I piloted a sailplane!

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Chicagonative17

Chicagonative17

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I just returned from one of the best experiences of my life. The glider is a Grob 103 german made composite glider that has a 40:1 glide ratio. It was towed up by a single prop plane to an altitude of 6,000 ft. at which point the cable was released. This is when i got to hear the amazing sound of silence (yeah). I was up there for about an hour (its capable of MUCH longer flights). The only time I wasn't controlling the glider was on landing. Absolutely amazing.

heres some pics for your enjoyment...

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Oh, the sound of silence! I've heard that from a number of people who have piloted sailplanes. I actually saw one this morning under tow having just taken of from Hurlburt Field.

Are you actually a pilot or was this a learn-then-do thing?
 
I'm not a pilot per say. I do have a small amount of flight training/experience so I did get into the glider already knowing how to operate the controls and read the guages.

Im going to Iowa State for Aerospace Engineering and I'm also in Air Force ROTC so I MIGHT end up becoming a pilot but will probobly be an engineer and leave the flying to a hobby.
 
That's cool. I always wanted to fly an aircraft. Did you see anything cool during your one hour stay up there?
 
other than clouds and its horizon... there was 20 experienced skydivers that freefell from 14,000 ft. past my glider about a half a mile in front of me.
 
That must've been interesting to see. How fast do you get in a sailplane anyways?
 
Congrats! I have to admit I'm jealous, I've never been in a sailplane/glider. One day I hoep to get my CGI, but Missouri isn't exactly known for it's thermals (at least within a reasonable distance).
 
haha, that was bad... but that bad ones are the best ones.

To answer you question: for this competition glider the speed at which you achieve the 40:1 glide ratio is at 50 knots (which isn't hard to do) but when I was flying, at times I got the needle over 100 knots and the vehical is capable of about 160 knots.
 
Looks like in at least two of the photos, at altitude and on approach, his Indicated Air Speed (IAS) was around 50 kts.
 
yeah, if you were flying at horizon, the glider naturally flew at 50 knots. The 50 kts mark is at the 6 oclock position on the dial so on approach the speed was slightly greater than 50 kts.

My personal favorite guage was the piece of yarn on the canopy :p It showed the attack angle of the air and told me whether or not to adjust the rudder and in what direction. Some pilots don't know, but you use A LOT of rudder in turns with a glider compared to powered aircraft.
 
Ian- was that at Hinckley Soaring? If so, I used to fly gliders out of there when Al Friede used to own the place.

It's been years since I've been back there but I got my glider rating from Al. It's a beautiful facility, though the parachute guys do tend to get in the way. That, and the traffic from Aurora and DeKalb airports :)
 
Yeah, it is at Hinckley... its an awsome place. The skydivers were in the way but they were also kinda cool at the same time. I hope I can do this more often because it was incredible.

Do you still fly?
 
How were the thermals? When I was in one, it was actually hard to stay under about 14000 feet :D

Very nice. Sounds like you had a blast. I'm more partial to skydiving actually (having done both), but gliders are definitely awesome.
 
Hey chicagonative17,

I have never flown a sailplane. I have tried the introductory $50 airplane flights, I was allowed to take off, fly around for 40 minutes, and then I landed. The pilot that sat with me swore I must have flown before. I have been using flight simulators for years on the computer, flying in the real world was much easier because you see in 3D perspective.

Did you have a similar experience?
 
Congrats--soaring is one of the most rewarding and fun ways to fly. I've flown sailplanes for many years in Arizona and New Mexico, and when the conditions are good (mostly spring/summer), it just cannot be beat. I've covered hundreds of miles on cross countries, climbed into airliner realms above 18k feet MSL, and stayed aloft for six hours+ on a single flight and without burning a drop of avgas--most people don't realize all that a sailplane will do. It's also a heck of a lot more affordable (usually) than power plane flying. I am certified to fly both, and I chose sailplanes any day over a noisy, costly and traffic laden power plane flight.

When the USAF moves me to a more friendly region and job for sailplanes, I'll be back at it again.
 
cjl said:
How were the thermals? When I was in one, it was actually hard to stay under about 14000 feet :D

Very nice. Sounds like you had a blast. I'm more partial to skydiving actually (having done both), but gliders are definitely awesome.
Click to expand...

