Finally got a chance to fly my new (to me) plane

Ozone

Ozone

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Aug 10, 2014
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188
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Minnesota
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Ozone
Our soaring club has decided to do limited launches with private gliders. So, I was able to do my first flight today (after a ground check). For a 1975 vintage plane, the SGS 1-35 is a great performer (36/1 glide ratio). At about 400+ pounds, it climbed like a homesick angel in thermals and within a short time I went from 4900 to 6500 feet. 80 deg flaps at 50kts, needed to land, make you feel as if you are flying in a lawn dart; but the landing was uneventful. My plane partner did even better, and topped out at over 7000 feet, flying for more than an hour in today's generous lift.

135 cockpit small.jpg 135 selfie small.jpg
 
Always a delight to see the simplicity of a glider panel. Nice pics and flight update. Glad you got the mixture and extreme LOP right! ;7)
 
Very nice, looks like you had a great time. Do you stay within a certain distance from the airport depending on altitude? Do glider folks do cross country flights?
 
Nice a great way to enjoy the day.
 
Awesome! Brought back nice memories; my flying journey started with gliders in the 1980s.

- Martin
 
AKBill said:
Very nice, looks like you had a great time. Do you stay within a certain distance from the airport depending on altitude? Do glider folks do cross country flights?
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Yes, It's a good idea to stay within gliding distance of the airport, and that does vary with both altitude and wind. You get bonus time for any lifting air masses you can find along the way. Generally, glider pilots will be conservative and calculate their "final glide" back to the airport as roughly 1/2 the rated L/D glider ratio of their plane. This old bird is rated as having a 38/1 glider ratio. Therefore, if I am a mile high, with no wind, I would be able to "safely" stray from the airport by about 19 miles.

Cross country flights are often done with glider planes around the world. There's a daily contest put on where pilots post their flights and compare themselves with others. the Soaring Society of America also keeps records. Currently, here are some examples:
Highest altitude with a glider plane: 76,100 feet (2018, Argentina)
Longest distance travelled by a glider plane: 1869 miles (2003, in S. Africa)
Longest distance travelled by a glider plane in the USA: 1,023 miles (1983, PA to TN)

If you are curious, the Soaring society of America has loads of resources ( SSA.org )
 
That would be so fun to do, looks like a blast. Is that brown baseball-sized orb right below the RELEASE placard the release handle? How does that work?
 
iflyvfr said:
That would be so fun to do, looks like a blast. Is that brown baseball-sized orb right below the RELEASE placard the release handle? How does that work?
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Yes, the brown orb is the original bakelite release handle. It's attached to a springloaded clip that releases the tow ring from the glider in flight. Thanks to your wonderful description, from now on I will only refer to it as the brown orb.
 
For those who are still wondering if a Long distance flight is possible in a glider, may I present this screen shot of a flight in a high-performance glider that was just completed about 1/2 hour ago by one of our club members in his friend's glider plane:

Loong distance flight.jpg
 
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