First Flight
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It was our first trip to Deeside Gliding
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The weather remained very unsettled that day. A gusty north-easterly wind with variable cloud cover, well-broken higher up, but almost overcast at lower levels. Intermittent sleet showers mixed with drier spells and occasional sunshine, varying between these extremes every hour or so. The temperature stayed above freezing but climbed no higher than 5 deg C. It was more settled by late evening with a fine sunset. (All in all, not very unusual weather for the Scottish Highlands in Spring time.) Click here for a satellite photo.
I was accompanied by my wife and two friends visiting from London. A handful of other people had arrived earlier and we added our names after theirs on the Trial Lesson waiting list. We realised that gliding usually operates on a "first-come, first-served" basis (so you can't make an appointment in advance).
As we hung around for an hour or two, occasional sleet showers drifted past, changing our position from 'waiting-on-gliders' into 'waiting-on-weather'. Every so often there was a hurried scraping of slush from the wings of parked gliders to take advantage of a clear spell. As each person took their turn, we watched them takeoff, then quickly retreated to the warmth of the clubhouse.
There was plenty to keep us occupied while we waited. We rummaged through a heap of flying magazines, had a game of pool, and a bucket of coffee. The club kitchen provided a range of drinks and snacks operated on an honesty basis via a self-service cash till.
Some established club members and a couple of visiting pilots had also braved the elements and turned-up. We were pleased to discover how friendly and welcoming they were to us newcomers, happy to chat and answer our questions.
Every so often we looked hopefully out of a window to see how the few airborne gliders were getting on, or to try and spot some drier sky approaching when the gliders were grounded. We discovered a PC in the 'sun lounge' at the front of the clubhouse that displayed an animated satellite weather photograph. It showed that the approaching cloud mass was very broken so our wait should soon lead to some flying.
As our wait continued, we were offered the relief of a look around the main hanger on the other side of the airfield. It contained a variety of club and private gliders, both one-seaters and two-seaters, mainly of modern fibre-Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) construction. We were surprised at how thin, narrow and long the wings are on modern gliders - to reduce drag and increase lift respectively.
At two extremes were a couple of old & tatty-looking wood & canvas machines (Bocian & Capstan) opposite a shiny GRP motor-glider (Grob 109). At the front of the hanger stood a second tug (a Super Cub). Most of the gliders were still under wraps on this cold and unsettled day. When one of the modern single-seater gliders (an ASW-19b) was uncovered, we were shown how a daily inspection is performed and recorded in the glider's log book. Click here for information on the club's glider fleet.
A little later the weather was more settled and we were invited to help organise the two two-seater Puchacz training gliders for their next flights by pushing them back from their landing positions to the launch point for takeoff. This gave us a brief introduction to ground handling. It was good to feel useful while we waited to fly.
We had realised by now that gliding clubs have few salaried staff to operate the airfield. Clubs depend upon members sharing many of the responsibilities voluntarily. This is especially true at weekends when there is a rota for key tasks like providing instruction and flying the tug. We were advised that new members are more welcome in the gliding movement if they get stuck-in and help with the many less-glamorous tasks essential to support flying.
Eventually it was my turn to fly. I was introduced to one of the instructors called John, an ex-RAF pilot with huge flying experience.
John introduced me to Foxtrot Yankee Lima (FYL), one of the club's Puchacz two-seater gliders used mainly for training. The Puchacz is a sturdy fibreglass aircraft with typical tandem seating: pupil up front and instructor behind..
John took me through a pre-flight briefing, emphasising that safety is the number one priority, especially on a day like this with very unstable weather. If the weather closed in we would land immediately.
I wondered if we had to talk to air traffic control so I asked John about the airspace rules. He told me that gliding normally takes place in uncontrolled airspace in visual meteorological conditions. The pilot is responsible for remaining in sight of the ground, for keeping away from clouds (unless cleared to fly in them on instruments), while always maintaining a safe separation from other aircraft.
