Wooden gliders are like wooden boats, you don’t own one, it owns you...
This thread reminds me of a story that my club lead instructor told me, As a teenager growing up in Poland in the 1970’s he lived the glory days of a robust state run gliding program. One day he was in the back seat of a wooden 2 seater with the chain smoking very temperamental Chief Instructor. Early in the flight there was much hand waving from the Chief Instructor while he was being berated for some minor excursions from flight perfection.
Unfortunately one of the extra exaggerated hand waves resulted in the lit cigarette flying from his hands and disappearing under the front seat floor boards, shortly followed by a disconcerting smell of wood smouldering. There was a sudden silence from the front seat followed by the sound of a zipper and the sound of liquid splattering.
All taken care of , was the nonchalant report from the front seat followed by the terse command to “FLY BETTER!”
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 3rd Apr 2021 at 21:17.