tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
I went out to Stearman field today to see what was going on, and there wasnt much action. I visited on the phone with Adam Kite and then started to head home. On the way I thought I would stop by the Wichita Gliderport and see if anything was going on. Brad and I had seen a glider flying around there yesterday on our way home from Beaumont. Well as I got closer I saw a glider circling and sure enough they had three gliders out giving rides. A Grob 103, Schweizer 2-33 and an IS28-B2 Lark. Turn out, it was Matt Michael's old Lark that I posted about here.
I introduced myself to the pilot, who is the local DE, and mentioned that I used to fly this glider. Small world sort of moment. I helped pull the glider back to the beginning of the runway and then he asked if I would like the front or back seat. I saddled up and away we went. Took a 3000 AGL tow, and with a Cessna 185 pulling it didnt take long to get there! Charles showed me the local landmarks and talked a little about their local procedures while i tried to center a weak thermal. Ended up with a 400 foot gain! Peaked out just above 5000 MSL. then down we came. I made a nice enough landing and then hung around helping run wings and stuff while they were giving rides. unfortunately im not 90 day current or i wouldve given a ride or two.
Anyway Matt's old lark hasn't changed much, still flies nicely. Only took me a few turns to get the coordination feel back. It took a minute to get used to having flaps to play around with in a glider, but it wasnt too tricky. Ended up with about a half hour. Not too bad!
I introduced myself to the pilot, who is the local DE, and mentioned that I used to fly this glider. Small world sort of moment. I helped pull the glider back to the beginning of the runway and then he asked if I would like the front or back seat. I saddled up and away we went. Took a 3000 AGL tow, and with a Cessna 185 pulling it didnt take long to get there! Charles showed me the local landmarks and talked a little about their local procedures while i tried to center a weak thermal. Ended up with a 400 foot gain! Peaked out just above 5000 MSL. then down we came. I made a nice enough landing and then hung around helping run wings and stuff while they were giving rides. unfortunately im not 90 day current or i wouldve given a ride or two.
Anyway Matt's old lark hasn't changed much, still flies nicely. Only took me a few turns to get the coordination feel back. It took a minute to get used to having flaps to play around with in a glider, but it wasnt too tricky. Ended up with about a half hour. Not too bad!
