David's World

September 30, 2005

Gliding adventure

A day at the airport. Not the greatest way to spend half of your weekend, right?
I'd say, a pretty good one. Especially if your airport is a huge grass field and you get to drive the truck across the runway (watch for planes before, while, after). I went gliding with a bunch of folks from university, and it was great.

Granted: most of the "flying" was actually about pushing glider planes into position and towing them around the airfield with cars. And I even watched/helped certify a re-painted glider's airworthiness, which turned out to be a little surreal: have you ever even thought about how to weigh an airplane?...

Actually flying the glider was great too. My somewhat irrational skepticism about flying in something that has no engine is almost gone. And, opposite to what's one of the golden rules of flying (stay away from mountains), those rocks are actually a good thing for gliders - they give you lift (sometimes). Gliders fly happily at only around 45 knots (that's 83 kph, or 52 mph) -- slower than a Cessna, and close to stall speed. To explain, that's when you're pitch is too high, you're going up too steep and too slow so the airflow on your wings breaks suddenly, dropping you from the sky. We didn't drop much. Maybe next time. Next time will hopefully be soon!

Neat to know about gliders. Next time you'll have to post some pics from flying inside the plane!