| Think about this if you decide to visit a gliding club one | | | | face while the glider is held in the turn, and the horizon |
| day. Will you settle for a sedate float around the sky in | | | | spins past. |
| a sailplane, or would you be happy to experience a | | | | Now it's Dad's turn. Let's rough him up a little more than |
| little more? Print off this article and take it with you | | | | Granny! Ask the pilot to throw in a couple of stalls and |
| next time you go for a passenger flight at a gliding club! | | | | spins. Here's what happens in a deliberate stall. The |
| Use one of the suggestions to spice up the flight for | | | | pilot slows the glider down by aiming the nose high and |
| you or one of your family members! | | | | holding it there with back pressure on the joystick. But |
| Here is a round-up of all the more exciting things you | | | | with no engine, the glider can't climb like this for very |
| can ask for when going for a passenger ride in a | | | | long. After a little while, everything goes deathly quiet |
| glider. These ideas for thrill rides have been dredged up | | | | as the airspeed drops below the stall-speed of the |
| from many memories of my years as a gliding | | | | glider. Suddenly, the nose pitches down and Dad finds |
| instructor. I realized my passengers and students had | | | | himself staring at the ground way below, and |
| experienced a range of interesting little escapades. | | | | seemingly diving straight at it! The glider builds up speed |
| Particularly teenager passengers, they are usually | | | | again, very quickly, then the pilot carefully returns it to |
| game for a thrill ride of some kind! | | | | level flight again. Dad was taken by surprise, but thinks |
| Now I guess most of you reading this article have not | | | | he might just enjoy the next one! |
| actually taken a ride in a glider, or sailplane as they are | | | | Next, the pilot performs a spin. Everything is the same |
| sometimes called. These are the full-size planes I'm | | | | as for the stall. EXCEPT, just before the nose drops |
| talking about, not hang-gliders! Gliding clubs are dotted | | | | this time, the pilot kicks in full rudder. The joystick is held |
| across many countries, particularly in Europe, the U.S., | | | | right back against the stops. The poor glider just |
| Australia and South Africa. It's easy to contact a club | | | | refuses to fly now. A wing drops, the nose drops, the |
| and simply turn up on the weekend for a passenger | | | | ground is right there in front of Dad, spinning around |
| flight. I won't go into prices since this varies a lot from | | | | and around and around. The altimeter winds down, |
| country to country and even club to club. But the cost | | | | Mum on the ground wonders what it will be like raising |
| is very reasonable in most cases, for a 10 or 20 | | | | the kids on her own... But no problem. The pilot deftly |
| minute flight. Longer flights are possible if weather | | | | stops the spinning and gently pulls the glider out of the |
| conditions are suitable. | | | | resulting dive. |
| Winch Launches | | | | Now it's The Kid's turn. He's got a wide grin on his |
| If you can, try to get a flight at a gliding club which uses | | | | face. Give me everything Granny and Dad had, plus |
| winch-launching. Yes, gliders are actually winched into | | | | more please! The Kid is game for anything, so the |
| the sky on the end of a long cable. The winch is | | | | instructor decides to go through as much of the basic |
| powered by a powerful motor, often a V8, and it pulls | | | | aerobatic repertoire as altitude allows. Steep turns, |
| the glider up like a giant kite. Sometimes the cable | | | | stalls, spins, then wing-overs, loops, a slow roll, a stall |
| breaks, but this is quite routine and simply results in a | | | | turn. A bit more tame than what you might see a Pitts |
| short flight and a bit of inconvenience for the ground | | | | Special doing at an air-show, but The Kid loves every |
| crew! Come to think of it, this situation could be | | | | second of it. |
| considered a thrill ride for an unsuspecting passenger! | | | | A Few Odd Things |
| Firstly, the jolt when the wire snaps. Secondly, the fairly | | | | I just can't resist throwing in a couple of odd-ball things |
| sudden nose-down movement of the glider as the pilot | | | | that I remember doing. Firstly, the fun exercise of |
| makes sure the airspeed stays up. Sudden but | | | | tossing a complete toilet roll out the clear-vision panel |
| smooth. | | | | of the glider. Then turning back to spot the unraveling |
| Now, why are even normal winch launches thrilling? | | | | streamer floating down through the air. What's the |
| Because you go up like a fighter jet, that's why. The | | | | point? To chop it into bits of course, with the wing of |
| nose of the glider points skywards at an angle of 45 | | | | the glider! Yes, such fun to fly back and forth, |
| degrees or so, and you reach release altitude in less | | | | swooping through the streamer again and again until it's |
| than 30 seconds. Even an experienced glider pilot | | | | time to think about landing. I can imagine some |
| tends to enjoy it time after time! I certainly did. | | | | passengers would see some fun in it too. Perhaps. |
| An even more thrilling form of launch is rarely done | | | | A little trick I used to demonstrate to my passengers |
| now-a-days. It was called a reflex launch. The tow | | | | from time to time was inspired by astronaut-training. |
| rope, yes a rope not a wire or cable, had a bit of | | | | Yes, really! The 2-seater glider used to have a |
| stretch in it. It was attached to the glider's release point | | | | microphone on a curly cord, plugged into the instrument |
| at one end, and the other end was attached to a | | | | panel. The passenger would be asked to extend their |
| powerful car. A loop was laid out to set a certain | | | | hand, with the mic resting on their palm. Then, after |
| amount of slack in the rope, before the car went | | | | stoking the glider up to near it's maximum speed, I |
| charging off down the airstrip. TWANG. I remember | | | | would suddenly pull up into a climb. What followed next |
| seeing a Blanik L13 with 2 people on board lunge off | | | | was a demonstration of zero-G. That is, |
| the ground in maybe 3 meters (10 feet) and | | | | weightlessness. By easing the joystick forward in just |
| commence climbing like a home-sick angel. Ah those | | | | the right way, I could get the microphone to rise up off |
| were the days. | | | | the passenger's hand and hover there, weightless, for |
| Pushing The Envelope | | | | a few seconds! If it wasn't for the harnesses, the |
| By 'pushing the envelope' I mean flying an aircraft a | | | | passenger and I would have floated around the |
| little closer to its limits than usual! | | | | cockpit too! |
| Something to try that isn't too extreme, but still suitably | | | | See if your friendly local gliding instructor would like to |
| thrilling for say, your mother or grandmother, is to ask | | | | do something similar to these last two! |
| for the pilot to throw in a few really steep turns. Gliders | | | | Conclusion |
| often need to do this anyway, to stay within the | | | | Everything described from here on is very safe when |
| confines of narrow patches of rising air called thermals. | | | | done with an experienced pilot. In fact, some things like |
| OK, how steep? Try 60 or 70 degrees. That's pretty | | | | steep turns and stalls form part of the standard training |
| steep, it will seem like the glider is right over on its side. | | | | for glider pilots. So be game, and have a great time! |
| What's more, mild G-forces will start to tug at Granny's | | | | |