United3dArtists Archive

I now understand why we tend not to fly when it starts raining

What did Mr Charles Wiggins the chairman say on Sunday when it did start chucking it down, ‘show’s over folks’? ‘We’re going to have to stop’? Not at all, ‘Right Steve, get in and strapped up before it really gets too bad’. And you know it’s going to go squirrely when you’ve got the chairman in the back, you’re taking off in the rain having only controlled one full launch before, knowing full well that you’re going to have to land going downhill because of the wind direction after popping over some trees and a barn, turning it into a forced landing more than an approach.

Oh well, CBSIFTCBE. I remember when I nearly left out the last E (for eventualities) the Chief Flight Instructor warned me if I do forget it, he’ll give me one. Airbrakes closed and locked, canopy secure, cable on and taking up slack, all out, we start rolling, bags full of right rudder then snapping over to the left because some blowhard didn’t line us and the winch cables up properly, get airborne, speed to 55kts and ease back on the stick, up we go, Check wing, check wing, ASI, yaw string, ASI, keep the stick coming back, bit of left wing down, constant nose attitude, ASI, Yaw String, Altimeter ASI, check wing, check wing, losing speed, nose down, no more left on the winch, pull the bung, nose to the gliding attitude and in that space of time we’d gone from 0ft and drizzle to 1000ft and downpour.

Turn to the right to clear the takeoff run, all sorts of s*** bouncing onto and running down the canopy, Charles in the back then starts telling me about what the differences of flying in the rain will be, aside from the obvious things
‘Because of the water on the fibreglass, the stall speed is going to be higher’
(From what I gather, because of the composite of the fibreglass, water will just sit on the wing, no longer making it smooth and air will no longer travel over it in a laminar flow, giving us less lift and also more chance to stall)
‘Give it a go’ he says, we get a stall with a wing drop at about 42kts, well over 5kts more than normal, naturally, 5kts in a Tornado F-3 means nothing at all, but for us that’s the difference between Placard limit, normal gliding speed, landing speed and stall speed sometimes. Being asked to stall the machine put me down to only 600ft just past the high key point when we should be at 800ft; I move close to the airfield much to Mr Wiggins’ protests, because I’m apparently crabbing into the airfield.

Turn onto diagonal leg, wings level, loads of spray hitting the plane and then we run into some sink, and now I understand why I was too close to the airfield, as soon as my wings levelled I was turning through base leg and straight onto (a misjudged) final making it one badly cut semi-circle.
‘See that big tree Steven? Don’t aim for it; I don’t want to have to climb down from it’
I carry on my final
‘You’re aiming for that tree’
‘I’m not’ I say as birds scatter out of it. ‘60kts, you want 60kts for this’; guess what that means? Forward goes the nose, nosedive to the reference point, over the road and flare out, back out with the airbrakes, further back on the stick. Keep holding off; keep holding off, 45kts and then we hit the biggest crosswind gust, correct with rudder and aileron, 43kts and touchdown, slam the airbrakes full out, doesn’t stay straight and level on the ground roll, down the airfield like a Tokyo drifter. Hit the biggest dip and bump on the airfield, working the rudder and ailerons like crazy to keep the damn thing level and clatter (and splatter) to a halt.

Second flight, raining even heavier, lined up better with the winch and off we go; airborne, ease back, that wasn’t easing back, we’re nearly at 60 degrees! Speed at 65kts and going up, placard limit remains at 67kts, ease back to lower speed, and we lose climb rate and gain speed. Give the winch driver the ‘too fast arse shake’ signal, that didn’t help, forget it, pull the bung and lower the nose. 850ft.

