More glider flying

Second post about glider flying!

I've been many times at Boberg since my first glider flight. Now that I'm part of the club I have to be there every weekend. I've had 7 flights (8 with the first one) as a glider student and on the 5th, I landed without the help of the instructor for the first time.

On the 6th flight, the instructor took off and after 50 meters, I took the controls. On the 7th flight, I had the controls the entire flight. It is very cool to take off and you only have to mantain your heading and climb with an airspeed between 80 and 90 km/h. As you climb higher, the rate of climb is reduced and you have to push the nose a bit to mantain 80 km/h. When the cable is released, you pull the lock three times to ensure it has released and you glide! If you take off with a crosswind, you must fly into the wind so that it doesn't moves you from the climb trajectory. The next step is to find thermals.

One option, tipically used, is to fly below a cumulus cloud and hope there's rising air. You can also search for other gliders flying around in your area and if they are making turns, it means they found one. You fly there and then fly on that same circle with the same direction. You fly on his 9 o'clock if turning left, so that he flies on the other side of the circle.

When you don’t find more thermals and you’re flying below 250 meters, it’s time to land. All flights all made near the airfield so that you don’t land somewhere else. You fly parallel to the runway (Gegenanflug or downwind in english) and check if there are other gliders landing. As you fly abeam 500m from the runway threshold (at your 7.30 o'clock), you start your turn to the Queranflug (Base) and it’s perpendicular to the runway. Then, you start turning to the Endanflug (Final) and apply speedbrakes as required. Normally you descend with 90kmh and use speedbrakes with pitch control so that you don’t get too fast or too slow, or too low or high and make a nice approach. When crossing the treeline, you apply full speedbrakes and land. The flare is extremely easy and the glider stops with less than 20 meters on the ground.



Hope you enjoyed this post! Cya

My First Glider Flight

Moin Moin! I didn’t have time to write in my blog. This post will be about my first glider flght on 15th of August 2009. (Didn't published this one until this day... ups!)

One Saturday I decided to go to Boberg Segelflugplatz, that’s south of Mummelmannsberg (Southeast from Hamburg). Not very far from where I live. I only take my bike and change in one or two stations and when arriving at Mummelmannsberg I ride with my bike to Boberg. When I got to the airfield, there was good activity around. I asked someone where I could make a flight in a glider and I went to a van, where all the members where sitting and chatting.


The place where that van is, is the Start-position and one calls the “catapult” to launch the glider with the cable so that it can fly. I asked someone again if I could make a flight and yes, I could fly that day. I explained that I was already a pilot and I wanted to make the PPL-C, the german glider licence. He told me that I could make a “Schnupperkurs”. It consists of 10 takeoffs (flights) to see if you like gliding. Of course I will like it! I joined the club the next day as a normal member.

When it was my turn to fly, I put the parachute on and I got into the back seat. That glider, the ASK-13 (german glider), is for two: one in the front and one in the back. I strapped myself, but it was uncomfortable inside. I have long legs and the position wasn’t very comfortable for me, but heck! I flew ^^. We closed the “window”, it’s the hatch-window and the pilot explained me some things. We made the pre-takeoff checks and we were ready to go! The takeoff is very cool. The cable pulls the glider very fast and you’re in the air in less than 4 seconds. The climb is spectacular... right after you takeoff, the glider climbs at about 1200 feet per minute or 6 meters per second. Reaching an altitude where the “catapult” can not get you higher, the cable is released automatically (When the cable reaches more than 57°). We glide at about 80 to 90 km/h and the key to remain in the air for a long time is to find thermals. Thermals are the “air-bubbles” of hot air. The sun heats the surface and because the hot air is less dense than cold air, it rises. As this hot air reaches a level of comparatively cool air, where the moisture in the air condenses, cumulus clouds form. They are the puffy ones. When we find a thermal (tipically below a puffy cloud), the variometer indicates a climb and we begin to make A LOT of turns to climb. When turning the glider, you must use more rudder than an engine-powered airplane. I controlled the glider for some time and made some turns. It’s a lot of fun!

It was time to land and we flew parallel to the runway and the pilot took the controls. The landing is very cool I must say. The sound of the air hitting the speedbrake is awesome and you start descending to the grass runway. The landing is very simple and so I finished my first glider flight. No words, it was amazing! I’ve flown all my life in different kinds of powered airplanes, but gliding is so cool! I got out of the glider with a BIG smile and then asked how could I join the club.

The club name is Hamburger Verein für Luftfahrt. HVL in short. You can find more info on www.hvl-boberg.de

I wrote most of this part when I was on the train to Münster. I visited my granduncles there. More gliding adventures and pics next! Stay tuned!