Gliding

Discuss all things 'aviation' that do not fit into a more appropriate forum
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Ben H
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Gliding

Post by Ben H »

So, I think it's safe to say that all of us here have a bit of love for aviation...so have any of you ever considered giving gliding a go?

It's probably the cheapest and most enjoyable way of getting into flying, where you can keep yourself aloft for hours at a time, climb to airliner altitude, or enter competitions to race around tasks of hundreds of kilometres with another fifty gliders.

Check out this video review of our UK Junior (under 26s!) Gliding 2013 season, put together by some friends of mine (and some of the best pilots in the country), and tell me you don't want to have a go...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ1jnQtCMiM[/youtube]

I implore you to get yourself along to your local gliding club (there are many!) and get yourself airborne on a trial lesson. You'll be hooked.

Ben (making a brief couple of appearances in Dicsus 493!)

strangelookingalien
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Re: Gliding

Post by strangelookingalien »

Been gliding since last summer and without exaggeration I can say that taking it up has been one of the best decisions of my life.

A thoroughly rewarding and remarkably cheap hobby.

Where do you fly Ben?

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Ben H
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Re: Gliding

Post by Ben H »

strangelookingalien wrote:Been gliding since last summer and without exaggeration I can say that taking it up has been one of the best decisions of my life.

A thoroughly rewarding and remarkably cheap hobby.

Where do you fly Ben?



I'm currently flying from Midland Gliding Club on the Long Mynd in Shropshire, but I'll probably be moving to the mighty Lasham next season. How about you?


DanO1978 wrote:Hope to give this a go in the new year - been meaning to for a while.

What kind of costs are we looking at to take up the sport?


You won't regret it, Dan. Get yourself on a week's course and work from there. Once you're at solo standard it becomes a lot cheaper - for example I pay about £500 per year for all my membership/glider hire/instruction/flying fees - the only thing I pay on top is launches; £9.50 each, but that could be a five-minute circuit or a five-hour, 300km cross-country flight, depending upon how good the day is, and how good you are! So all-in-all, it's about the same as playing golf, if not cheaper. And infinitely more rewarding...!

If you're still in the Midlands area Dan, I'd thoroughly recommend my club - here's a link to the 2014 holiday course leaflet. £500 for the week, but that includes three month's membership so you can fly at the cheap member's rates after that, in order to top up to solo standard (not that going solo in a week isn't possible) and do some fun flying throughout the summer.

p2philip
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Re: Gliding

Post by p2philip »

It is fun, safe and cheap - can recommend it to everyone. Some pics I posted last year:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=46335&p=471335&hilit=austria#p471335

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CH2
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Re: Gliding

Post by CH2 »

DanO1978 wrote:Blimey, that is cheap!

I've had flying lessons before and have pretty good hand/eye co-ordination - what's the likely/average time to go solo?


Did it in 22, but that was due to going on an intensive 3 day course; going solo that's just the start of your training, Gliding is a sport, go onto the BGA website and get to grips with the badge system. Get in now before EASA screw it up altogether.

If you live in the West Midlands get out to the Long Mynd and experience ridge soaring.

Saltby (Buckminster Gliding Club) is the place for aerobatics with a Fox and Swift based there.

If you can find a club with a Venture or a SF25 go do your NPPL.

Thoroughly recommend (although I never did it) going solo on the winch launch, cheap as chips flying.

Watch as this ex F3 & F4 WSO makes easy work of it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WseVJZs5wQ

Loads of fun to be had.

...and if you are 14 you can now go solo.
Cheers,

Chris

DMH
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Re: Gliding

Post by DMH »

That's a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I did my glider pilots license when I was in the air cadets in the eighties; great fun, especially going solo!

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Ben H
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Re: Gliding

Post by Ben H »

DanO1978 wrote:I've had flying lessons before and have pretty good hand/eye co-ordination - what's the likely/average time to go solo?


I soloed after 21 aerotows when I was 16. If you're learning on a winch (it's about a third of the price per launch of an aerotow) then I think 40ish would be a reasonable estimate. Some people will take longer, some fewer. The difference between the two is down to the fact that you get extended handling time whilst on the tow, and you'll usually tow up to 2000'. Aerotowing is also an easier launch method. Whereas a winch launch all happens very quickly (it's more of a challenge to get to grips with) and you might get 1200-1500' off your average launch.

