I did my first taster session a couple of days ago, along with an 'aerobatic' experience to get a taster of what the plane could do. Great fun - other than take off, and the aerobatics bit, I got to control the plane with some help on the flaps, and land (closely supervised with instructors hands shadowing the stick). I've got the bug now though. Certainly want to try paramotoring next
Any pilots here?
- Thread starter Rexxar
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Soldato
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- 21 Apr 2007
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I've considered paramotoring.
Since i'll never be a pilot there are at least options to take to the air (with some money of course).
You can even buy seated paramotors which is cool.
Associate
Thought I'd update this post as I've now completed my 5 day intensive course up at Lasham and I think I can call myself a pilot, of sorts, now
It would appear the years of interest in aviation, flying RC gliders, flying in simulators and having an understanding of aerodynamics paid off. I flew my first solo in a K13 last Friday afternoon after about 30ish flights. It was a relief to land back at the airfield only then to be told I had to complete two solo flights. On my second solo flight I even managed to hold altitude in a few weak thermals for a while which I was extremely chuffed about as I'd done zero thermalling lessons due to those not being required for going solo. Flying RC Gliders and using Condor and FSX helped me out there. Was my longest flight off the winch all week, but still only around 10mins.
Now to start working towards my badges and gaining flying experience especially my TLAR (that looks about right) angle when checking the landing reference point. I couldn't have asked for better weather last week either, albeit the wind changing direction pretty much every day so I flew a multitude of different circuits.
Congrats on your first solo's. As the instructors will have said, now you really start to learn.
Rob
Soldato
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- 21 Apr 2007
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Associate
Thanks and you're right. Whilst winch launches now don't feel like a rocket launch to the moon there is still so much to learn! I'm what I call a dirty flyer at the moment. I understand how to use the yaw string but compared to my instructor my turning, general handling of the glider has much work to be done on it and maybe a little more finesse too. I still have two more weeks holiday so I'm tempted to follow up with a 5 day Solo - Bronze course. I think I'll pop up next weekend or weekend after for an AM or PM slot just to keep my hand in and decide after. I can see the bank balance taking a bit of a hit in the coming two or so months until the weather changes. Then I'll use Condor until next spring before working on my next badges. My instructor buggers off to OZ for 5 months every year from November on. Seems he has a good plan!
Soldato
Associate
Just noticed your prices. Living down South it isn't so cheap, especially at Lasham. I also flew three aerotow launches during my week of which the last I flew all myself. Quite entertaining keeping the glider behind the tug a few feet off the ground whilst it builds up speed to take off itself.
Winch launch is £9 and a K13 is then 57p per minute. The clubs Grob 102s are also 57p per minute. An aerotow to 2000' is £35.50. My 5 day course was £650 and I had around 30 flights including three aerotows. I still need to fill in my log book and check the exact amount. I have a print out from the club but they've screwed something up as I have two flights, one at 30mins and the other at 41mins from the winch and they definitely aren't my flights.
On Friday there was little wind and with my instructor we weren't getting much over 1100'. My first solo I struggled to get the speed down from 60knots to the required 55knots as I was coming out of the full climb so I released at around 1100'. On my second solo flight I kept 55knots all the way once in the full climb and managed just over 1400' on that one. Not having a 100kg instructor definitely helps. The lack of instructor does change things though. The rudder was so light without his feet resting on them and much easier to balance turning and the acceleration on the winch is quicker so I hit the 50knot marker was quicker and eased into the full climb much quicker too.
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Associate
Did you enjoy the spin training? That is my next challenge, and to keep on practicing my landings!
Also you have to learn the differing winch drivers' techniques, some of them have slightly heavier feet on the accelerator!! I have been hauled up at 75knots in the past, a bit scary!! I must admit the first you winch launches were a shock to the system, but I have got used to hard acceleration now.
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Soldato
Sadly not, but I imagine being a chopper pilot is one of the best jobs in the world. Ever.
I can't imagine anything more awesome than being a helicopter pilot.
