I've flown in powered aircraft before - my dad used to fly Cessna 152/172 when I was younger. I wasn't really tall enough to see over the instrument panel on those flights, but it did not matter. The bug bit, and it bit hard. My dad is really into flight and would always take the family to airshows and had flight simulators as we grew up. I wanted to be a military pilot for a long time (maybe even an astronaut!), but then realized I was red-green color deficient.
I could never become a professional pilot - military or civilian.
Needless to say, I was discouraged. Regardless, I dreamed of flight every single day. There was always hope - I could someday get my Private Pilot's License. The cost of doing so is a bit extreme for powered aircraft, and I had no realistic plan to get my license anytime soon. After a bit of thought, it came to me about two years ago - gliders. I didn't know much about them - only the very basics of thermals and tow planes. I read a few personal accounts of people who have flown in gliders and watched a few videos. That did it - the soaring bug bit. Between the love of flight "bug" and the glider "bug", there was no question. My path was clear.
I purchased a realstic soaring simulator (Condor Soaring) and used it extensively. The use of it gave me some good knowledge of the concepts of flying a glider and the different types of thermals. I thought about taking a flight in a glider a few times, but never followed through. The general public is often at a disadvantage when it comes to flying in gliders - most are single-seat aircraft, and the two-seaters are often being used for instruction and they have the priority. Usually one must hang out at a club and help move planes around, etc. I just didn't have the time - I was in the middle of planning a wedding!
Fast forward to May 24, 2009. After a bit more of *almost* going to a club and flying in a glider, I finally bit the bullet and went through with it. I purchased a FAST voucher through the Soaring Society of America and went over to the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association club at Frederick, MD. I spoke with their membership director a few times and got the ball rolling a bit, but nothing was made final. Even though no firm plans were in place, I went anyway that Saturday and got there at 8AM.
8AM...about 3-4 hours too early. Luckily a glider came in at about 8:45AM and landed right in front of me. The pilot was flying out of Fairfield, PA and was on her way home. She needed a tow and was going to wait at Frederick until the powered glider came to take her the rest of the way. We spoke a bit and she showed me around her aircraft - a beautiful Schweizer 1-26.
I was very grateful for this - pilots have always been a bit intimidating to me. They have been able to do something I could not - fly. They typically have perfect vision, while I'm stuck with glasses and poor color vision. The glider pilot I spoke with was nice and just a normal person like the rest of us. She made me feel a bit more comfortable when the time came later in the day when I was surrounded by pilots!
Over the next few hours I watched the activity at the airport - there was a lot of pattern work and unique airplanes. A few home-built aircraft, a jet or two, a gyrocopter, etc. It was great! Pilots began to show up, but it took me a while to begin to introduce myself. I'm normally not an outgoing guy, and it was even more difficult because they were PILOTS! Agh! Once the first introduction was done, the rest was gravy. The ball was rolling, and I felt confident that I would get a seat on a glider that day.
With the FAST voucher, an instructor pilot must take me up. Unfortunately, the only instructor there at the time was also the tow pilot. I wasn't upset, though. I was very happy helping move planes around and talking to everyone there, and I also figured another instructor would eventually show up. Thankfully, I was right.
Paul. Paul is great, and the instructor that would eventually take me up. He's from London. He was cracking me up from the beginning, and it got even better when we went to drive back to the hanger from the staging area in his rental car. As we walked towards it, he unlocked the doors and proceeded to nearly open the door to the passenger side. I was laughing so hard - thankfully he was, too! We made our way to the hanger (now that Paul was on the correct side of the car) and found our plane for the flight - a beautiful Grob Twin Astir. The Twin Astir is a modern looking plane - very smooth lines, and a cockpit like a fighter jet. I may have drooled a bit.
Paul walked me through the very thorough pre-flight check of the aircraft - we checked every single control surface, the release, the weight and balance information, etc. Once that was complete, we opened the hanger doors and pushed the plane out to be towed by car to the staging area. The car showed up and we attached the tow line to the plane and walked the wings. Once at the staging area, it was time to wait for the tow plane to return from towing another glider up. We didn't wait long, only a few minutes. During that time I was sitting in the front seat, ready to go. I was already in heaven. The plane FELT great...I felt like I was a part of it. The small instrument panel in front of me, the controls within easy reach, and the view was great. The canopy is also much like that of a fighter - it's just a bubble over my head. I can see nearly 360 degrees around.
