Gliding stories
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I have heard people say bad things about Cessna flaps that go to 40 degrees.
Practice forced approaches from downwind with 40 flap on final in a Cessna is not far off from using landing flap in a 20C (or B) or 27.
54 kts with 40 flap might be a bit slow in a Cessna though, but works beautifully in the 27 with landing flap. In fact you still need considerable spoilers to get through ground effect.
54 kts with 40 flap might be a bit slow in a Cessna though, but works beautifully in the 27 with landing flap. In fact you still need considerable spoilers to get through ground effect.
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Don't get in a flap! KISS principle operates.
Go back and read Piltdown Man's excellent advice on the previous page.
If the Canadian Gliding Club operates more on European principles than the American style of gliding (mostly private owned for profit, that is, like their health system)....then the Canadian club will have suitable single seat gliders for the new pilots to gain experience and skills without having to OWN A GLIDER. Why would any sensible person not take advantage of flying club machines? And after you have your Silver C, with 5 hours endurance, gain of height and 50 k X-country flight, time enough to try on a glider that fits your butt and your budget.
The whole advantage of belonging to a gliding club is that we help each other out and enjoy having friends around. And enjoy flying competition; the purest joy is reaching the first turning point at 3,500' to be greeted by the sight of your rivals in the farmer's field down below! Of course you would be happy to help retrieve them from an outlanding, and they will be more than happy to do the same for you. What goes around comes around, especially flying gliders in a gliding club.
If the Canadian Gliding Club operates more on European principles than the American style of gliding (mostly private owned for profit, that is, like their health system)....then the Canadian club will have suitable single seat gliders for the new pilots to gain experience and skills without having to OWN A GLIDER. Why would any sensible person not take advantage of flying club machines? And after you have your Silver C, with 5 hours endurance, gain of height and 50 k X-country flight, time enough to try on a glider that fits your butt and your budget.
The whole advantage of belonging to a gliding club is that we help each other out and enjoy having friends around. And enjoy flying competition; the purest joy is reaching the first turning point at 3,500' to be greeted by the sight of your rivals in the farmer's field down below! Of course you would be happy to help retrieve them from an outlanding, and they will be more than happy to do the same for you. What goes around comes around, especially flying gliders in a gliding club.
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...the purest joy is reaching the first turning point at 3,500' to be greeted by the sight of your rivals in the farmer's field down below!
PM
Join Date: May 2014
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Spending an afternoon being a proffessionally grumpy winchie, I was given a take up slack light quickly followed by an all out light. Sensing he didn't mean the all out, I started feeling for the glider. Of course the minute the cable moves, I get a stop stop stop.
Launchpoint says "sorry, premature launch"
I shot back with "nothing to be ashamed of, happens to a lot of men I'm told!"
I was pleased with myself, and he was more careful after that funnily.
Launchpoint says "sorry, premature launch"
I shot back with "nothing to be ashamed of, happens to a lot of men I'm told!"
I was pleased with myself, and he was more careful after that funnily.
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It's thermalling away from an upwind turning point close to ground level,
Sounds OK to me... even up to 4kts fast, I'd have thought?
Thread Starter
I am quite shocked to see that my last post on this thread was in 2014 
My only defence is that my life took a very unexpected turn in 2014 - one of my usual lame excuses.
I actually returned to gliding in december 2018 after a short 22 year layoff.
I originally learned to glide with the Air Cadets and soloed after 21 launches,I then joined the staff of a Gliding School (613) whilst an apprentice at Halton and rose to the dizzy heights of P2/G1.
I then had an 11 year layoff and returned to gliding whilst working in zimbabwe in 1984 - resoloed in ...... 21 Launches,I then flew on and off from 1988 to 1996.
