Gliding stories
 

We touched on some gliding stories in a recent thread - anybody got any interesting/funny gliding stories/events ??

And my 666th post as well da da da da :)

Well, my only ever flight in a glider was yesterday.

Interesting, but I'm not sure I want to do it again!

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.

Still, it was very slightly cheaper than powered flight, if you don't cost your time.

On the other side of the coin Gertrude - once you are solo and with a wee bit of experience then you can buy your own glider or join a syndicate and then the work to flying ratio will change somewhat :)

Some years ago after I bought my own wee glass glider - over the first summer of just weekend flying I did 79.35hrs in 34 launches - all off winch launches and including a successful 300k diamond goal which i managed to squeeze in on the last possible day of the season :)

And gliding is a great way of seeing the country - x country flying can be very challenging/satisfying/scary at times :)

Feeling a bit down at present - my syndicate partner bent our glider in a landing accident. He ground looped it and smashed the fuselage just ahead of the tail. Repair estimated at £12K and off line until about October. I'd arrived to fly just after it went tits up and people were asking if the pilot was unhurt. Seeing the look on my face someone said, 'Well, he is at the moment!'

I am not soaring now because in our last move I lost my wife's support to pursue my passion. I would say you are better off!

Bryan

Interesting/funny story. I don't have as many gliding hours as powered (not unusual) but have a silver c and have been gliding through four decades. Two instances spring to mind, K18 on approach, popped the brakes and the brake handle came off in my hand; not just the handle but the whole shebang. Landed OK, still pulled back on the handle that was hanging loose in my left hand....old habits etc.

Second: ASW 19 flying a bit near a very large CB, no comments thank you, full brake and Vne, still going up, only time I've ever considered taking to the 'chute except I knew I would probably go up faster in the 'chute. Got out of that by spinning it out. Bottom clenching moment.

Other than that, the usual stuff that glider pilots go through.

I notched up hundreds of hours in some interesting old vintage tractors at Derby & Lancs in the late '70s. Oh, and a (very) occasional circuit in a Ka4. :rolleyes:

Jacked it in as I believed slavery had be abolished; went to Barton. Got my PPL and a Chipmunk share inside 6 months! Never looked back!

Gliding? Pah!

Yeah but there's nothing like scratching away at a thousand feet, spending fifteen minutes getting to two thousand and then blasting off. Each to their own but IMO gliding and powered are two completely different disciplines. I was gliding on Wednesday and was powered yesterday; two completely different experiences. Bit like driving a motorboat and sailing a dinghy; both are on the water but the similarity ends there.

Edit: I don't prefer one above the other; gliding is by far the most skilful way of flying but you can't stick a couple of mates in a glider and go to Dublin for breakfast.

A few weeks ago a friend phoned me about 6 pm. In the background i could hear what sounded like the bar at out gliding club. It turned out to be the canteen at RAF Lynton on Ouse north of York. He had landed his glider there and wanted me to collect him. Not a problem exept that his trailer was at Lasham in hampshire! He stayed the night and I set off next morning towing the trailer. 500 miles and 13 hrs later we arrived back at Lasham. He owes me a few beers for that one.

Thanks for the replies gents - I cannot post much at the mo because last weekends lightning strike has taken out my weekday broadband LOL - and until bt/sky fix the local area cables/box - I am screwed :)

Ahhhh - Ka4 - I did a little Ka4 flying at a certain pembrokeshire airfield (RAF Brandy) but mostly drove the winch as they were trying to set up a GC there,it was an old bus winch and had to be driven in reverse everywhere (because of the winch conversion) but otherwise nice to drive with (i believe) a 9 litre diesel engine...we used to get some interesting wind shear off the cliffs there and whilst almost full power might be required for the initial launch - they sometimes were waving off speed by 200' with the drum stopped (cue some gentle and accidental 'drum slip' :))

LOL I have heard that sort of comment before - but sorry to hear about your glider !

I'll say he does :)
I took a friends trailer up to near cranfield where he had landed his lovely open cirrus on a private strip - only expecting to tow the trailer on the outbound leg - however - when I arrived he says ''its my birthday - and I have been to the pub for a coupla beers'' - so muggins had to tow the feckin thing home as well - almost 20 years later he still owes me a beer for that :)

I landed out in a stubble field one day and rolled to a standstill near to the farmer who was trying to fix his irrigation pump at the field edge.

So I walked over to him and said "Do you want a hand with that?"

Sometimes it's handy being an agricultural engineer.

He was well pleased. We were pretty good mates by the time the trailer arrived.

Another time a few years back, I landed out in a nice bare set-aside field just behind a farm. Wandered into the farmyard and there was farmer fixing his baler.

"Sorry, but I've just had to land my glider in your field" Be humble.

"Which field" he asked, sounding quite alarmed

"That bit of set aside out the back"

"Oh that's OK then" with considerable relief.

I still wonder, did he have a marijuana crop or something in another field?

But he was pleased to have a hand with his baler as well!

Sure not the first one to arrive to collect a landed out glider with an already very full trailor.:D

I did hear about a competition in France where quite a few gliders landed out a few miles from home in the same largish field. The tug arrived to retreive them one by one back to base. Front of the queue was a large German chap in a very heavy glass glider. The tuggie looked at the glider, the pilot, and the field length, and shook his head. "Non".

The German insisted, so he was hooked onto the tow rope and they set off, the tug at full chat, down the field. When about 20 metres from the hedge the Tuggie knew for sure that the glider wasn't going to get off the ground in time so he released the tow, hopped over the hedge, flew a tight circuit, and landed back. Meanwhile the heavy glider ploughed into the hedge in a shower of disintegrating fibre glass.

Tuggie taxied up the waiting line of gliders.

"And 'oo ees next?".

They are pain in the butt. Bunch of amateurs who don't show up on radar, difficult to see and have very little control over their flight path. My closest airmiss ever (6 ft) was with a glider I was twin turbine. The pompous little :mad: then had the audacity to seek me out and accuse me of trying to kill him. Go and fly over tbe Sahara - plenty of thermals there.

Dear Mr Exascot

would you care to provide more details of the incident? Then we can possibly decide for ourselves which of the two of you was the :mad:

Typical reply from a minority of power pilots who are so wrapped up in their fancy glass cockpits and chattering on the radio they dont actually look out.
The 2 near misses I have had in 30 yrs of gliding have been with power pilots who had no idea i was there before or after.

Playing devils advocate.

I would say a glider, the majority painted white with no strobe lights and of a very slim profile are actually quite difficult to spot until very close.

I was going to disagree with you but then noticed that Mr Exocet has to get within six feet to see one.

During a brief period of unemployment from a proper job, I became a PROFESSIONAL WINCH DRIVER at a renowned gliding club on top of a Cotswold. Not too far from Stroud.
I became pretty good at launching all types of gliders, reading the curve in the cable.
To be a good winch driver, you need to take responsibility for the integrity of the cables, and to conduct a thorough DI at the start of the day, replacing splices as necessary. If conditions were good, you needed a thick skin to cope with the members demands to get on with it....

This is what happens when the members are too precious to drive their own winch.