Before the tow plane arrives, Paul and discuss the plan for the flight, and we're ready to go. The tow plane lands and we get pushed onto the active runway. The tow rope is connected and we do another test of the release mechanism, and everything is set.
I'm going flying!!!
The signal is given to take in the slack on the rope - once it is in, the signal is given to takeoff. The tow plane pushes the throttle forward and we're off! We begin to accellerate down the runway behind the tow plane and lift off in short time. This is where things get interesting (as if they weren't already!). Gliders have very low stall speeds compared to nearly all powered aircraft. For that reason, we lift off from the ground quite a few seconds before the tow plane. The key here is to stay low to the ground so we don't lift the tail of the tow plane up and bury its nose into the runway. That would be bad. So we continue to increase our speed only a few feet above the runway, and finally the tires of the tow plane unstick, and we're off!
Time for some formation flying! Paul makes it look easy. He follows the turns of the tow plane smoothly as we slowly climb to the east/northeast of the airport. Then he tells me I can take control. Ruh roh. I grip the stick tightly (mistake #1) and promptly begin to attempt to control my panic (panic = potential mistake #2). I begin to sweat - but that could just be the 80 degree sun beating down on me inside the enclosed cockpit. I'm sure the near-panic had something to do with it, though. So...following the tow plane. Easily the most difficult thing to do during the entire flight. I found it very hard to maintain position behind the tow plane. I never strayed far off, but I wasn't steady like Paul. Thankfully I did not panic, although I was very tense the entire time. Paul took over and demonstrated a few things for me. He flew through the wake (flying through the wash of the prop of the tow plane), and things got a bit bumpy. Not a good place to fly - it is extremely inefficient, and all glider pilots learn what it is like so we know to avoid it. He also shows me a few positions of "boxing the wake". Boxing the wake is like drawing a box around the wake of the tow plane. As long as you are following the lines of the box, you and the tow plane can fly safely and efficiently to altitude. Certain positions are better than others depending on if you're doing a cross-country tow, etc.
We slowly make our way up to 3000' AGL (above ground level). We release (clunk!) and the tow plane breaks to the left, and we break away to the right while keeping the tow plane in sight to make sure we seperate. All we can hear now is the rush of the wind over the glider - an interesting experience after having only experienced the roar of turboprop engines, piston engines, jet engines, and the pulsating whine of a helicopter. We are on our own up there...just us and the wind. It's amazing to think about - I am flying thousands of feet above the ground with only the wind over our wings keeping us aloft. And not only that, but we climbed quite a bit!!!
The weather that day wasn't perfect, but good enough. No clouds yet (to keep it simple: cumulus clouds = thermals, but there's more to it), but the heat is radiating off the ground and creating small bubbles of rising air. We find one and circle a bit, and find ourselves near another glider a few hundred feet above us circling in another thermal. We head over to that one and enter it, turning in the same direction of the glider above us while keeping him in sight (while watching the horizon for our flight attitude, other aircraft, and the instruments...it's quite a bit of work!). We slowly begin to climb. Without an engine. We are just like the birds now - slowly circling in a column of rising air - no need for engines or flapping wings. Mother Nature is doing the work for us.
Paul tells me I have control, so I take over and grip the stick tightly - although not as tightly this time. I'm quickly beginning to feel at home. This is where I belong. I circle a bit, and notice the controls require a bit of effort to move. Thankfully the layout of the cockpit allows me to rest my arm on my leg while moving the stick around - otherwise I'm sure my arm would have fallen off before the end of the flight. Between Paul and I circling around in thermals, we climb from 3000' AGL to 4,200' AGL. It didn't take long, either!
Once we reach our max altitude for the day, we head out of the thermal and Paul shows me stalls. The first stall he called a "mush" stall. It is a gentle pulling back of the stick until we slow down so much that the airflow over the wings isn't enough to keep us in the air. The nose gently lowers down beneath the horizon and we gain back the airspeed and recover. The next stall was a bit more aggressive. Paul pulled back and bit more rapidly this time and the nose pitched up higher. Once we stalled, the aircraft shuddered a bit, then the nose dropped quickly through the horizon. Feels just like going over a hill on a roller coaster - I loved it! I could do stalls all day! Once Paul recovered from the second stall, he let me perform both of them. WOOHOO!!! It was great doing them - it was a confident booster knowing what it is like to stall (from entrance to recovery) and just how easy it is to recovery from them in a glider.
