By Lauran Paine Jr., EAA 582274
This story first appeared in the March 2019 issue of EAA Sport Aviation.
I tried yet another aviation experience. This one, over the years, was never an itch I had to scratch, but it was always something I was interested in: gliders. (Yeah, no engine!) Gliders just seem so at home in the air. They’re aerodynamically beautiful. But I was usually just too busy making a living flying the powered stuff, and that was plenty to keep me occupied and happy for a lot of years. But now — time for some different things. And it’s been a fun new journey!
I did some online research, that sort of thing. You kinda have to sift the wheat from the chaff, know what I mean? All that is advertised as glitz is oftentimes not. Then I hit upon a place that sounded open and professional. I just had a feeling about it. (It turns out I was right.) And it was just up the road from me. So I went there. It was a nice fall day, clear and calm. As I approached the place there was a big sign hanging on a fence: GLIDER RIDES. You don’t see such simple and direct advertising anymore. It was refreshing. One of the guys there told me that in the summer, people stand in long lines for rides. And this isn’t for some gaudy carnival. This is for general aviation, pure and simple. You’ve gotta love it!
I turned off the two-lane road onto a gravel entry and parked by some other cars. There was a covered area there with some tables and chairs, a box of office supplies, and an aviation radio. Pretty basic; my kinda place. But there was no one there. In the background was a grass strip nestled between some farmland, a Piper Pawnee parked on it, and a row of gliders parked down the way. To me, they were just gliders. To the people that later came to the table, they were specific types of gliders. Oh, I have much to learn about that.
Then some guys started showing up: older guys, good guys. They were easy to talk to. And the conversations began: half-banter, half-conversation. Airport-speak. I was already thinking about taking lessons but didn’t want to tip my hand just yet. So, I asked about a ride.
“Yup,” they said. “We can do that.”
Then they asked me about my aviation background. I told them, and one of them said, “Oh yeah, we got a lot of guys around here like that. This is like an old pilot’s retirement home.”
Some of this is gonna seem old hat to you glider guys and gals. To me it was all new, and I was a sponge. When you rent a powered airplane, you get a key and go fly. The whole glider experience is about teamwork, which actually is kinda neat. Likeminded people coming together as a team to launch the things. There was Dave. He was the “ops officer” for the day, taking care of the financials, organizing, and scheduling. This is a membership glider club, and one of the rules is that each member gets a turn at being ops officer for a day. Mike was the tow pilot. He’s an airline pilot in his other life. Randy is airline retired and a glider CFI. Randy was taking his daughter for a ride so Bill, a commercial glider pilot, became my pilot. There was another guy who hooks you up to the towplane, checks that the canopy is locked, and holds the glider wings level — kind of a last safety check. I didn’t get his name. I barely knew he was there; I was so absorbed in all the goings-on around me.
The glider was a Grob 103 Twin Astir. Randy taught me preflight — you don’t have to check the fuel or oil! Bill strapped me in and taught me cockpit equipment and procedures. These guys were both personable and professional. There were no headsets and no noise to speak of. The radio was battery operated with a flexible boom mic fastened to the side of the cockpit. Basic. I like basic.
We got all lined up and hooked up. Bill asked, “Ready?” and I gave him a thumbs-up. The Pawnee took up the slack in the rope, and the pull began. We bounced lightly along on the turf and then lifted off before the Pawnee and stayed low so as not to lift the towplane’s tail. Important. And then there we were, hanging on a rope behind another airplane. Like I said, new learning. All you’ve gotta do is stay in position behind the towplane so you don’t drag it sideways or up and down. I’m told they don’t much like that. The distance is fixed by the rope so that part is pretty basic. The tow was to 3,000 feet. Then the unhook/breakaway is coordinated. We pulled up and to the right, and the Pawnee went low and to the left, the better to get home quickly and pick up another tow.
And, bingo! There we were — alone, unpowered, aloft, no vibration, and near silence. Floating, gliding, soaring. It was, at very first blush, just kinda magical. Very comfortable. It’s a very free feeling. These gliders are built to glide. And what a fine job they do of it. Bill broke my awestruck state by asking, “How do you like it?” I answered in the vernacular, “Awesome!” But in the back of my little pilot mind, I was thinking, Yeah, but these things just go down. (Not entirely true, of course, to experienced soaring pilots. They find ways to go up.) But here’s the deal: It’s about glide ratio, and gliders have that. It’s about understanding, using, and planning for that. Someday I hope to turn that awe into a modicum of glider proficiency.
Bill explained the variometer, the instrument that indicates lift. I have a lot more to learn about that, too. And the yaw string, a piece of yarn smack in the middle of the windscreen. I didn’t yet have any feel for the aileron-rudder coordination, and the string verified that. It’s supposed to stay centered — and it was not. And it don’t lie! Bill said, “Don’t step on the yarn; step on the attach point, like the ball in a needle-and-ball.” Aha! Yeah, that works!
Bill had me do some turns, steep and otherwise. My pilot brain was thinking a 60-degree banked turn is an altitude-losing proposition without power. And that’s right, but you’ve gotta not be afraid to maneuver the glider to get where lift is. That’s the point. And we did a stall, very benign, so efficient are these wings. After flying an RV-8 for the last 16 years — both agile and fast — the glider controls seemed heavy. Those ailerons are way out there. And I was looking at an airspeed indicator that was indicating 45 mph most of the time. That’s different! Agility is not necessarily a requirement; an efficient gracefulness is more like it. So here Bill was, teaching an old dog (me) new tricks (gliders).
Landing in a powered airplane is basically pattern altitude held until you’re ready to land. Landing a glider is constant descent, so the planning starts farther out from the landing area. Bill talked me through it. You kind of plan an altitude like a high-key on a jet flameout. (Bill didn’t use that term; that’s just me talking). Then it’s TLAR (Bill did use that term): That looks about right. Main thing: Don’t get low. Makes sense, right? Keep a high-ish arc (I barely know what I’m talking about. Bill made the approach and landing.) and use the dive brakes to spoil the lift just enough to get you into the final groove, a very shallow sight picture with such efficient wings. Then you feel a gentle thump as the little wheel under your butt rolls onto the turf. No brakes, just roll out. And then the team appears again to tug the glider to parking or back for another tow. Elapsed time for all of the above? About 30 minutes.
I was hooked. But winter was approaching, and that means soggy clouds and soggy sod, which do not good glider conditions make. So the Willamette Valley Soaring Club shuts down for the winter. I told them I’d be back in the spring. Then I bought their recommended book: Transition to Gliders by Thomas Knauff. It’s my wintertime reading project.
So, I’m pumped up for spring. And a little apprehensive. I’m sure I’ll screw some things up, as my little mind tells me, “Don’t get low. Don’t get low. Don’t get low.” I have much to learn. But it’s a new challenge in an old sky, and that part is really exciting.
Lauran Paine Jr., EAA 582274, is a retired military pilot and retired airline pilot. He built an RV-8 and has owned a Stearman and a Champ. Learn more about Lauran at his website, www.ThunderBumper.com. For more from Lauran, check out his monthly column, Plane Talk, in EAA Sport Aviation.