First Glider Flight....

[Tomo]

Well I went for my first Glider Flight Yesterday, very impressed with it...

 

Ok, first off, I had a briefing of how to use the parachute (if need be:nerd:), then climbed on board, strapped up, checked to see if we had full control movement of the stick, and then closed the canopy. (wouldn't won't to be much taller, only had a few inches to spare between my head and the canopy...:big_grin:)

 

The tug fired up, pulled out and lined up... another bloke put the tow line on the hook in the nose of the glider. tug pulled up tension on the line, then away we go... we were off the ground in about 30m and just sat at about 2ft off the ground until the tug got off the ground also... we headed east, and climbed up and released at 1800ft in a thermal, circling around to the right, climbing at about 350 to 400ft min... about eight minutes latter we leveled off at 6400ft...:thumb_up:

 

We then did a bit of zig zagging over the ground, not going to far from the field... the instructor gave the controls over to me, and I had a great time flying back and forth staying at about 6000ft, (not so hot that way;))...

 

The time crept up on us and it was time to go back to the field, pulled out the wing brakes so we could loose hight, it was a great day for thermals and we had trouble going down, so to speak...

 

Joined the circuit, and then it was ready to land:crying:... anyway he made a good landing, we got out and pushed the glider off the strip.....and so ended my the first glider flight.....:big_grin:

 

Here are some pictures that I took of the Darling Downs, while we were UP there...

 

For those that are not farmers, the light brown/gold colour stuff is wheat almost ready to harvest, and the circle padocks are where they have a center pivot irrigation systems on them....:big_grin:

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

 

Ps. On the last pic... to the top far right hand corner you can faintly see Dalby in the distance... and then to the left hand corner is the direction I come from...(Cecil Plains):thumb_up: And that's Oakey creek in the forground...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BigPete]

Awesome shots, Tomo. :thumb_up: Great story too. What camera are you using (Not happy with mine, too old I think) :yuk:

 

(no, the camera, not me.:confused:)

 

regards

 

:big_grin::big_grin:

 

 

[Tomo]

Thanks Pete,

 

What camera am I using?... well mine is a Sony DSC-W5, 5.1mg pixel... getting around the age of 3yrs now... by the way I have enhanced them a little with a program called PICASA, It's a Google product, and it's free....It's only a 5mb download too so it's pretty good going:thumb_up: Here is a link to the program... Picasa 3: Free download from Google

 

Give that a go and it may even save your old camera's day....but if your thinking of getting a new camera, get a Sony, we've used and tried many different brands and Sony always give a nicer picture.....:thumb_up::thumb_up:

 

And just a bit of useless information to top off with....;) My Mum just got a new camera the other day, (Sony of course!), and it's got a smile shutter on it.... you can set it so when the person smiles it takes the picture, very intelligent I reckon....:big_grin:

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

 

 

[facthunter]

Smile.

 

Very clever. No good for passport or ASIC's. You are not allowed to be smiling.

 

Getting back to gliders, they are real aeroplanes allright. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. The thing that I found a little disturbing initially, was all the creaking and groaning in the airframe (Blanik). Haven't flown anything later than that. ....Motors are too noisy unless they are Jet ......... Nev..

 

 

[nathan_c]

Hehe good olf blaniks. Thats what i fly, and yes, your right, the creaking is insane =] So just outta interest Tomo, what kind of glider were you in? I was out at Boonah today gliding, but im mainly at warwick most of the time, darling downs isnt far from that is it?

 

 

[Guest coaltrain]

How'd you enjoy Boonah Nathan?

 

The area is a little more topographical (and picturesque IMHO) than the Downs. I'm guessing Warwick might have a bit more runway to play with too (though I've not flown there).

 

 

[Tomo]

Hehe good olf blaniks. Thats what i fly, and yes, your right, the creaking is insane =] So just outta interest Tomo, what kind of glider were you in? I was out at Boonah today gliding, but im mainly at warwick most of the time, darling downs isnt far from that is it?

G'day Nathan,

 

Yep the Darling Downs Gliding Club is not real far from Warwick...It is actually at/near Bowenville... about 20mins out of Dalby heading towards Toowoomba....or about 45mins out of Toowoomba heading towards Dalby...:big_grin:

 

And the aircraft was a two seat "Puchacz"... which didn't creek and groan:clap:

 

I've included a photo of the glider (bit of a dodgey one but it's all I had:big_grin:), and also I've drawn a circle around the gliding field, just in case you didn't find it....;)

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

 

 

 

 

[nathan_c]

Very nice. I want to fly in a puchaz.... Looks cool.

 

Boonah was terrific, nice scenery, only problem was the length and width of the strip. You get 2 gliders come down after each other, and peel off to either side of the runway.... boom, closed airstrip. Other than that it was very nice apart from the fact I royally screwed up my lesson thumb_down Havnt been flying regurly enough and didnt have even a scrap of co ordination, and my take off was dodgy, as was my circuit... too high when i joined downwind therefore had to use full airbrakes on final...

 

Anyway, ill try and stop the block of text there