiful glass fiber single seat glider, with long stiletto wings and svelte lines. The desire to fly a glider of such beauty and grace demands neither explanation nor apology.

In most of aviation, aircraft checkouts are conducted in multi-seat aircraft with a qualified, experienced flight instructor aboard. In single seat aircraft, such an approach is obviously not possible. Therefore, the pilot who aspires to fly a single seat aircraft needs to discover a method that teaches what to expect from the aircraft before actually flying it. After all, there will be no chance to seek advice from a qualified instructor once the takeoff roll begins. 

Unfortunately, many pilots make their first flights in single seat gliders without first employing a systematic method of preparation. Single seat gliders differ from their two seat cousins in several important ways. The sportscar-like handling of most single seat gliders is both nimbler and more refined than the handling of most two seat gliders. The seating is often steeply reclined in single seaters. The controls often move through a smaller range of travel and offer less resistance to pilot inputs. Single seat gliders weigh less than two seat gliders. Often the whole "feel" of the glider is just different from the familiar feel of two seat gliders. 

Needless accidents occur during transition to single seat gliders because the pilot did not know what to expect from the aircraft. Virtually all of these accidents are preventable. 

Transition to Single Seat Gliders Made Easy fills a gap in the literature of soaring. It provides a systematic approach to help you learn how to fly single seat gliders. From it you will determine exactly what is necessary to perform safe, uneventful single seat glider checkouts. Transition To Single Seat Gliders Made Easy leads you through a complete and systematic program of aircraft familiarization and flight preparation. By the time you have finished using this book you will be thoroughly familiar with your aircraft. You'll know what to expect during takeoff roll, during aerotow, during free flight, and during the pattern and landing. You'll know what to do, and what not to do, as you make your first flights in the single seat gliders of your choice. 

When I made my own transition to single seat gliders years ago, no book like this was available. I often wished for one! I hope this book helps you make your dream of safe, enjoyable motorless flight come true.
Safe soaring,
Bob Wander

Transition To Single Seat Gliders Made Easy is a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to flying single seat gliders. It will guide you as you make a safe and enjoyable transition into the single seat gliders of your choice and opportunity.

Transition To Single Seat Gliders Made Easy guides you through the following preparations and procedures:
The Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) and what information contained in it is important for you to know:

• Storage and maintenance
• Trailering
• Rigging
• Pre-flight inspection
• Positive control check
• Ground handling
• Aerotow launch
• Free flight maneuvers including glides, turns, slow flight, stalls, thermaling speeds, airbrake operation, and flap operation
• Patterns and landings.

You can use this book again and again, as you add new single seaters to your logbook in years to come. Whether you are a low time pilot about to make your first single seat glider flight in a 1-26 Schweizer, or you are a 20,000 hour airplane pilot about to fly your 25th type of single seat glider, this book will help you organize your thoughts, learn your glider, discover what to expect from the glider in flight, avoid unpleasant or dangerous surprises, and have many safe and fun flights in single seat and high performance gliders for as long as you fly them. 
Bob Wander