Sorry this doesn't help you, just wanted to say how awesome helicopter pilots must beBest job in the world!
I remember my first helicopter flight (passenger, not pilot) and I thought it was something I could never tire of. 200 odd flights on, and I find a train journey more interesting TBH. Although, when our only means of travel from an oil platform in the middle of the Northern North Sea broke down on the helideck, thus blocking any way of landing an alternative aircraft from landing... That was interesting!
Associate
In the K13 spin recovery is very easy as it is a very stable glider. Full opposite rudder, push forward on the stick and wait until spin stops. Centralise rudder at that point and ease out of dive. The spinning wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm unsure what it will be like in a K21. I suspect the K21 has a slightly higher speed on the winch than the K13's 55knots. My instructor said that having a little extra speed in the full climb is OK but as you go higher and the winch is pulling the glider downwards you don't want more than the 55knots as it'll be stressing the airframe greatly, hence I released early on my first solo flight. I thought about giving the slow down signal but I had plenty of height for a circuit so releasing was the easier and ultimately safer option for the airframe. I didn't want to be breaking a weak link on my first solo! which part of the landing are you practicing? my dad really struggled with the round-out phase, he would always pull back a tad too hard so he'd balloon a little. As the week went on my landing area would get smaller and smaller and I'd have to stop by certain imaginary walls on the airfield
Associate
The K21 is a very stable gilder and is really difficult to induce it to spin. So our club do spin training in an SZD-50 Puchacz glider, it spins very easily! Just let it stall and it will drop a wing and go into a spin very quickly.
If you stall a K21, you then have to give it boot full of rudder to make it drop a wing and go into a slow spin. The K21 is very docile and makes a superb training glider but it will still do aeros though.
If you stall a K21, you then have to give it boot full of rudder to make it drop a wing and go into a slow spin. The K21 is very docile and makes a superb training glider but it will still do aeros though.
Soldato
Congrats on your first solo! Its something you'll never forget! I love the K13, its the first aircraft I ever flew and the first I soloed in. As has been said once the bug bites you it can get expensive! Gliding is great balance though as you can have some amazing flying for relatively cheap prices. I recommend you try and fly from a few different clubs as each has its own benefits, I can recommend Portmoak near Edinburgh.
I've 60hrs in a few different gliders, mainly the K13 and K8 but also DG505, Duo Discus and a few others. I was lucky to learn at Portmoak which was amazing at it has two hills, so generally as long as the wind is blowing you can do and sit on the hill and fly up and down it. Also the highlands provide great opportunities to enjoy wave flying. My Pb height gain from a 1200ft winch launch was up to 13,500ft. We only stopped climbing as the glider didn't have oxygen!
Since then I've moved onto powered aircraft and now have just under 6000hrs flying different airliners, but I still miss gliding and GA flying. I don't live far from Lasham but the price and limited airspace as well as lack of readily available lift put me off! I was spoilt up in Scotland! I also keep meaning to get my SEP rating back and learn to fly something interesting (I'd love to try a Pitts Special, and of course the dream is to have a go in a Spitfire!)
Keep up the flying, and if I can help with any info just ask. Congrats again!
I've 60hrs in a few different gliders, mainly the K13 and K8 but also DG505, Duo Discus and a few others. I was lucky to learn at Portmoak which was amazing at it has two hills, so generally as long as the wind is blowing you can do and sit on the hill and fly up and down it. Also the highlands provide great opportunities to enjoy wave flying. My Pb height gain from a 1200ft winch launch was up to 13,500ft. We only stopped climbing as the glider didn't have oxygen!
Since then I've moved onto powered aircraft and now have just under 6000hrs flying different airliners, but I still miss gliding and GA flying. I don't live far from Lasham but the price and limited airspace as well as lack of readily available lift put me off! I was spoilt up in Scotland! I also keep meaning to get my SEP rating back and learn to fly something interesting (I'd love to try a Pitts Special, and of course the dream is to have a go in a Spitfire!)
Keep up the flying, and if I can help with any info just ask. Congrats again!