Winter is actually a pretty good time to start learning - the lack of any proper thermals means that you'll plenty of circuit practice, but if you go to a ridge site like the Mynd, if you've got a westerly wind the ridge will provide continuous lift so you can practice stalling and spinning (fun!) etc and always have a way of getting your height back to practice it again. Of course once you've soloed you can spend the spring sorting out your Bronze and Cross-Country endorsements so that you can have a crack at some cross-country flights in the summer!

I'd say that if you took a couple of week-long courses within a month or so of each other, you'd pretty much be guaranteed to solo. Obviously continuity and currency are key so if you can keep a hand in by giving up a day per week or a weekend a fortnight to get flying then you won't need to spend as much time getting back into the swing of things.

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shaggy101
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Re: Gliding

Post by shaggy101 »

I love gliding & did my solo when I was 17 on the Grob Viking. Cracking aircraft to fly & fairly easy I found as well. We don't do aero tows but winch launches instead, does something like 0-55kts in 2 seconds :smile: Best of all because I was an Air Cadet it was all completely free of charge.

I find it better than our powered flying sessions (when the Tutors aren't grounded). You get around a 20min flight in a Tutor but spent all day gliding, evening is the best.

If you do get a chance to go gliding then really take it with both hands, you won't regret it.
Dan,

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Re: Gliding

Post by Frostie »

I'm really surprised at how cheap it is and it does sound like fun - but at the same time I have a bit of an irrational fear about flying something without an engine.

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Ben H
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Re: Gliding

Post by Ben H »

DanO1978 wrote:Obvious question, but how do you know how far to stray from the airfield? Surely the lift from thermals is quite hard to judge?


You take an educated gamble! You can tell (with varying degrees of success) where the energy is by reading the sky - cumulus clouds are a good marker of thermals, and if you've found good strong climbs after launch around the airfield you could start pushing off further afield, aiming for clouds which 'look' right. Cross-country competition flying (which I'm hoping to get into this coming season) is all about getting round a particular task faster than everyone else. So for the majority of the day you'll be well out of gliding range of the airfield, and you must look for a path which takes you through good clouds which will give you height quickly so that you can press on towards the next turnpoint. If it all goes wrong and you can't find enough lift to press on with the task then you'll 'land out' and your retrieve crew will come and get you from a field:

Image

Image

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DerekF
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Re: Gliding

Post by DerekF »

You lads don't know how lucky you are. Enclosed cockpits - luxury.

Here's me launching on my solo flight in January 1980.

Image

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WG655
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Re: Gliding

Post by WG655 »

Did a nowt-to-solo course in the summer at the age of 16 at Buckminster, hugely enjoyable.

Dan, it's very much a case of judging based on the eye where you are to the airfield both distance wise and height wise; for me it was one or two gritted teeth moments which taught me the importance of keeping some height throughout!
Any sort of thermalling carried out as far as I was concerned was in a fairly local radius of the airfield, so provided you kept some height on all was fine. The training gliders you'd be using are fairly heavy anyway, and so it wouldn't be a great idea even for a professional to take them too far away from the airfield I wouldn't have thought. Soaring is really an art only perfected once you can glide.

Soloed in around 40 launches with just one of these sorties being an aerotow.

It's certainly a great place to start with flying; you learn fantastic airmanship both in the air (responding to the airframe rather than simply looking at a fuel gauge!) and on the ground (everyone pulls together to launch gliders, and you learn to keep a good eye on the circuit to check for any possible conflictions with launching.)

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Pen Pusher
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Re: Gliding

Post by Pen Pusher »

My first flight in a glider was in the early 60's at RAF Acklington in a Sedbergh, a side by side two seater, with my younger brother sitting in my lap so we made up the weight. :biggrin:

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Tommy
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Re: Gliding

Post by Tommy »

I live within sight of the Long Mynd (just), and can frequently see gliding taking place if I look through my binos. It looks like excellent fun.

A few years ago I was given a choice whether to do gliding or continue with the Royal Marines Cadets. I chose the latter, and luckily got an immense ride in a Chinook a few months later, but I always secretly wish I had given gliding a go - especially as I live so close!

The moment I actually settle down into my career and am not moving from city to city I'm definitely looking into it!