John then summarised the cockpit controls and instruments:
The two main controls are the stick and the rudder pedals. The stick is between your knees and is moved forwards or backwards to operate the elevators on the horizontal tailplane. These control the glider's pitch, i.e. nose up or nose down. The stick is moved left or right to operate the ailerons on the wings. These move in opposite directions and make the glider roll (bank) in order to turn. A pair of foot pedals on the floor in the nose operate the rudder in the vertical tailplane. Unlike a boat, the rudder doesn't turn a glider - the ailerons perform turns by banking the glider. The rudder is mainly used to coordinate turns by keeping the glider balanced in a turn.
I was briefed on four other controls: The trimmer is operated by a knob which moves small surfaces on the elevators. This relieves the steady pressure on the stick when holding the nose up or down to make easier speed control. The airbrake lever raises large vertical panels above and below the wings to reduce their lift ability. This varies the glider's rate of descent and is used mainly for approach & landing. The wheel-brake & tow-rope release controls are self-explanatory. Some more advanced gliders (not the Puchacz) have wing flaps to change the amount of lift at different stages of flight (for more efficient flying).
I was then talked through the instrument panel. The most important ones were the airspeed indicator (in Knots not mph) , the altimeter (set for height in feet above the airfield) and the variometer (measuring vertical speed in Knots - i.e. are you flying in rising or falling air?).
I didn't ponder too long on the part of the briefing about bailing-out in an emergency. I did note the small joke that if my instructor jettisoned the canopy and shouted "JUMP!", then I would get no answer if I replied, as he would be gone already. John told me that abandoning-ship is rarely a result of mechanical problems. A major cause is collisions - especially when gliders swarm too closely together in thermals in the heat of big competitions. So maintaining a lookout for other traffic is absolutely essential at all times. Today there was little flying so the risk of a collision was small. But you must always assume that someone else may have joined your bit of sky and maintain a good lookout just in case.
Bailing-out is a rare occurrence - and the higher the better to maximise the success rate. Modern parachutes are certified to work from heights as low as four hundred feet. But if a collision happens, it takes time to escape and deploy the parachute. The escape drill is as follows: push forward the main & jettison handles on each side of the canopy and push it off (normally held down in the slipstream); unbuckle the seat harness and extricate yourself from the rather horizontal seating position; JUMP out and LOOK for the ripcord handle (in case you grab something else like the shoulder strap); pull the handle HARD across your body until your arm is straight, doing the same with your other arm to provide a stable falling attitude. If it all works out as planned you'll soon be back in the clubhouse exciting people with tales of your adventure. Click here for a chat about gliding safety.
Meanwhile back at the first flight: I donned my parachute taking care not to pull on the rip-cord handle. We then discussed the need for any ballast to make sure the glider was within limits. I was within limits so no ballast was required. I stepped and slid gingerly in to the front seat. I made sure I only stepped on the reinforced bulkhead areas and not on the thin fuselage skin. I then tied myself down securely with the five-point lap and shoulder harness. With the parachute straps and the seat harness in place I felt very snug. John then shoe-horned himself into the more cramped rear seat. All the flying controls and the main instruments are duplicated in the back for the instructor.
John then talked me through the pre-flight checks, the tug positioned itself in front of us, the tow-rope was attached and tested, the wing-man signalled the tug to "take-up slack" then to go "all-out" for takeoff, and we were off...
We became airborne very quickly (before the tug) then together in the aerotow we climbed in a very gentle right-hand 180 degree turn westwards to 2,000 feet. All the way John held us carefully just below the height of the tug but above its turbulent wake. The first 500 feet of the climb were very bumpy with a lot of roll and a few sudden drops and rises. Fortunately it soon smoothed out before my breakfast made an uninvited re-appearance. As we reached 2,000 feet, John asked me to disconnect the tow-rope. I pulled the yellow handle and with a jerk the tug dived to the right while John climbed the glider to the left. We were alone in the quiet sky. As we slowed down to the cruising speed the noise of the slipstream slowly faded to a background hiss. John banked the glider towards some hills and pointed out several local landmarks, including Loch Kinord and a sawmill, which assist orientation when approaching the airfield from further afield. He also pointed out several snowy peaks in the Cairngorms, and I spotted Bennachie and Mither Tap far off to the north-east. The large canopy in a glider gives excellent all-round views compared to the small windows in a passenger aircraft. The views of Deeside from the air were worth the flight alone. I wished I'd brought my camera into the air. The photo below shows the view from a mile or so west of the airfield, looking over lochs Kinord (left) and Davan towards the snowy peak of Morven. Click on the photo for a larger image.
