Lyle Garza

Gliding Demo Flight

I took my first demo flight in a glider yesterday.  As many of you know I already have a single engine private pilot license. However, gliding was a completely new experience. I’m not 100% sure that I’ll get my glider rating, but I’ll definitely take some lessons over the summer.

My demo pilot was a very nice and knowledgeable pilot, but he wasn’t a cfi. Therefore he was a bit cautious (and rightly so) when it came to handing the controls over. I did get to fly a bit between thermals though. Apart from the obvious difference (no engine), I was surprised by how ackward flying with rudimentary instruments was. This glider had no Attidude Indicator. This led to an initial sloppiness with keeping the nose aligned with the horizon and the wings leveled. There is also no turn and bank indicator (A single string of yarn can be used to determine yaw).

I doubt either of these will be a problem, and I think it illustrated my over reliance on the artificial horizon. One of my main goals of gliding is to make me a more polished single engined pilot. I  have no doubt that gliding will do that.

As far as the actual flight goes, it was AMAZING. Riding a thermal with two other sailplanes struck me as incredibly dangerous at first. However, it proved to a rather zen experience.

Here are some pictures fromt the flight. I apologize for the lack of quality, it was nearly impossible to see my viewfinder due to the bright light.

Tags: gliding