As we rapidly accellerated down the Warwick runway I was instantly reminded why I took up gliding 5 years ago and since gave it up due to work and location. I’m glad I’m now back learning in what is apparently one of the best areas to go gliding in Australia.
The Darling Downes Soaring Club seem to be a great bunch of people. I flew with Dennis on a mission to retreive a glider the Australian Airforce Cadets had been borrowing. The Sky all around us was dotted with slow moving storm cells, which from the air looked like pool cleaners or flying saucers hovering above the surface with a thick curtain of rain drenching the ground beneath. As the storm passed over, the ground behind was heavy with a thick layer of surface water.
As we were under tow, Dennis constantly gave reports on alternative landing sites should the rope break. A cloud in the distance to our right lit up the sky as lightning struck the ground underneath. Our tow duet came upon a cloud that was lower and darker than the others and so had to dive down underneath it. This made Dennis have to work hard to maintain the tension on the tow rope by increasing drag on the glider. If we were to let the rope go slack then tight again as the tug flew off, the risk of it snapping is much higher. So we had to apply a lot of rudder to slip sideways through the air and even add some air brake! which gave the feeling we were dropping out of the sky as this drastically increased the drag on the glider.
After we unhooked from tow, the next 1/2 an hour was spent searching around for lift through thermals. There was not much available as little sunlight was hitting the ground and the rising air we did find was very weak. We gained only about 1000 feet as the lesson progressed.
Just like riding a bike, many of the skills come back quickly. I was applying stick and rudder at the same time fairly well. I had a lot of help, but I can’t wait to improve.
One of the most incredible parts of the flight is landing at about 67knots or around 120kph with your backside only a few inches above the ground at the grass airstrip near Bowenville. I look forward to many more flights in the future.