After a 22 year short holiday I returned to gliding again in Dec 2018 and soloed in .... 21 Launches (I know )
Thus far I have managed to avoid any exciting gliding stories although I did finally complete my Gold Badge in Oct 2019 (only 50 years from A+B to Gold) with a climb from the winch up to 11,500',taking just over 2.5 hours to eventually work my way up to 11.5k. (low point 700' AGL)
I was flying today and first thing this morning it was ffffairly cold on a scottish airfield with the wind out of the North and hovering at just over zero deg c,fortunately the weather guessers were correct and eventually the wind 'backed' to westerly and it was then just a cold but lovely day.
I might have a few nice piccies - I will have a shufti in the next couple of days.
My only defence is that my life took a very unexpected turn in 2014 - one of my usual lame excuses.
I actually returned to gliding in december 2018 after a short 22 year layoff.
I originally learned to glide with the Air Cadets and soloed after 21 launches,I then joined the staff of a Gliding School (613) whilst an apprentice at Halton and rose to the dizzy heights of P2/G1.
I then had an 11 year layoff and returned to gliding whilst working in zimbabwe in 1984 - resoloed in ...... 21 Launches
,I then flew on and off from 1988 to 1996.After a 22 year short holiday I returned to gliding again in Dec 2018 and soloed in .... 21 Launches (I know
)Thus far I have managed to avoid any exciting gliding stories although I did finally complete my Gold Badge in Oct 2019 (only 50 years from A+B to Gold
) with a climb from the winch up to 11,500',taking just over 2.5 hours to eventually work my way up to 11.5k. (low point 700' AGL)I was flying today and first thing this morning it was ffffairly cold on a scottish airfield with the wind out of the North and hovering at just over zero deg c,fortunately the weather guessers were correct and eventually the wind 'backed' to westerly and it was then just a cold but lovely day.
I might have a few nice piccies - I will have a shufti in the next couple of days.
Thread Starter
Basking in the sun at the launch point in january a couple of years ago,a picture of sartorial elegance - the ensemble including a Dickies Quilted Tractor Suit (worn since 1980's),an old MOD Liney Jacket and 2 hats including the silly furry one only worn on extremely cold days.
Wearing a similar outfit last week but this time with a greasy/grubby/rusty 'Hi Viz' Yellow Liney Jacket - as I walked over to the launch point (with the north wind blowing) - the duty instructor + an other seemed to be suggesting that I made them look smartly dressed
Wearing a similar outfit last week but this time with a greasy/grubby/rusty 'Hi Viz' Yellow Liney Jacket - as I walked over to the launch point (with the north wind blowing) - the duty instructor + an other seemed to be suggesting that I made them look smartly dressed
Thread Starter
As promised - some pics from my Gold Height flight a couple of years ago,I did not have a share in a glider at the time so I had to 'slum it' in a Club Junior LOL.
A nice day popped up and with a good forcast I made sure I was at the club early and bagged a single seater
,there were signs of 'Wave' lift about (indicated by lenticular clouds).So I thought I might have a go at Gold Height (10,000 feet/3,000 metre above the low point).I got a winch launch to 1300feet and once I was sure that the ridge was working I turned back towards the airfield and did an 80kt run back with a little airbrake to 'notch' the low point at approx 700feet and then turned back along the ridge to regain height and try to contact some wave lift.
I was lucky as 10 minutes later the ridge stopped working (quite a few radio calls from gliders returning low),I assume that the local 'Wave' had moved a little and was suppressing the hill lift.
The pics came out not too bad for a wee pocket camera
River Tay looking east from about 7,000'
Looking across Loch Leven towards Crail
Similar view slightly different
Looking South towards Forth Bridges
Bingo
A nice day popped up and with a good forcast I made sure I was at the club early and bagged a single seater
,there were signs of 'Wave' lift about (indicated by lenticular clouds).So I thought I might have a go at Gold Height (10,000 feet/3,000 metre above the low point).I got a winch launch to 1300feet and once I was sure that the ridge was working I turned back towards the airfield and did an 80kt run back with a little airbrake to 'notch' the low point at approx 700feet and then turned back along the ridge to regain height and try to contact some wave lift.I was lucky as 10 minutes later the ridge stopped working (quite a few radio calls from gliders returning low),I assume that the local 'Wave' had moved a little and was suppressing the hill lift.