Associate
S/Tigers the K13 is exactly the same as the K21 it too has to be forced to spin or put into a wing drop stall, neither of which I could master. I could recover from them but getting them into the situation in the first place wasn't so easy.
Blinkz, Thanks for the congrats! I live down in Southampton so local gliding clubs to choose from are far and few. Lee-on-Solent has a lot of houses around the outside of the airfield and whilst learning I think Lasham is potentially the safer option. You're right about the lift, out of the 5 days I flew only one was thermik. It is still flying though and the more experience I get the better. Once I have experience I can bugger off to another club for a weeks holiday to experience ridge soaring etc. We'll have to see how quickly I progress. Flying airliners will be left to the sim world for me, I'm more than happy to stick with gliding at the moment in the real world. I've read about wave lift and how smooth it can be and that it is almost like being in an actual lift. There is a lot ahead for me to experience
Blinkz, Thanks for the congrats! I live down in Southampton so local gliding clubs to choose from are far and few. Lee-on-Solent has a lot of houses around the outside of the airfield and whilst learning I think Lasham is potentially the safer option. You're right about the lift, out of the 5 days I flew only one was thermik. It is still flying though and the more experience I get the better. Once I have experience I can bugger off to another club for a weeks holiday to experience ridge soaring etc. We'll have to see how quickly I progress. Flying airliners will be left to the sim world for me, I'm more than happy to stick with gliding at the moment in the real world. I've read about wave lift and how smooth it can be and that it is almost like being in an actual lift. There is a lot ahead for me to experience
Do you prefer the A320 over the 737 because it has a table to sleep on and decent footrests?
Soldato
Not flown the 320 for 3 years now! Now on the 330 and 340. Def prefer the Airbus over Boeing! As for sleeping I prefer get a few hours in the bunk
Not flown the 320 for 3 years now! Now on the 330 and 340. Def prefer the Airbus over Boeing! As for sleeping I prefer get a few hours in the bunk
You can't just say that leave!
Any pics? Experiences you can tell of?
Haha sorry to drop and run! I can tell you the training pipeline is very long and a lot of hard work. I'm almost out the other side of it and its taken about 3 years of constant assessment. At times it's not the dream job that you may think it would be!
So far I have approx 100 hours on fixed wing and a further 150 on rotary. Initial training starts in a small plane before progressing onto a smallish civilian helicopter (Eurocopter Squirrel) then onwards to front line types on qualification of "wings". Any other qs i'll try my best to answer!
Associate
Whilst not strictly on topic with the OP's post I thought I'd still place an update in this thread about my glider flying. Since my last post I've completed my white card practical and written tests so I can now turn up and fly at my gliding club on white windsock days without the need for a check flight. I've also completed conversion over to a K21 and this weekend gone I completed conversion into this
Grob102 single seat glider. So much more response through the controls compared to the K13 and K21. The only downside to a smaller wing area so far is lower winch launches. I've also been warned that Blue links have a tendency to pop if you really pull back on the way up so I might be being a little too over cautious on the winch at the moment. I signaled to the winch driver to slow on the two winch launches I flew. Now to work on my red card which once completed is the same as BGA Bronze. I hope to achieve that by spring but I only manage to get to the airfield once a week so we'll see. After that it'll be cross country training and maybe aerobatics too
Grob102 single seat glider. So much more response through the controls compared to the K13 and K21. The only downside to a smaller wing area so far is lower winch launches. I've also been warned that Blue links have a tendency to pop if you really pull back on the way up so I might be being a little too over cautious on the winch at the moment. I signaled to the winch driver to slow on the two winch launches I flew. Now to work on my red card which once completed is the same as BGA Bronze. I hope to achieve that by spring but I only manage to get to the airfield once a week so we'll see. After that it'll be cross country training and maybe aerobatics too
Associate
A guy I used to know was a Nursing Officer in the RAF. He left and trained to be a commercial airline pilot. He now fly's twin engine turbo prop for BMI baby.