*There has already been considerable support for this program from both mentors and novice pilots. Thank you to all who have reached out already. This post aims to provide further guidance and aid discussion.
Paragliding Continuing Skills Development Mentor Program (Unofficial) - Summer 2019
Outline
The club aims to help WCSC members progress through their flying career by facilitating introductions and supporting relationships between experienced and novice pilots. The vision is to keep pilots excited about flying after their P2/H2 rating, introduce them to new sites, new challenges and friends, thereby safely growing our local free-flight community. This program’s mission is to facilitate and accelerate novice pilot’s skill acquisition, knowledge and confidence to support a natural transition to becoming an experienced pilot. Many pilots feel ‘lost’ after obtaining their P2 rating and aren’t aware of or cannot access resources to further develop their skills and expertise.
The benefits of mentoring relationships are many and mutual beyond novice skills development. For example, mentors may be looking to sponsor a novice pilot with XC ambitions who will join or support future xc excursions, provide retrieves, or simply a flight monitoring/safety function. Mentors also refine their own expertise by reviewing concepts and identify areas to improve upon through discussion. Additionally, participant efforts contribute to growing our local free flight community, thereby increasing awareness of free flight sports, resources available to pilots, new programs, and flying site development and maintenance, etc. As individual pilots, we all thrive with the support of an active and engaged community.
The mentor program is facilitated by The WCSC who will match novice with experienced pilots. Once this introduction is made, it is up to the two parties to establish and maintain a relationship. Novice pilots are encouraged to self-assess to identify skills and flying goals for discussion prior to meeting their mentor. The WCSC can provide a guideline for initial conversational topics. All participants voluntarily contribute and no monetary compensation should be expected.
Operations
- How to participate: Novice pilots and Mentors - send an email to James Elliott at events@westcoastsoaringclub.com. Provide an outline of your flying experience including number of flights, hours, flying sites, current rating, flying goals, etc.
- Nominations are encouraged. To nominate a Mentor or Novice, email same as above
- Novice pilots include any rating or experience level (ie: pilots who are not current, only a few recent flights, or are not confident).
Mentor’s should help mentee’s advance their skills while staying within rated abilities and skill levels.
- Skill advancement comes through honing judgement. To achieve this, discussions are encouraged around: aspects of different flying sites, local meteorology, current weather conditions, flight planning, obstacles, landing zones etc.
- Communication is encouraged on social media, phone, or even better yet your local flying site
- Mentors are not instructors (unless HPAC rated) and do not provide instruction. If a Mentor determines that a Mentee’s skills are deficient, the Mentor may recommend that the pilot obtain further instruction from an HPAC certified instructor.
- Mentors and Novice pilots must have current HPAC AND WCSC membership
- Mentors must have an intermediate (P3/H3) or higher rating and be familiar with local sites
- Novice pilots must be minimum P2 rated
- Decision making is the ultimate responsibility of individual pilots. No liability is assumed nor implied by participating in a Mentorship Program.
Nominations for Mentor of the year and Novice of the year are encouraged for recognition of one’s contributions and efforts to the local pilot community annually.
"Off the Cuff"
This is an “unofficial” mentorship program as The WCSC takes a minimal role beyond the initial introduction, assumes no liability, and encourages participants to manage their own expectations, effort, and progression. Mentorship program successes most often result from informal interaction in friendly environments. Beyond the policies above, all that’s required is a desire to fly, learn, share expertise and experiences, and a willingness to help others! Guidance for this program is loosely based on USHPA and BHPA mentorship programs.
Feedback? Want to be included? Post below.
Handy References
Forum discussions: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=32061
USHPA Mentoring Program
UK Coaching Scheme
What is Mentorship? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentorship
Mentoring as professional development: ‘growth for both’ mentor and mentee: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10. ... 012.749415