The thermals wern't incredible but we were able to catch them. I went up in the morning when they weren't as strong and it was over grass and cornfields so it wasn't anything like a plowed field or a location like arizona. We identified them by where the clouds were forming and then just circled underneith the clouds... we gained maybe about a 1000 when we did this and then left the thermal.

I too have gone skydiving and I loved it as well. To me they are 2 completely different things; both are very exciting in there own way.
 
shrox said:
Hey chicagonative17,

I have never flown a sailplane. I have tried the introductory $50 airplane flights, I was allowed to take off, fly around for 40 minutes, and then I landed. The pilot that sat with me swore I must have flown before. I have been using flight simulators for years on the computer, flying in the real world was much easier because you see in 3D perspective.

Did you have a similar experience?
Click to expand...

I have hours upon hours of simulator flying because thats what we would do in HobbyTown when there were no customers and we had no work to do :p
The first time I flew a r/c helicopter I was hovering inverted and doing stuff the owner of the helicopter thought was impossible... simulators are amazing. My instructor said I was one of the best "first time gliders" he's ever seen. I commend the ability from understanding 3D flight from the simulators.
 
stealthfixr said:
Congrats--soaring is one of the most rewarding and fun ways to fly. I've flown sailplanes for many years in Arizona and New Mexico, and when the conditions are good (mostly spring/summer), it just cannot be beat. I've covered hundreds of miles on cross countries, climbed into airliner realms above 18k feet MSL, and stayed aloft for six hours+ on a single flight and without burning a drop of avgas--most people don't realize all that a sailplane will do. It's also a heck of a lot more affordable (usually) than power plane flying. I am certified to fly both, and I chose sailplanes any day over a noisy, costly and traffic laden power plane flight.

When the USAF moves me to a more friendly region and job for sailplanes, I'll be back at it again.
Click to expand...

Thats awsome! Sailplanes are really a work of art as well as a human ingenuity. Once we learn how to hybrid the capabilities of sailplanes and the abilities of powered aircraft... we will step into a whole new world of "green" flying.
 
Congrats !! Thanks for the pics !!

I design, build and fly RC gliders for a living and most power guys have no idea just how capable sailplanes or gliders really are. The modern airfoils that are used in full size ships and the RC stuff are really amazing. Your comment about the rudder is so true and most power guys don't get it.

I am going to a RC Aerotow event in Sept. One of the really cool things is we also often use a Pawnee for the tow plane. Ours is a little smaller though.;)
 
Yeah, sailplanes are incredibly underestimated. Although i've never used an r/c pawnee to launch an r/c glider... i've always used bungie launchers, lol.
 
Wonderful!

I flew the Grob at Dillingham Field on Oahu a few years ago:

https://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk265/psmithalverno/Hawaii2004076.jpg
https://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk265/psmithalverno/Hawaii2004073.jpg
https://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk265/psmithalverno/PullingGs.jpg
https://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk265/psmithalverno/Hawaii2004069.jpg

We did some fun aerobatic stuff - loops and split-Ss, and then flew low along the ridges there.

I've flown 2-33s a few times, and a flight in the Army Air Corps TG-1 (essentially the same thing...) was the first time I ever left the ground, back when I was a teenager. The Grob was of course very different - much more sensitive on the stick, but not much more sensitive on the rudder pedals. It was pretty weird to move the stick just a hair but have to stomp on those pedals.
 
I've been wanting to get into soaring. I've taken lessons and have flown the Grob 103. It is great. Now I fly jets, so I have a lot to relearn to get into gliders again. If only I had the money.
 
Soaring is alot of fun and a must-do atleast once. Only problem I had was that constant low "G" pull while circling on a thermal. Made me a little woozy. Other than that, the loops, immelmans, negative G dives and everything else was awesome.

I guess AZ is known as one of the better places for soraring. I do know that the two times I went it was difficult indeed to stay under 13-14,000' even over the lake while flying straight. My dad's lifelong friend used to carry a glider license. I've been told he circled the whole valley (Phoenix) in the early 80's for the duration of 7-8 hours which should have been several hundred mile total trip depending on how big the loop was.
 
AZ is a great place to catch thermals. When NARAM was held down in the basin, i believe one of the parachute duration flights was over an hour!!!

The same day I went up, one of the licenced pilots was going to go up for an attempt at a club record of 14 hours. I left and haven't followed up but I think I should because thats incredible.
 

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