He demonstrated a few more basic maneuvers, and let me control the aircraft for a while. We hunted out a few more thermals, but nothing wasn't really promising. We were very slowly decending, and decided to make our way back to the airport. Paul took over and we entered the pattern for a landing. We dove quickly for a bit using the speed breaks, and entered the crosswind leg. We turned onto the downwind, and then the base leg, all the while getting lower and lower. The turn onto final was impressive - a steep turn that snapped us perfectly into position for landing on the runway with a crosswind from our right. We made our way down and touched down smoothly onto the runway - a full 47 minutes after taking off. All without an engine. And remember, gliders only get one shot at landing - there is no going around!
We pull off the runway onto the grass by the staging area before coming to a stop, and slowly exit the aircraft. I was grinning like goofball. Everyone came over and asked me how it was. "Incredible". I didn't know how else to describe it. I was at a loss for words. It was by far the best flight of my life. I never felt such a connection to an aircraft and the sky. I may have babbled incoherently a few times. If the bug bit me before, it proceeded to chew and kick and stomp after that. There was no going back. I was going to become a glider pilot.
I hung out a bit longer and helped move a few planes onto the runway as others took flight. After a while, I called it a day and headed home after thanking everyone, promising them I would be back. The day after, I told my wife about it and told her that the club members wanted me back as a student pilot. My wife agreed with them.
If I wasn't holding firmly onto the shopping cart at the time, I do believe I would have fainted to the floor. My wife - my perfect, amazing wife - is going to let me join the club and become a student pilot. We have the money to do it now, and she's fully in support of it.
My dream - the one I've had every day since I was a little boy (I'm 26 now) - is coming true. I am going to be a pilot.
This blog will be a journal of my progress in becoming a pilot. I hope to encourage others who may be considering becoming a pilot, or perhaps throw the idea out to those who never before considered it.
And to end, thank you M-ASA, and especially Paul, for the perfect day.
I could never become a professional pilot - military or civilian.
Needless to say, I was discouraged. Regardless, I dreamed of flight every single day. There was always hope - I could someday get my Private Pilot's License. The cost of doing so is a bit extreme for powered aircraft, and I had no realistic plan to get my license anytime soon. After a bit of thought, it came to me about two years ago - gliders. I didn't know much about them - only the very basics of thermals and tow planes. I read a few personal accounts of people who have flown in gliders and watched a few videos. That did it - the soaring bug bit. Between the love of flight "bug" and the glider "bug", there was no question. My path was clear.
I purchased a realstic soaring simulator (Condor Soaring) and used it extensively. The use of it gave me some good knowledge of the concepts of flying a glider and the different types of thermals. I thought about taking a flight in a glider a few times, but never followed through. The general public is often at a disadvantage when it comes to flying in gliders - most are single-seat aircraft, and the two-seaters are often being used for instruction and they have the priority. Usually one must hang out at a club and help move planes around, etc. I just didn't have the time - I was in the middle of planning a wedding!
Fast forward to May 24, 2009. After a bit more of *almost* going to a club and flying in a glider, I finally bit the bullet and went through with it. I purchased a FAST voucher through the Soaring Society of America and went over to the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association club at Frederick, MD. I spoke with their membership director a few times and got the ball rolling a bit, but nothing was made final. Even though no firm plans were in place, I went anyway that Saturday and got there at 8AM.
8AM...about 3-4 hours too early. Luckily a glider came in at about 8:45AM and landed right in front of me. The pilot was flying out of Fairfield, PA and was on her way home. She needed a tow and was going to wait at Frederick until the powered glider came to take her the rest of the way. We spoke a bit and she showed me around her aircraft - a beautiful Schweizer 1-26.
