A yellow streamer on the kingpost, or TE of a PG, is
standard for Novice pilots at Crestline/Marshall.


red wrote:

> Historical note:
> In 1977, I lived (camped) at Point of the
> Mountain, Utah. It became apparent that the
> regulars were not a problem, but the newbies and
> visitors could sure make a mess of the "traffic
> pattern". The club set aside "aerobatics boxes"
> for those so inclined. The original problem
> remained.
> Now you may know of the late, great science
> fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (Starship
> Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, many more).
> He actually solved the problem for us, and long
> before we had it, in a short story called "The
> Menace from Earth". It's even fun to read now.
> This is called Foresight, I guess.
> We shamelessly stole the solution from him in
> 1977, but obviously, no one color of glider could
> be reserved for beginners only. We adopted bright
> orange or red "surveyors' tape" streamers
> instead. Usually this is one six yard (six
> meters) long streamer from the keel, although some
> folks use two, one on each wingtip. This is
> especially good for paragliders. These streamers
> are very light, tough, and actually shed dirt.
> They make very little extra noise, do not distract
> the pilot, and can be seen easily by other
> pilots. These streamers are not a license to
> ignorantly barge through traffic, but a request
> for some extra airspace by pilots that need it.
> Experienced pilots usually have some extra
> airspace that they can spare for a newbie. Most
> pilots will respect this request.
> One jerk announced loudly that he was "gonna
> put streamers all over his glider", he wanted all
> the extra room he could get. We cheered silently.
>
> One well-experienced pilot visited from
> out-of-state, who had never flown in heavy traffic
> before. He was seriously freaked by a dozen
> gliders in the air, and was truly grateful for a
> streamer.
> One irresponsible (there is no other word)
> pilot got a streamer clipped to his glider
> surreptitiously, on launch, and repeatedly. We
> would even roll up his streamer, so it took a few
> minutes in the air to deploy. Tagging him as a
> newbie became an informal club sport, until the
> guy finally stopped getting pissed off and woke up
> to what was being said. He lived, and we all had
> a good laugh together about it, later. He
> actually thanked us, too.
> If your flying sites do not use streamers to
> give students and newbies some extra airspace, I
> would recommend this system.
> Cheers,
> Red
>
>
>
>
>
>

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