Gliding in the Summer Time

It was a lovely summer's day here (for once!). Clare and Joel were off this week and interested in coming gliding so here's a few pics from a gorgeous day out. It also made a great opportunity for me to take my camera along and take some more pics of my favourite sport. Sadly Char was working today so missed out...



The club is situated at the foot of Dunstable Downs, at the edge of the Chiltern Hills. Here you can see the clubhouse, hangar and trailers for storing the gliders, as well as a very busy launch point!



We arrived early in the morning to get our names down on the flying list. The giant yellow thing is our winch, used to launch gliders in a matter of seconds up to a height of around a 1000 feet (300m). See later...



Clare modelling a K21 glider...



And a tug...



Before long the launch point was buzzing with activity. The yellow control tower is very handy, and drives around the field just like a truck. Gliders are winching on the left of the picture and queued for aerotow on the right.



Here's our trusty CFI (Chief Flying Instructor) helping out with the towing.



And a typical aerotow. It's a sedate affair (relatively) and you go bumping down the field behind the tow plane.



A winch launch is a more dramatic experience. The yellow tractor pictured earlier is parked at the other end of the field, and these cables are dragged out to the launch point. A glider is attached to the other end, and flown up into the air like a kite.

This is Clare's winch launch: (theme music just for Joel!)



So Clare and Joel both got to fly on the winch. A slightly more dramatic way to be introduced to gliding!



Joel is definitely looking rather nervous!





All lined up and ready to go...



And yours truly holding the wings level.



Joel got some nice pics while flying.



I couldn't help including this old one of mine as well, showing the gliding field on a less summery day...



Here's trusty FYF returning. And then it was Clare's turn.





All strapped in and ready to go. The video above shows what happened next! Clare did well, unfortunately the thermals weren't working quite as well for her so she was down again in only 12 minutes compared to Joel's 24.



Finally, I couldn't resist a quick go myself! The conditions were getting great, sadly I could only fly for 30 mins as the glider was needed back at the Club.