Glider Rides this weekend

[tonycondon]

Well I gave a few glider rides this weekend that I had been looking forward to for a long time. Notably was my Grandma, who has been legally blind pretty much my whole life. She was one of my 3 first passengers after getting my PP-ASEL and had been hoping for a glider ride for over a year. In fact we nearly did one last year but the winds had another idea. Grandma was on the way to her annual month in Florida, chauffered by her Sister and Brother in Law. Grandmas Brother also lives in Ames. We all met out to the airport and Granny got the first ride. Had a blast with a tow to 2500 feet in smooth air. No thermals today with a high overcast. Some rain had moved through in the morning. As we climbed up I realized that the wind was kicking butt out of the south so I radioed the towpilot to just continue upwind. There was no way we would be able to get too far upwind today. released at 2500 and just kind of hovered (literally) while descending down at a fairly low rate. Grandma enjoyed the view and the silence, at least the relative silence. Schweizer 2-22 that the club has is not particularly quiet. as we came down we noticed at one point that we were moving backwards! I was indicating about 42 mph at the time. sped up to 45ish and we were holding position. I was certainly glad to be upwind of the airport then! Granny and I landed and she was very pleased. Next her BIL got in and we flew pretty much the same profile. As we were on tow we noticed a small rainshower about 4 or 5 miles to the west. it seemed to be tracking mostly northerly so we werent too concerned, and the vis was good enough that we could see through it. off again at 2500, doing the whole hovering backwards thing when all the sudden a flash of lightning a couple miles to the west and a big rumble of thunder. "I think we will be landing now" out with the airbrakes and down we came. the showers were heavy but skirted just to the west of the airport. I brushed the edge of it and we got some fairly heavy rain drops on base leg. Even though, he enjoyed his ride. Finally was Grannys brother with a flight profile the same as the others, sans lightning. All had a good time and it was nice to get some of the family up in a glider. All had a good time.

 

[gprellwitz]

Sounds real fun!

Two questions though. First, if she's legally blind, how could she enjoy the views? Or is this one of those cases where the legality has nothing to do with the reality?
Second, wouldn't you get an awful lot of lift in the TStorm, depending on the stage? Not saying you'd want to go there, but...

 

[tonycondon]

1) as I think you suspect, she is only Legally Blind. granny sees general shapes and colors at a distance but can identify individuals at closer range, 10 to 20 feet. shes able to completely function independently but of course cant drive. for example while we were flying she could see that *something* was coming off the end of runway 1 at ames but couldnt tell that they were lights. she could tell were buildings were but would never be able to guess if it was a barn or a house.

2) yes thunderstorms in the developing stage would have a lot of lift in them. perhaps a scary terrifying amount of lift. but this was no thunderstorm, it was barely a rain shower. all were surprised there was any lightning associated with it, couldnt have been more than 3 miles in diameter. Like I said we could see through the rain.

 

[vontresc]

Yeah thw winds aloft were pretty stong out of the south for me on Saturday as well. I distinctly remember that the 2-33 didn't want to go upwind very much to begin with, and when I got into the thing to solo it didn't penetrate worht a damn. Didn't hover it though . The downwinds were kinda fun though....

Just curious about the 2-22. How much worse is it than the 2-33 which isn't the most slippery thing to begin with?

Pete

 

[tonycondon]

2-22 glides even worse than the 33. Ive never flown a 33 so i cant directly compare. I think the book ideal glide for a 22 is something like 18 or 19:1. no way our club glider gets anywhere close to that.

 

[CJones]

Awesome, Tony!

I remember when I gave my grandmother her first airplane ride...... EVER. We were in the Cherokee 180 and when I would turn to the right (putting her 'down') she would clutch her purse in her lap just a little tighter. She said she loved it, though.

That was 7 years ago and even to this day, any time she hears anyone talk about flying, she tells the story of our flight.

Glad you're able to share something 'new' with someone that has seen pretty much everything else in their lifetime.

 

[Steve]

Once I was flying across central AL west one summer evening and it was severe clear except for this one rain cloud about 10 miles south of course. I was at 6500' and the cloud base was around 3000' with top around no more than 9000'. It, too, was about 3 miles in diameter and had a rain shaft below it. The remarkable thing about it was it had little lightning bolts firing out of it in all directions, sides, top and bottom. Reminded me of those cartoon thunderclouds you sometimes see in the Sunday comics.

...

2) yes thunderstorms in the developing stage would have a lot of lift in them. perhaps a scary terrifying amount of lift. but this was no thunderstorm, it was barely a rain shower. all were surprised there was any lightning associated with it, couldnt have been more than 3 miles in diameter. Like I said we could see through the rain.

 

[pilotmattk]

Hey Tony,

I'm new to the forum, and came here after hearing the it mentioned on Pilot Will's podcast. Is there some master thread about glider flying, costs (of learning/towplane fees), buying/renting a glider, etc? I went to SSA and found that my nearst club is like 50NM away which isn't bad, but I'm used driving less than 2 miles to my home airport. I'll have to see about running up to Joplin MO for a ride.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[MauleSkinner]

Cool, Tony! Grandmas make great passengers B)

I gave my Grandma 2 rides in my Maule...the first one was when I first got it, just flew around locally for a "fall colors" ride. The second one I picked her up and flew to where my airstrip is now for a family gathering.

I found out later that the lady who wrote the "who visited whom" column in the local paper was a good friend of hers, and both flights became "news" that week...including some things that I really would rather not see in print

One of these days, I have to get down there and get copies of those columns.

Fly safe!

David

 

[tonycondon]

Hey Tony,

I'm new to the forum, and came here after hearing the it mentioned on Pilot Will's podcast. Is there some master thread about glider flying, costs (of learning/towplane fees), buying/renting a glider, etc? I went to SSA and found that my nearst club is like 50NM away which isn't bad, but I'm used driving less than 2 miles to my home airport. I'll have to see about running up to Joplin MO for a ride.

Thanks,
Matt

matt, first i wouldnt expect the training to cost any less than powered instruction. if it turns out that way great but a lot of up and down (practicing landings) adds up quick. once you get licensed though and do a lot of soaring then the hourly cost goes down bigtime. I would definitely recommend glider training, I dont know what I would've done without it. Gliders is the way I keep my joy in flying alive.

 

[Diana]

Well I gave a few glider rides this weekend that I had been looking forward to for a long time. Notably was my Grandma, who has been legally blind pretty much my whole life. She was one of my 3 first passengers after getting my PP-ASEL and had been hoping for a glider ride for over a year.

Tony, that's so cool.