I learned that there are three main forms of lift available to keep a glider aloft and to provide soaring to much higher altitudes than the initial aerotow. Good lift can keep a glider aloft for many hours and allow the flight to cover hundreds of miles. This is called soaring. The best-known type of lift supports thermal soaring: bubbles or columns of rising air above warmer ground, which many gliding clubs depend upon. Deeside is famous for a lesser-known form of lift supporting wave soaring which can be very powerful. The U.K. altitude record of around 38,000 feet was set in wave over Deeside. Wave lift results from powerful winds blowing over nearby mountains (in this case the Grampians and Cairngorms), which form large waves of air in the sky. Sometimes the waves are stationary like the bulges of water around a submerged rock in a stream. But today we encountered ridge lift that provides one type of hill soaring: the wind blows down the valley and then rushes up the hillsides, usually continuing far above the top. We found an updraft over a ridge to the south-west of the airfield and started soaring. I sat captivated as the glider floated slowly upwards to almost 3,000 feet as if by magic. This would have been a nice time for a musical interlude. The photo below shows the view. The airfield is in the lower centre, showing the two main parallel runways connected by a taxiway. The blue main hanger and maintenance hangers are visible below the runways and on the left near the North Deeside Road are the clubhouse and a line of glider trailers. At the bottom is a wood yard that is sometimes a good source of thermals when there is little else around. The river Dee is on the right and the village of Aboyne is at the upper right. Click on the photo for a larger image.
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By now I had realised the importance of the large dial in the centre of the instrument panel - the variometer or Vertical Speed Indicator. It showed that we were climbing steadily at between 3 and 5 knots, a brisk walking pace. (One knot is about 100 feet per minute so that's a rate of climb of up to 500 feet per minute.) Looking down at the ground I noticed we were almost stationary. The airspeed indicator showed about 45 knots, so we must have been flying into a headwind of not much less than that. We were slowly climbing like an elevator or a helicopter - without the usual racket of the engine noise. |
Stressing the need to maintain a lookout, John manoeuvered us away from the ridge a couple of times when we were getting close to the only other glider apparently in the sky at the time. We kept another beady eye on an approaching sleet shower that was moving steadily up the valley from the north-east.
I told John that I was keen for some hands-on experience and he obliged more than I expected. I had my hands on the controls for more than 20 minutes. And when not directly in control, I was invited to rest my hands lightly on the stick, with my feet lightly on the rudder pedals, to feel what my instructor was doing.
As outlined above, the elevators in the horizontal tailplane are controlled by pulling the stick back or pushing the stick forward. The more the deflection the greater the angle of climb or dive respectively. For speed control you maintain the required nose angle (attitude) and hold it there. The ailerons on the outer trailing edge of each wing are controlled by moving the stick left (to bank to the left) or right (to bank to the right). A small sideways movement of the stick starts a slow bank, and a large sideways movement starts a fast bank. If you held the stick to one side the glider would steadily roll upside down. So to set a bank angle you move the stick in the required direction, and when the angle is achieved you re-centre the stick. So the amount of stick deflection controls the rate of the bank rather than the amount of bank.
I had a shot at straight & level flight to maintain a heading. It was harder than it sounds. Then I tried a couple of left & right turns at various bank angles that seemed easier - but I was "cheating" as John was operating the rudder throughout. He explained that you need a lot of rudder compared to a powered aircraft in order to overcome the drag and inertia of the long wings when starting or ending a turn. Stick & rudder coordination is one of the trickier things to master during training. It was made harder on this flight by the large amount of turbulence compared to a calmer day - the glider was a bit of a bucking-bronco at times due to the gusting winds. So a large amount of "stick waggling" was required to keep the aircraft where it was supposed to be.
