What I find is most fascinating with flying gliders is the stripped down rawness. I know it sounds corny - but almost like a bird, you're soaring in circles searching for the next thermal. The cockpit feels like a tight glass bubble that gives you a clear view all in all directions. The stick and the pedals are connected with wires and rods. No power steering, hydraulics or roaring engines. The onboard batteries are only for the instruments and you could fly just as good with them switched off.
Soaring
For most pilots, gliders are all about energy. About conserving energy and about obtaining energy from natural resources. Gliders have insane glide ratios. The Ventus 2 (pictured above) has a glide ratio of 1:46 meaning it can fly 46 meters when only losing one meter of altitude. In theory, from an altitude of 1500m, you can get as far as 69 kilometers before you hit the ground. That is unless you find a thermal that brings you up or at least extend your flight a bit longer. Thermals are created by the sun when the ground gets heated and the air raises, almost like bubbles in boiling water. Other ways to obtain lift are from hangs and waves created by the wind when it blows on mountains or hills.In the club where I fly, many members spend their time cross-country soaring. They depart in the morning and return to the airfield in the evening easily covering 500 km in a day. They draw a path on a map they follow and try to do it as fast as possible. This is also how most competitions are held. The fastest time on a set circuit wins.
Glider Performance
A high-performance Caterham is fast and fun, but gliders are at another level and can expose you for forces you'll never find in a car. The Ventus 2 glider that I use as an example in this post has a max allowed G-force of 5.3/-2.6 G which is enough to make your vision gray or even blackout. And that is with an airplane designed for cross-country soaring and not for aerobatics.Most gliders have an approved top speed around 280 km/h and do 0-200 in approx 6 seconds.
Flying a glider can for sure make you feel like a fighter pilot. Some people fly them for the rush and focus solely on aerobatics.
(sorry about the music)
Economy
I'd say that flying gliders cost about the same as tracking a Caterham per year, with some differences:- You don't have to own your own glider. You join a club and borrow one from the club. Most people do this and it doesn't cost much.
- They don't have expensive tires or other wearable parts.
- Value depreciation of gliders can be compared with old sailboats, they lose some value in the beginning and then they keep their value extremely well. A glider from the 80's is still a nice glider unless you're competing in a very high level.
- They don't usually break down. (unless you crash...)
- You can't work on them yourself and they need yearly inspections by an authorized technician.
With the first bullet in mind, flying club gliders probably cost a lot less than owning a race car.
The normal expenses for flying gliders where I live are:
- Club membership fee, yearly. ~ €300.
- Glider rent, per hour or a fixed season fee. ~€600 per year and you can fly the club's gliders as much as you want.
- Tow fee. You pay depending on altitude. €30-40 per tow and that will keep you in the air from 10 minutes to the whole day depending on your skills and the weather.
- Gasoline going to the airfield. They're not in the cities.
- Certificate related fees, such as medical examination every two years or so.
If you budget €2000 per season you can fly a lot!
The downsides
You can't do it alone, you need help from the other members and they need you.Being a member of a club involves work. Lots of work. Pushing gliders, washing tow planes, flight journal keeping, and whatnot.
It also means waiting. A lot of waiting. It can drive me crazy sometimes. And when it finally is your turn, something unexpected happens or the tow pilot needs a lunch break.
The weather is crucial. You can fly in most weather and even in the winters, but it is not always fun.
Pushing boundaries requires caution. If you crash, you might die. Even if the same can be said for cars the difference is that when something breaks on a car (on a race track) you can often park and walk.
To keep your license you need to get a medical checkup now and then, and you need a number of starts and flight hours every year. You can't decide to do other stuff for a couple of years and come back to flying without doing a proficiency check with an instructor.
Getting Licensed
It takes a lot of more effort to get a pilot license than a racing license. You need to pass a theory test, medical tests, radio theory test, radio practical test, and then finally doing about 50-60 starts. Most of the starts are with an instructor but at the end of the course, you fly alone in a single-seater with the instructor watching from the ground.The theory tests are about gliders in general, aerodynamics, meteorology, regulations, navigation, aviation medicine, and flight radio. In my case, I had to do the radio tests twice, in Swedish and in English.
It takes 1-2 seasons to get a license. I've done all theory and about 90% of the flying so I'm almost there! I can testify the first solo flight is a thrill that I can't compare it with much else.
Try it out!
Google your nearest club. Most clubs offer test flights where you'll get up in the air with an instructor in the back seat, and most likely you'll get the chance to fly the plane yourself. This was how I got started!
