Passed my glider checkride

1200AGL

1200AGL

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
149
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
Display Name
Display name:
Paul
I took my glider add-on rating ride yesterday in the 97F heat. It felt like I was sitting in a microwave oven after closing the canopy of the K-21 on the runway. The lift kicked in after noon and I ran into a couple of thermals that indicated 6-8 knots up on the vario. I did a sloppy job of centering and keeping in them. Thankfully, the thermals weren't very turbulent yesterday, because that can make the box-the-wake maneuver a handful on tow.

I got the rope break on the second flight. A tailwind on takeoff and density altitude over 3,000 ft (yeah, I'm a flatlander) made that a bit interesting because we were a good ways from the runway when he pulled he release at around 250 ft. That was the shallowest approach I've made yet after turning 180. Still had plenty of altitude margin, though.
 
Congrats! Gliders are fun. Alot louder then I thought something would be that doesn't have an engine! The wind going by was loud.
 
Congrats! BTW that K-21 is sooooo much better than a 2-33 :-D
 
Congrats, now even more than power flying the real learning begins.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
saracelia said:
Congrats!
Click to expand...
tonycondon said:
congrats Paul!
Click to expand...
vontresc said:
Congrats! BTW that K-21 is sooooo much better than a 2-33 :-D
Click to expand...
Thanks! Yeah, the K-21 is almost too easy to fly and land. The control harmony feels just about perfect.

My next mission is to get checked out in the Schempp-Hirth Cirrus. I need few more PIC flights logged and a lot more practice before I'll be ready to attempt that. I sat in it the other day and it felt like I was laying down.

brcase said:
Congrats, now even more than power flying the real learning begins.
Click to expand...

Definitely. It isn't terribly difficult to fly a glider to PTS (+/- 10 knots is a *lot* in a sailplane) but after observing a few of the club's greybeards from the back seat, I think it takes incredible skill to read the conditions and fly one well. These guys will stay up 5 hours and fly long cross-countries on challenging days where I'll manage to barely eek out a 25-minute flight.
 
standard cirrus i assume? have never flown one but from what i've heard you'll never want to fly the ASK again.
 
tonycondon said:
standard cirrus i assume? have never flown one but from what i've heard you'll never want to fly the ASK again.
Click to expand...

I think it might be an Open Cirrus since it has the low cruciform tail with drogue chute and was made in '68. Wikipedia says the standard Cirrus was first made in '69 and has a T-tail. I don't know for sure, though.
 
sweet! open is a 17 meter wing, standard is 15 meter.

if you're going to fly an open cirrus you must buy a copy of The Sunship Game!
 
Wow ASK-21 trainer and an open Cirrus club ship? What club are you in?
 
Glider was on my list until the WX turned to sauna. Screw that. Will pursue it later in the year.

1200AGL said:
I took my glider add-on rating ride yesterday in the 97F heat. It felt like I was sitting in a microwave oven after closing the canopy of the K-21 on the runway. The lift kicked in after noon and I ran into a couple of thermals that indicated 6-8 knots up on the vario. I did a sloppy job of centering and keeping in them. Thankfully, the thermals weren't very turbulent yesterday, because that can make the box-the-wake maneuver a handful on tow.

I got the rope break on the second flight. A tailwind on takeoff and density altitude over 3,000 ft (yeah, I'm a flatlander) made that a bit interesting because we were a good ways from the runway when he pulled he release at around 250 ft. That was the shallowest approach I've made yet after turning 180. Still had plenty of altitude margin, though.
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
Glider was on my list until the WX turned to sauna. Screw that. Will pursue it later in the year.
Click to expand...

Wx turns to sauna, that means hopefully, convective lift called thermals, unsuitability in the atmosphere on which gliders survive!

It's hard to learn flying on tow in unstable air, but it's normally a lot cooler and more comfortable at cloud base. Around here, any time above 10K MSL is very comfortable when it's 100F on the ground.
 
