Soaring is one of the more fulfilling events of a lifetime! From learning to "fly the box" behind one's tow plane to befriending and mimicking airborne hawks who silently and selflessly show the locations of the best thermals, the experience is quite literally breathtaking. One becomes united with the sky; there is only the comforting sound of the relative wind and the enduring hope that the variometer (vertical speed indicator) reads in positive territory.
I started soaring in 1983, six years after I acquired my PPL-SEL. My then lady friend and I were picnicking at the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Jackson, Mississippi, when one of these flew overhead at 100 feet:
A Blanik L-13 all-metal glider with forward-swept wings. I was hooked! I asked my companion where the aircraft was based and she said: "Oh, Sugah! Theyah's a glidin' club jus' down the road from heah!" (She was a native of Moss Point, Mississippi.) Less than a half-hour later, I was aloft and loving it. The Blanik, though a strong and forgiving plane, had the lift-drag ratio of a greased anvil when compared to my next ride, A Grob 103a-Twin II:
This fiberglass beauty is a sports car of the air! One reclines in a nearly supine position; the streamlined canopy offers extraordinary views and the craft features a 36.5::1 glide ratio with a top speed of 160 m.p.h. Aerobatics are enjoyable, though one must get used to the extreme flexion of the high aspect ratio wings.
I belong to the largest club of its kind in the United States: Caesar Creek Soaring Club outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. A great group of people and a strong inventory of gliders.
Caesar Creek Soaring Club
Should you or other of our PPRuNe brethren/sisteren be in my neck of the woods, let's go for it! (Steak and beer to follow...)
- Ed
