1,400 feet per minute up! In a glider. That’s as fast as the Bearhawk can climb. Just a moment before my elevator ride, I had been facing the solid green flank of Mt Lafayette. This was way better than I had expected for the day. Earlier that week, the wind was forecast from the west […]
I enjoy group fly outs to small grass fields. Gliding turns out to be no exception. After a day flying with the other glider pilots, I was content ending my silver distance attempt watching butterflies dance in the goldenrod and puffy white cumulus clouds amble across a perfect blue sky. A few weeks ago, I […]
The forecasts for Friday, Saturday and Sunday kept changing. I was looking for an opportunity to complete my FAI Silver Badge for soaring with a 50 km flight. The requirement is to get anywhere that is at least 50 km away from both the point of takeoff and the point of release from the tow […]
We got our bronze badges! After our two hour flights, Tyson needed more solo flight time, and we both needed simulated off field landings and passing the written test. I have been swamped at work, so Tyson led the way on coordinating schedules with the instructors. We passed our written test on July 6th. Tyson […]
[skip to details about towing with an EV] Last year I started looking at gliders. My primary desire was for a glider I didn’t have to stand in line for, and I could take up flying for as long or as far as I wanted. The next priority was something that was easy to maintain […]
The plan for the day started as Bart and I swapping off between the L-33 glider and a tow plane. Bart was gracious enough to let me fly the glider first to make a 2nd attempt at a C badge 1 hour flight and, if things went well, one of the needed 2 hr Bronze […]
My second 2 hour flight towards the bronze badge was on June 1st. The lift was forecast to be decent this day, but there wouldn’t be clouds. I would have to find it by luck, or by spotting a bird or other glider circling. Tyson noticed the thermals were forecast to top out around 7,000′. […]
I am finally making progress towards my bronze badge. That was my goal last year for gliding. There are a bunch of requirements, but the ones I found impossible were two flights, each over two hours duration. My first two hour flight this year was on May 11th. I learned last year that I needed […]
We have two small airplanes, an RV-4 and a Bearhawk, and we have fun flying them to local small airports, and off field landings with other local pilots.