Add my congratulations to your new rating. And it's a great one. (you always remember your first :D)
 
tonycondon said:
if you're going to fly an open cirrus you must buy a copy of The Sunship Game!
Click to expand...

I got the DVD in the mail on Tuesday. What a great flick!
Now I really want to get checked out in the Cirrus.

It looks like an ashtray was standard equipment in those days, though I can't imagine smoking in that cockpit. Gleb is puffing away during the takeoff roll in one shot.

I'm sure it'd be no fun to have to land out in an ASW 12 like Wally Scott's: no dive brakes or flaps, just a drag chute.
 
yea the nice thing about the performance of the 12 is that it usually lets you make it to an airport. i think they were later modified for airbrakes. wing was so thin that the first time around they had trouble getting brakes to fit inside.

love the shots of Gleb smoking on the takeoff roll and in flight.
 
Congratulations :D
 
Excellent! Congratulations! I just had my first glider ride this past weekend, and am already hooked.
 
mdenney said:
Congratulations :D
Click to expand...
TangoWhiskey said:
Excellent! Congratulations! I just had my first glider ride this past weekend, and am already hooked.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I have really been enjoying this rating, but it has been humbling at times. I've sure got a lot to learn. We had booming lift here on Sunday--one guy made it up to 10,000+ ft MSL and stayed aloft over 5 hours. Several people reported difficulty descending. Thinking I'd easily knock out the second 2-hour flight required for my bronze badge, I launched in the SGS 1-36 and made it back to the ground in a record-setting 11 minutes :mad2:

The tow was pretty rough as we plowed through the thermals and neighboring sink. The variometer needle was alternating from stop to stop. At one point, I got knocked so far out of sorts in all three axes that I elected to release the tow rope early for the first time. Afterwards I couldn't find the lift, just strong sink all the way back to the airport. For a minute, it was looking like I'd need to make a straight-in downwind approach.
 
sink happens. strong lift means strong sink. sounds like an exciting approach!
 
Congrats Paul! I'm a transition glider pilot myself and just soloed in a glider a few weeks back. Nothing quite like it is there? Thanks for the summary...I'll be going for my checkride in a few weeks so its helpful to read what others got on their rides. All the best...Brian.
 
bmoor said:
Congrats Paul! I'm a transition glider pilot myself and just soloed in a glider a few weeks back. Nothing quite like it is there? Thanks for the summary...I'll be going for my checkride in a few weeks so its helpful to read what others got on their rides. All the best...Brian.
Click to expand...

Brian,

Thanks. Best of luck with your checkride!

Mine was pretty straightforward and the examiner's questions tracked right along the with the PTS. In retrospect, I could have studied the glider systems a little more thoroughly. For example, I had looked up the ADs, but he got me when I didn't know that the TOST release on the K-21 had a manufacturer-imposed cycle count limit before it must be overhauled/replaced (the spring eventually wears out). Afterward, I asked about that, and it turns out that even though we don't even use the CG hook on the K-21, it must also be replaced when the limit is reached.

He asked me how I knew if it would be a good soaring day. Thankfully, the plots that I printed from XC Skies (thermal index analysis and buoyancy to shear ratio) sufficed. If he had asked me to interpret skewT-log P soundings, I might have dug a hole for myself--I'm still learning how to make sense of them.

I'd recommend clarifying ahead of time what the DPE expects for certain things during the flight portion. When he asked me to demonstrate a "slip to landing," I started a forward slip on downwind and planned to do turning slips all the way around the pattern. What he wanted to see, though, was just a forward slip on an extended final approach. This was not a conversation that I wanted to have in the middle of the traffic pattern.
 
Congrats Paul,

Plan to train for any aerobatics in the ASK-21?

I noted about 8 glider pilots including myself who responded to this thread plus a few who have tried or are interested.

How many of you would like to see a sub forum of Controlled Airspace started and call it Gliders and Soaring Stuff? Or call it something else you would like more?:idea:

Rick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top