Johnblog

I’m having lots more fun gliding – I now have nine flights in my logbook over the past three weeks and I’m still enjoying it. The last outing was on Friday when it was nearly 40 degrees out on the airfield at Camden and we all fried.

Unfortunately, hot air everywhere under an overcast does not give you thermals. So my two flights were only about 20 minutes each, but that’s enough to have some fun before carrying out the important circuit and landing – showing off my sideslipping technique.

I’m now checked out to drive the retrieve car (wow!) a battered little Daihatsu. We use it to tow the gliders out from the hangar to the takeoff point and to bring the gliders back to the takeoff point when they have landed down the airfield. We also get plenty of exercise pushing the aircraft around.

So far, my instructors seem to be good guys and certainly know their stuff.

I’ve been missing flying since I sold the Pitts Special ages ago. So – on a whim – I decided to give gliding a go again. I first soloed on gliders at the age of 16 at RAF Spitalgate near Grantham and went on to more advanced flying at Coventry Gliding Club near Husbands Bosworth in England.

Gliding is a cheaper alternative to power flying – here it’s less than half the price – and it is fairly relaxing compared to hooning around in a Pitts Special.

The Southern Cross Gliding club at Camden welcomed me, despite me not having booked anything. I signed up for a 5-flight discount package and chatted to the half-a-dozen blokes hanging around while I waited for an instructor and aircraft to become free.

I scored a very shiny fibreglass modern two-seat glider – a Schleicher ASK-21 and a pleasant instructor called Derek. The weather was splendid – about 24 degrees, light winds and pufy little clouds. I told the instructor of my flying experience and he let me fly the glider for the aerotow takeoff behind a Piper Pawnee tug plane.

We towed up to 3000 feet, then found thermals to take us up to 7000 feet while I got the hang of the controls. Great fun. We did a few loops and chandelles, then he talked me through as aI flew the approach and landing. I made a lovely landing and he was very complimentary about my flying, so that was good.

The other good thing about this, is that they want qualified power pilots (like me) to fly the tug plane. If I were to get approved to fly that, it would be free flying for me – Wahoo! I expect flying a glider tug might be a bit boring after a while, but it’s worth having a go.

The gliding was very a lovely experience, fairly relaxing, although there are some bumps in the air when you are thermalling under the clouds. You spend a lot of time flying in circles to stay in the column of rising air. The view through the big canopy was stunning – I could see Sydney to the north and Wollongong over to the East, and when we got high, I could see into the Burragorang valley that feeds into Warragamba Dam.