Glider Ride... My (lengthy) Story...
Prequel:
Dad was a pilot in WW II... In the early 50's he got his private pilot licence at a flying club ~ 50 miles away from the rural village that I grew up in. I recall flying, a few times, in the rear seat of an Aeronca age 5, 6 etc. Later, there were Cessna 2 and 4 seat planes. He explained the controls and gages, but never let me take the controls.
By my early to mid teens, Dad had let his licence lapse, but at that time, I had a close friend David, who was a few years older. David had obtained his pilot's licence, and one day he invited me to go with him for a flight... Yeah, why not! David took off, set course back to our village, and once we reached altitude and leveled off, told me to "fly it". With some instruction, I could fly straight, flat, and level. When we reached the village, David took the controls, and flew over it a few times. We also flew over a couple of friend's farms. I flew back and David landed the plane.
After I got home, I advised my parents of the day's activities... Didn't get into trouble...
My First Glider Flight:
Later, David and I both lived in the "big city". About 3 decades ago, David invited my girlfriend and myself out to the local glider club. He was soloing, but couldn't take any passengers. He did arrange a surprise "familiarization flight" each for myself and my girl friend. I got to pull the release, and take the controls... My First Glider Flight!
(Note a trend here... Much like the Drug Dealer's "The first one is free" deals.)
The club was busy that day, so my flight was only 15 minutes, mostly over flat prairie.
I remember it fondly although most of the details have faded.
And then a few years later:
My job had transferred me to Alberta, and I later joined the local club... I took 10 lessons before they got interrupted and I then got too busy to continue. Now, these flights were generally around 15 minutes, over flat prairie, and although enjoyable were oriented to learning... more like work...
Two flights were memorable for different reasons...
The "Difficult Tow":
Ksquared described her tow as being bouncy... rough... Wind and land terrain, and thermals will do that. My experience with prairie flying on tow was that it was pretty smooth... routine, almost boring...
Except for once...
To describe the tow: The tow plane accelerates down the landing strip with the glider connected by a long rope attached to the tow plane's rear fuselage right below the tail area. The rope is attached to the lower nose area of the glider. The glider's rope release was mentioned before, but the tow plane also has a rope release in case of an emergency. Because the glider has so much "lift" it becomes airborne much sooner than the tow plane. The glider pilot keeps the glider directly behind the tow plane, a few feet above the ground until the tow plane becomes airborne. As the tow plane "climbs out" from the strip, the glider stays directly behind it.
Because the rope is attached to the tow plane's tail area, the glider can 'steer' the tow plane by not following directly behind it, by the force of the rope on the tail. There are two accepted 'zones' for the glider to follow the tow plane. One, the one we used, was directly behind.. The other was, I believe, termed "low tow"... This was laterally directly behind, but 'below' the tow plane. Between these 2 zones was an area of dirty air, the "prop wash" of the tow plane. An unacceptable area for the glider, besides laterally, was above the tow plane... This tends to pull the tow plane's tail up, at best limiting it's climbing ability, at worst, forcing it into a dive... Not Good!
Force the tow pilot into a dangerous situation, or tick him off too much, he *can* pull HIS 'rope release'... Flight over!
Now, one evening, there were some rain showers approaching the general area. The first tow was a bit bumpier than usual, but not a problem. Then some weather cells moved in and showered the area. We suspended operations for a while, and as the cells 'sort of' dispersed, the decision was made to resume flying... My turn was next... As we climbed out from takeoff, the air was rough and getting rougher... then we hit rain... "This is not good." I was thinking...The tow plane circled around, mostly avoiding the rain, but all the while it was getting rougher and rougher. Soon, I 'got behind' in my tow positioning, and I was all over the place, thinking... "He's going to pull that release..." The instructor took over for a while to give me a break, and for me to 'watch' what he was doing... It took him a little while to regain control, but was still varying quite a bit from 'optimum'. I learned some from watching the tow plane and the instructor's control usage. When he relinquished the controls back to me, things went better... more agressive on the controls, and quicker and smarter to react... Ahhh... The learning process! Once we released, it was a bit bumpy, but nothing like the tow.
I hope this story does not discourage anyone from trying gliding... This was an unusual condition.
The "Long Landing":
I had the "last flight" of the evening. Because of the wind direction, we were based at the far end of the strip from the hangar and storage area. Before my taking off, the instructor told the rest of the students to tow (via car and walking) the other glider back to the storage area, and to put it and the rest of the equipment away. After we took off, they did so. The flight was routine.
For landing we used a "circuit" procedure... The pilot joined the circuit by being at a certain altitude range at or preferably a bit beyond the upwind end of the strip, and off to the side of it. The pilot flew "downwind" parallel to the strip, checking not only for others airborne, but for any ground activity, and checking the windsock for wind direction and velocity. The plan was to control one's decent during the downwind to arrive at a certain 'point' in the air at a certain altitude range. You then turned 90 degrees left, flying "crosswind" to another 'point' where you again turned 90 degrees "upwind" properly lined up to touch down on an imaginary point on the ground, usually centred along the landing strip. The wind direction and velocity were important in planning the rate of descent during the circuit and deciding where these 'points in the air' were so as to safely arrive, properly lined up for the wind direction at the touchdown point.
There is an an aeronautical term called "ground effect". When an aircraft is flying very close to the ground, the air being pushed down by the wings pushes against the ground, kind of forming an air cushion to help support the plane in the air. This phenomena apparently begins at an altitude close to the distance of the wingspan of the airplane... The closer to the ground, the more lift.
On the downwind, I noticed that everyone and everything was at the hangar area... Where we were about to land was kinda lonely looking... I asked the instructor if he wanted me to 'land long' i.e.farther up the field, closer to the hangar area... He said "No, land normally." I did... We were rolling on the ground, spoilers on full, and had lost enough speed that I had just started to apply the wheel brake. Then I hear from behind me "Uh, let me take it". I let him take the controls; brakes off, spoilers off, lift off about two feet or so. "Keep it here." I flew it almost a quarter mile before I landed a second time near the hangar. Low and Slow, but it just kept going and going! Now, THAT was cool!
Id
P.S. My first glider lesson was 27 years ago today.
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