Post by ginginho on Jul 4, 2009 13:13:33 GMT 1
I managed to book myself onto a gliding lesson through the Sports and Social Club at work. Thursday evening myself and others arrived at Lasham Gliding Society for the lesson. Following a briefing about the airfield, aircraft and parachutes we walked out onto the airfield.
As we were walking to our launch area I noticed one of the tow planes being refueled.
Anyone recognize this airframe??
The good old Supercub!
A short while later she was ready to tow up the first glider.
It wasn't long until it was my turn to get strapped in and ready to fly. This is the bird I flew.
The tow planes were rather busy, here's the SC starting to take up another glider in front of us.
Once that had gone (and a DHL Boeing 757 had taken off from the runway to the right) we were off!! A video of the first part of the tow including the ROG can be seen here. Excuse my hairy legs getting in!
We were towed up to 2500 feet. The visibility wasn't the best. I'm not sure if this was Lasham airfield or the nearby RAF Odiham.
I was told to keep the nose just below the horizon when I'd be flying, but is wasn't too easy to see.
As soon as the tow was released I was given control of the aircraft. I flew for around 20 minutes searching for thermals and bringing it in on final approach, at around 200 feet the instructor took over to put us down. He also demonstrated the stall characteristic when we were higher, as I asked about it. Very docile. He said it was also docile in a spin but I declined the offer of a demonstration of that!
Once back on Terra firma I walked back to the clubhouse but managed to video on the way of the SC towing someone up, as seen here.
The lesson includes a temporary three month membership to the club, so I might have another go soon.
A great experience, if you get a chance, do it!!
As we were walking to our launch area I noticed one of the tow planes being refueled.
Anyone recognize this airframe??
The good old Supercub!
A short while later she was ready to tow up the first glider.
It wasn't long until it was my turn to get strapped in and ready to fly. This is the bird I flew.
The tow planes were rather busy, here's the SC starting to take up another glider in front of us.
Once that had gone (and a DHL Boeing 757 had taken off from the runway to the right) we were off!! A video of the first part of the tow including the ROG can be seen here. Excuse my hairy legs getting in!
We were towed up to 2500 feet. The visibility wasn't the best. I'm not sure if this was Lasham airfield or the nearby RAF Odiham.
I was told to keep the nose just below the horizon when I'd be flying, but is wasn't too easy to see.
As soon as the tow was released I was given control of the aircraft. I flew for around 20 minutes searching for thermals and bringing it in on final approach, at around 200 feet the instructor took over to put us down. He also demonstrated the stall characteristic when we were higher, as I asked about it. Very docile. He said it was also docile in a spin but I declined the offer of a demonstration of that!
Once back on Terra firma I walked back to the clubhouse but managed to video on the way of the SC towing someone up, as seen here.
The lesson includes a temporary three month membership to the club, so I might have another go soon.
A great experience, if you get a chance, do it!!