I was very grateful for this - pilots have always been a bit intimidating to me. They have been able to do something I could not - fly. They typically have perfect vision, while I'm stuck with glasses and poor color vision. The glider pilot I spoke with was nice and just a normal person like the rest of us. She made me feel a bit more comfortable when the time came later in the day when I was surrounded by pilots!
Over the next few hours I watched the activity at the airport - there was a lot of pattern work and unique airplanes. A few home-built aircraft, a jet or two, a gyrocopter, etc. It was great! Pilots began to show up, but it took me a while to begin to introduce myself. I'm normally not an outgoing guy, and it was even more difficult because they were PILOTS! Agh! Once the first introduction was done, the rest was gravy. The ball was rolling, and I felt confident that I would get a seat on a glider that day.
With the FAST voucher, an instructor pilot must take me up. Unfortunately, the only instructor there at the time was also the tow pilot. I wasn't upset, though. I was very happy helping move planes around and talking to everyone there, and I also figured another instructor would eventually show up. Thankfully, I was right.
Paul. Paul is great, and the instructor that would eventually take me up. He's from London. He was cracking me up from the beginning, and it got even better when we went to drive back to the hanger from the staging area in his rental car. As we walked towards it, he unlocked the doors and proceeded to nearly open the door to the passenger side. I was laughing so hard - thankfully he was, too! We made our way to the hanger (now that Paul was on the correct side of the car) and found our plane for the flight - a beautiful Grob Twin Astir. The Twin Astir is a modern looking plane - very smooth lines, and a cockpit like a fighter jet. I may have drooled a bit.
Paul walked me through the very thorough pre-flight check of the aircraft - we checked every single control surface, the release, the weight and balance information, etc. Once that was complete, we opened the hanger doors and pushed the plane out to be towed by car to the staging area. The car showed up and we attached the tow line to the plane and walked the wings. Once at the staging area, it was time to wait for the tow plane to return from towing another glider up. We didn't wait long, only a few minutes. During that time I was sitting in the front seat, ready to go. I was already in heaven. The plane FELT great...I felt like I was a part of it. The small instrument panel in front of me, the controls within easy reach, and the view was great. The canopy is also much like that of a fighter - it's just a bubble over my head. I can see nearly 360 degrees around.
Before the tow plane arrives, Paul and discuss the plan for the flight, and we're ready to go. The tow plane lands and we get pushed onto the active runway. The tow rope is connected and we do another test of the release mechanism, and everything is set.
I'm going flying!!!
The signal is given to take in the slack on the rope - once it is in, the signal is given to takeoff. The tow plane pushes the throttle forward and we're off! We begin to accellerate down the runway behind the tow plane and lift off in short time. This is where things get interesting (as if they weren't already!). Gliders have very low stall speeds compared to nearly all powered aircraft. For that reason, we lift off from the ground quite a few seconds before the tow plane. The key here is to stay low to the ground so we don't lift the tail of the tow plane up and bury its nose into the runway. That would be bad. So we continue to increase our speed only a few feet above the runway, and finally the tires of the tow plane unstick, and we're off!
Time for some formation flying! Paul makes it look easy. He follows the turns of the tow plane smoothly as we slowly climb to the east/northeast of the airport. Then he tells me I can take control. Ruh roh. I grip the stick tightly (mistake #1) and promptly begin to attempt to control my panic (panic = potential mistake #2). I begin to sweat - but that could just be the 80 degree sun beating down on me inside the enclosed cockpit. I'm sure the near-panic had something to do with it, though. So...following the tow plane. Easily the most difficult thing to do during the entire flight. I found it very hard to maintain position behind the tow plane. I never strayed far off, but I wasn't steady like Paul. Thankfully I did not panic, although I was very tense the entire time. Paul took over and demonstrated a few things for me. He flew through the wake (flying through the wash of the prop of the tow plane), and things got a bit bumpy. Not a good place to fly - it is extremely inefficient, and all glider pilots learn what it is like so we know to avoid it. He also shows me a few positions of "boxing the wake". Boxing the wake is like drawing a box around the wake of the tow plane. As long as you are following the lines of the box, you and the tow plane can fly safely and efficiently to altitude. Certain positions are better than others depending on if you're doing a cross-country tow, etc.