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Spock
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Re: Gliding

Post by Spock »

Solo at Humber Gliding Club Lindholme 1980 Have a full silver. Later flew at Same club from RAF Scampton until it was moved & integrated at RAF Wittering.
Did all my training on winch launches 50 launches to solo.
Now have 150 hours gliding.
It also helped me when i went for my PPL 4 years ago. Went solo on powered after 4 & Half hours flying completed my PPL in 35 hours instead of the 45 required as Gliding counts towards the PPL. CAA Credited me the 10 hours. I now have 300 hours PPL!
Gliding is great fun, bit more skill involved as stated before for cross country.
Unfortunately i wasn't allowed to carry passengers as the rules were you needed to be of instructor status, so migrated to PPL as i can carry my friends around now.
Looking to getting back into Gliding again soon as like both forms of flying.

Trev

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kc10
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Re: Gliding

Post by kc10 »

I always thought it would be more expensive than that, did a little gliding years ago with air cadets and always wanted to take it up. I live just outside shrewsbury so not for from long mynd, may give it ago next year.

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grant_w
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Re: Gliding

Post by grant_w »

I had a few flights in gliders from RAF Kenley many moons ago, loved every minute, running alongside keeping the wings level on take-off for the first few yards, to going to retrieve the gliders after landing and pushing them back to the winch.

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Re: Gliding

Post by Seahornet »

As a recent school-leaver in the early 1970's I joined the Rotherham Gliding Club at Brampton-en-le-Morthen. Very much a low-budget operation, the airfield was a sloping 20 acre field, the clubhouse was a faded wheelless 'mobile shop', and the winch was largely the remains of a derelict truck. Annual fees were about £16, and launches were 40p.

I remember there were lots of jobs to be done, so you had to arrive early on a flying day, and pull your weight to earn your 3 - 4 launch slots. Duties included being 'on the wing' at the launch point, acting as look-out, lolipop-man (signaller), tractor driving (pulling the cables back to the launch point), and glider recovery. The tractor was a beat-up old Fordson with permanently flat tyres, but I loved it for being the first (4-wheel) vehicle that I ever drove.

The two training gliders were a late 1950s Ka4 (tandem-seat, with canopy), and an early 1950s T-21 (side-by-side, open cockpit). Despite it's inferior glide ratio, and so shorter typical flight times, it was the T-21 that I loved to fly. With just the soft hiss of the airflow over the leading edge immediately behind your head, you could hear birdsong, dogs barking, and all the other sounds of rural life below.

In hindsight I should have kept going, but with the impatience of youth, I gave it up in order to save for my first car. When I went back a few years later, the club had gone, and gliding (though still a relatively low-cost form of aviation) was suddenly just a bit beyond my budget. Still a very happy memory though!
And as the smart ship grew,
In stature, grace and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too....

strangelookingalien
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Re: Gliding

Post by strangelookingalien »

For all those saying you'll take it up next year - I advise you not to wait!

The winter is a great time to start learning as there will be less people flying and more time to spend doing circuits and generally getting into the swing of things before next season.

Go on - visit your local club and say hello!

strangelookingalien
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Re: Gliding

Post by strangelookingalien »

Also - I organise trial flights at Rattlesden airfield near Stowmarket. Feel free to PM me if you're interested.

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Ben H
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Re: Gliding

Post by Ben H »

strangelookingalien wrote:Also - I organise trial flights at Rattlesden airfield near Stowmarket. Feel free to PM me if you're interested.


Our Twin Astir trailer has 'Rattlesden GC' written on the side. Hiya.
I presume you know the Hibbard brothers and Alex O'Keefe?

strangelookingalien
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Re: Gliding

Post by strangelookingalien »

Can't say I know the Hibbards but I know Alex.

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Ben H
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Re: Gliding

Post by Ben H »

Did you see what happened to his Nimbus 2 trailer at the Mynd a few weeks ago...?!

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Vodka
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Re: Gliding

Post by Vodka »

Got my first gliding in the cadets, West Malling 618VGS. Slingsby kirby cadet, sedberg's and then onto ASK 21's. Solo'd at 16 and never looked back.

Miss the thrill of the winch . . . . but if you haven't been gliding and post on UKAR? what are you waiting for!!!! :rock: :rock: :rock:

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