The pics came out not too bad for a wee pocket camera
River Tay looking east from about 7,000'
Looking across Loch Leven towards Crail
Similar view slightly different
Looking South towards Forth Bridges
Bingo
Last edited by longer ron; 9th Dec 2021 at 14:34.
Join Date: Jun 2019
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Originally Posted by Gertrude the Wombat
It certainly confirmed my pre-conceived prejudices, that you spend half a day humping aircraft around on the ground for ten minutes in the air..
Shame, because whacking along in a really nice single-seater on a good day is a lovely activity.
Thread Starter
Not many fresh gliding stories from me currently.
I had to sell my 1/2 share in a nice glider because my dodgy knee was making it difficult for cockpit access/egress,so for the last 12 months I have been slumming it with a 1/14th share of our 1962 Ka8b,not much in the way of performance but easy access,just waiting for something better to come along
My last little mini adventure was sep 2020 when myself and swbo drove from Perthshire down to Cranditz to view and possibly pick up a glider trailer - up at 0400 - out the door at 0500,drive down to Cranditz to view the 2nd/10th hand 50 year old glider trailer.
Booking into the guardroom was fun,the guy on duty was v nice but the lady in charge was a little fierce,he looked me up on the great computer and asked if I had visited before - I said 'no' and he then asked me if I had visited any other stations ' ''loads'' I said,he seemed happy with my last 2 visits to Scampton and used my old company photo for my pass (I thought it easier not to mention I was now retired ) - had a quick look at the trailer - bought it and should have been ready for return leg at 1300 but a snag with LH indicator on trailer delayed our departure until 1400 .So a 650 mile round trip - we dumped the trailer off at the airfield at 1950,our route being Cranditz/A1/A66/M6/M74/A702/M90 with a surprise diversion off the A702 just to make us even later (they closed the A702 a full day before the published date for road works).
Because we had refuelled in Lincs we just stopped once for a 10 min 'splash and dash' at Abington services on the way home -nice easy parking space in the HGV park
.
This trip was done in our 2008 Sportage turbo diesel auto,a great little tow car and motorway cruiser,iirc the old girl did approx 35mpg overall and I certainly was not hanging about
I had to sell my 1/2 share in a nice glider because my dodgy knee was making it difficult for cockpit access/egress,so for the last 12 months I have been slumming it with a 1/14th share of our 1962 Ka8b,not much in the way of performance but easy access,just waiting for something better to come along
My last little mini adventure was sep 2020 when myself and swbo drove from Perthshire down to Cranditz to view and possibly pick up a glider trailer - up at 0400 - out the door at 0500,drive down to Cranditz to view the 2nd/10th hand 50 year old glider trailer.
Booking into the guardroom was fun,the guy on duty was v nice but the lady in charge was a little fierce
,he looked me up on the great computer and asked if I had visited before - I said 'no' and he then asked me if I had visited any other stations ' ''loads'' I said,he seemed happy with my last 2 visits to Scampton and used my old company photo for my pass (I thought it easier not to mention I was now retired ) - had a quick look at the trailer - bought it and should have been ready for return leg at 1300 but a snag with LH indicator on trailer delayed our departure until 1400 .So a 650 mile round trip - we dumped the trailer off at the airfield at 1950,our route being Cranditz/A1/A66/M6/M74/A702/M90 with a surprise diversion off the A702 just to make us even later (they closed the A702 a full day before the published date for road works).Because we had refuelled in Lincs we just stopped once for a 10 min 'splash and dash' at Abington services on the way home -nice easy parking space in the HGV park
.This trip was done in our 2008 Sportage turbo diesel auto,a great little tow car and motorway cruiser,iirc the old girl did approx 35mpg overall and I certainly was not hanging about
Thought police antagonist
"share of our 1962 Ka8b,not much in the way of performance but easy access,just waiting for something better to come along "
That would be the Ka8c then..
That would be the Ka8c then..