I also manoeuvered through two stalls. Starting from a stable attitude at normal cruising speed (45 knots), I slowly pulled back on the stick to raise the nose and reduce our speed. As I kept pressure on the stick our speed continued to decrease below 40 knots with the nose remaining high above the horizon. A gentle buffet began with a reduction in airflow noise. Keeping the wings level was now harder as the ailerons became less effective. The stick was now almost fully back against the stop with our speed dropping towards 35 knots. I moved the stick a little forwards then quickly back again and it felt much 'looser' than normal. With the stick right back on the stop the nose suddenly dropped. There was only a gentle falling sensation for a moment as the glider dived maybe a hundred feet. As this started I was talked through the recovery: I moved the stick steadily forwards until the wings were unstalled again, then pulled the stick gently back again to recover to a level flying attitude. John mentioned how an uncorrected stall can quickly lead to a spin, and how spin recovery is a vital part of learning to fly a glider.
Due to the large amount of ridge lift available we had no trouble staying aloft. John reckoned we could have stayed up for a couple of hours without much difficulty, and even flown some distance cross country. Earlier in the day someone had been up for over 2 hrs 40 mins, not bad after just a standard four minute tow to 2,000 feet. At the other extreme, the flight before us (another trial lesson) had encountered a wide band of sleet and quickly landed after only 12 minutes. At one point we saw a glider execute a very hasty return for a landing on the short 'emergency' grass cross-runway. In fact, earlier in the day a solo glider had flown behind a wall of sleet clouds and was forced to land in a field beyond the ridge north of the airfield near Tarland. The glider then became stuck in the mud so the pilot had to find a tractor before he could dismantle the glider, put it into the trailer brought to him by devoted friends, then tow it all back to the club. 'Landing out' like this is reportedly less hazardous and understandably more frequent in gliders than in powered aircraft, but again needs careful training - ideally practiced in a powered glider to make an easy escape at a low level.
Now it was time for us to return to the airfield to give someone else a shot. We did a few lazy turns to descend to about 1000 feet then headed back for the airfield to join the circuit. There is a radio on board tuned to the standard gliding airfield frequency of 130.10MHz - headphones are unnecessary as there is little background noise, just the gentle rush of passing air. John reported our position to the airfield when we joined the circuit as he was going through the downwind checks.
The approach and landing were much steeper than I expected - necessary to maintain a height & speed safety margin compared to the flatter approach of a powered aircraft. In windy conditions the glider also stays closer to the airfield in the circuit than normal, to make sure it can reach the landing point and in case there is any unexpected sink due to a wind gradient. Without an engine there's no option to go around, of course, just one chance at landing. The Puchacz has a stall speed of about 37 knots (with two lads on board) so to ensure a safety margin the normal (calm) approach speed is 55 knots - over 60 mph. So the landing is a little slower and therefore safer than in a larger powered aircraft. Because there was a bit of a crosswind, the instructor had to 'crab' the glider as we approached, then kick us quickly straight with the rudder just before touchdown.
We landed very smoothly. We had been in the air for 34 minutes (1739-1813). I had really enjoyed my first time in a glider. I realised I was "hooked".
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After I landed, my wife also flew for the first time. She quickly expressed her interest in roller coasters - and John duly obliged by taking her through a loop and two chandelles or 'wingovers' (an interesting way to lose height to join the circuit). On the ground we heard a strange 'dive bomber' noise during the display which looked spectacular from the ground. According to the passenger the experience was even better inside the aircraft. The ground really rushes up during such manoeuvers - pretty exciting. I had sensed the same rush of approaching heather when performing the stall during my earlier flight.
The final flight of the day was for one of our friends. He was nicely protected from the cold by a splendid camouflaged helmet that Biggles himself would surely have been proud of. (My old woolly hat from a misspent youth following Glasgow's only amateur team in the Scottish professional football league - Queens Park FC.) As he sailed aloft, the sun was starting to set below the distant Cairngorm mountains, reflecting with an amber glow off the spring snow still clinging to the peaks, adding further to the great view. Below is a memorable sunset photo I took at the airfield another day, reflecting from layers of wave cloud. Click on the photo for a larger image.
Flying rules allow a glider to be aloft half an hour before and after sunset. With the mid-year sunset in these parts being after 10pm, I was already looking forwards to the summer evenings. All we needed was some decent weather (famous last words).
First glider flight for a bloke with a powered aircraft PPL
For more information see the Deeside Gliding Club web site.