We slowly make our way up to 3000' AGL (above ground level). We release (clunk!) and the tow plane breaks to the left, and we break away to the right while keeping the tow plane in sight to make sure we seperate. All we can hear now is the rush of the wind over the glider - an interesting experience after having only experienced the roar of turboprop engines, piston engines, jet engines, and the pulsating whine of a helicopter. We are on our own up there...just us and the wind. It's amazing to think about - I am flying thousands of feet above the ground with only the wind over our wings keeping us aloft. And not only that, but we climbed quite a bit!!!
The weather that day wasn't perfect, but good enough. No clouds yet (to keep it simple: cumulus clouds = thermals, but there's more to it), but the heat is radiating off the ground and creating small bubbles of rising air. We find one and circle a bit, and find ourselves near another glider a few hundred feet above us circling in another thermal. We head over to that one and enter it, turning in the same direction of the glider above us while keeping him in sight (while watching the horizon for our flight attitude, other aircraft, and the instruments...it's quite a bit of work!). We slowly begin to climb. Without an engine. We are just like the birds now - slowly circling in a column of rising air - no need for engines or flapping wings. Mother Nature is doing the work for us.
Paul tells me I have control, so I take over and grip the stick tightly - although not as tightly this time. I'm quickly beginning to feel at home. This is where I belong. I circle a bit, and notice the controls require a bit of effort to move. Thankfully the layout of the cockpit allows me to rest my arm on my leg while moving the stick around - otherwise I'm sure my arm would have fallen off before the end of the flight. Between Paul and I circling around in thermals, we climb from 3000' AGL to 4,200' AGL. It didn't take long, either!
Once we reach our max altitude for the day, we head out of the thermal and Paul shows me stalls. The first stall he called a "mush" stall. It is a gentle pulling back of the stick until we slow down so much that the airflow over the wings isn't enough to keep us in the air. The nose gently lowers down beneath the horizon and we gain back the airspeed and recover. The next stall was a bit more aggressive. Paul pulled back and bit more rapidly this time and the nose pitched up higher. Once we stalled, the aircraft shuddered a bit, then the nose dropped quickly through the horizon. Feels just like going over a hill on a roller coaster - I loved it! I could do stalls all day! Once Paul recovered from the second stall, he let me perform both of them. WOOHOO!!! It was great doing them - it was a confident booster knowing what it is like to stall (from entrance to recovery) and just how easy it is to recovery from them in a glider.
He demonstrated a few more basic maneuvers, and let me control the aircraft for a while. We hunted out a few more thermals, but nothing wasn't really promising. We were very slowly decending, and decided to make our way back to the airport. Paul took over and we entered the pattern for a landing. We dove quickly for a bit using the speed breaks, and entered the crosswind leg. We turned onto the downwind, and then the base leg, all the while getting lower and lower. The turn onto final was impressive - a steep turn that snapped us perfectly into position for landing on the runway with a crosswind from our right. We made our way down and touched down smoothly onto the runway - a full 47 minutes after taking off. All without an engine. And remember, gliders only get one shot at landing - there is no going around!
We pull off the runway onto the grass by the staging area before coming to a stop, and slowly exit the aircraft. I was grinning like goofball. Everyone came over and asked me how it was. "Incredible". I didn't know how else to describe it. I was at a loss for words. It was by far the best flight of my life. I never felt such a connection to an aircraft and the sky. I may have babbled incoherently a few times. If the bug bit me before, it proceeded to chew and kick and stomp after that. There was no going back. I was going to become a glider pilot.
I hung out a bit longer and helped move a few planes onto the runway as others took flight. After a while, I called it a day and headed home after thanking everyone, promising them I would be back. The day after, I told my wife about it and told her that the club members wanted me back as a student pilot. My wife agreed with them.
If I wasn't holding firmly onto the shopping cart at the time, I do believe I would have fainted to the floor. My wife - my perfect, amazing wife - is going to let me join the club and become a student pilot. We have the money to do it now, and she's fully in support of it.
My dream - the one I've had every day since I was a little boy (I'm 26 now) - is coming true. I am going to be a pilot.
This blog will be a journal of my progress in becoming a pilot. I hope to encourage others who may be considering becoming a pilot, or perhaps throw the idea out to those who never before considered it.
And to end, thank you M-ASA, and especially Paul, for the perfect day.
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