Let’s try a bit better with the circuit.
‘Right Steve, I want us to land diagonal across the field and pointing somewhere at the hangar, ‘modify your circuit’
I modify my circuit
‘Well you’re flying perfectly parallel, but to the circuit we were flying last time’
We get too far in, hard turn to the left then to the right and line up in between the two small forests.
‘Those barns down there aren’t good, the people there complain, let’s not fly over them’
Of course they would be dead ahead on finals. S-turn to the left, then back to the right, line back up with the landing area and snap the wings level, really raining quite hard by now, can’t see.
‘60kts Steven’
No thank you, we need to lower the nose and descend faster to do that, airbrakes are all the way in as is, we’ve got 100ft left to do a 200ft landing run comfortably, we’re undershooting like crazy. Down, down, flare out and we’re not even at the airfield limits, nearly start an accidental game of cow tipping, over the wire fence, ease the stick back, over a tyre obstruction, just over the road, swing rudder back to the centre and touchdown, steer it to the hangar across the takeoff run, watch out for the Land Rover and halt.

‘Good, we should have you solo soon’
Right, yea, does that come with a complimentary extra 100ft?

Thanks for your story about flying Steve. In answer of your qeustion: There are none!!

Flying an aircraft is the ultimate freedom. I have glider aircraft in mind (the ultimate aircraft). You are for yourself and have to do all the decisions for a safe flight for yourself with no engine and just rely on the forces of nature.

You are in some flights you are THE AIRCRAFT. The aircraft is a part of yourself and you are flying as the birds among the clouds in the sunset and the only thing you have to relay on is the power of nature. Your body streatches to the wing tips.

The energy of the sun is the engine for gliders. When you at the end of the fligth are on the ground and cleaning the aircraft you the feel odd feeling of the companionship with a dead thing which have brought you a long distans in the air space This is a great experiance!

A clip from a place in north of Sweden where I have been for several times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiz5bqquca4
Another clip from Norway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLNdMbKWfsA
This is my club website: http://www5.idrottonline.se/default.aspx?id=319025 Click on the video "Pröva på segelflyg" (Listen to the lyrics of the song!)
This is like landing a glider :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuHz40bW ... dded#at=83

Absolutely true, it becomes a lot easier when you stop treating the glider as a machine that you control and instead an extension of your body, the forces you feel on your body are the forces acting on the aircraft and how much you're stressing it.

Not that I can comment on the similarities of birds, soaring season is well and truly over and I'm on a fairly flat and boring looking country (you lucky nordics with your snow and mountain ranges) so theres nothing 'exciting', and the (expensive!) aerotow tug is out of commission for the rest of the year so all of my flights are less like a kestrel and more like a kiwi fired out of a cannon, I'm yet to go higher than 2000ft

But I tell you what
If ever I plan another Holiday to Sweden, forget Stockholm, hook up to a gliding club up there and have a weekend's worth of whatever magic you Nordic lads and ladies have

Welcome Steve!!!

If you are coming to the Scandinavian countries there will be lots ot oppurtunities to stay at different airfields both to the south of Scandinavia and to the north. I would like really to help you (and others in this forum) to the start of the journey in gliding.

My main reason for starting gliding is that it is a cheaper way of acheiving a PPL, I want to fly for a career and so this enhances what I'm currently doing on my uni course, and also training to be a solo pilot and from there basic instructor will hopefully be one of the factors that swings the balance when I can apply for the RAF next year.

Unfortunately, the British Gliding association is a fair amount stricter than the American and EU counterparts which has its goo points and bad points

(btw Tommy thanks for the welcome, but I forgot to mention I'm a fairly old member, used to be called Weevil, though it was time for a name change)

Steve wrote: Unfortunately, the British Gliding association is a fair amount stricter than the American and EU counterparts which has its goo points and bad points

This is because you guys in Britain are flying on the right side of the sky not the left.. !
Peter

Heh... who needs a plane?

RAYMAN wrote:

Steve wrote: Unfortunately, the British Gliding association is a fair amount stricter than the American and EU counterparts which has its goo points and bad points

This is because you guys in Britain are flying on the CORRECT side..
Peter

Fixed

spacekdet wrote:Heh... who needs a plane?

That's how Frodo should have gone through mount doom, much easier. If I had the money for travel, insurance and equipment, I would so be doing that

Steve wrote: That's how Frodo should have gone through mount doom, much easier. If I had the money for travel, insurance and equipment, I would so be doing that

Agreed