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A Purpose For Every Flight
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By Ian Sutcliffe, SOSA Gliding Club
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Every flight has a take off, tow, glide, approach and landing phase and if we are lucky a soaring phase. You can gain tremendous value from each phase. On take off you can practice a runner-less take off. You will want to feel comfortable doing this so that when you land at an airport you can call for an aerotow retrieve. You can also practice downwind and cross wind take offs. (All of the above with proper briefings and short grass).
On tow try boxing the wake and getting out of position and back again. The worst that will happen is that you will have to release early, but you will be preparing yourself for launching in difficult conditions – for example as often found at ridge soaring.
During the glide, mark a location and note how much altitude it takes to get there. Pretty soon you will become intuitive about this – much like converting currency in a foreign country. Get in you car and mark off 5 km stretches on a road bordering your club and note landmarks you can use from the sky. Then fly 10 km and note your starting and ending altitude. I recommend bringing along a few index cards so you can note down your starting and ending altitudes. Back on the ground, do the math and see what you outgoing and incoming losses per km are.
Approaches can be made from many angles. Practice right and left hand circuits, long finals, base to final without a normal downwind, set up approaches for a downwind landing, low circuit entry, steep approaches, aggressive sideslips, stretching glides and other variations to make your self comfortable with the approach phase in different situations. This will boost your confidence for getting down safely when away from the familiar local field. When you are feeling comfortable a contest finish is always a big thrill.
If you can soar, you can try different coring method and try exploring the lift area. Note where the strongest lift is relative to sun and wind. Find a thermal with others in it and practice thermalling with them. Leave the thermal and practice entering again. Mark the thermal and leave then try to find it again. If you get high, it is a good time to practice spins, steep turns, accelerated stalls and recovery, sideslips, speed control and other skills that are essential to cross country flying and confidence building.
Landings offer lots of options. Cross wind, downwind, different runway, obstacle avoidance, short field, flown on, full braking, turns on ground, etc. are all valuable to practice and make you much more confident.
Note that all of the above should only be done with appropriate planning, radio communication and advance approvals from your duty instructor to ensure maximum safety.
By Ian Sutcliffe, SOSA Gliding Club
Ian Sutcliffe learned to fly gliders in the UK in 1983 and currently flys an LS8-18, based at the SOSA Gliding Club at Rockton, Ontario. Ian learned to fly power in 1985 and flys a 1952 Cessna 170, based at Buttonville, Ontario. He began cross-country soaring in 2000 and has earned his silver and gold badges and two diamonds.
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