My Flying

Four launches from 26L with two flights each from two different instructors. The first was with the very hands-on instructor, not a style I enjoy. During the first launch there was a loud bang at 400ft as the launch suddenly lost momentum and the back release dropped the cable.

The climb was shallow so the effect wasn’t too dramatic. Problem is that the instructor took over 80% of control and 100% of decision making. Rather annoying as I had a plan that I thought would have would have worked and I would have been able to execute the circuit and landing. Anyways it was a short circuit to land on 26R.

Later we found out that for some unexplained reason the winch’s engine had missed a beat and spluttered during the launch. The effect of this was that the glider surged ahead of the cable and the back release then dropped the cable.

The next flight was a short circuit where he at least permitted me to land the plane. The third flight, with the next instructor, was very very lekker. After a few week thermals we found some 5m/s thermals and reached cloud base, at 4000ft, rather quickly. We had some fun as the first cloud kinda started to swallow us rather quickly. This was the first time that I had thermalled to cloud base so quickly and I was surprised just how fast the cloud appeared around the aircraft. Full brakes and speed to 100 km/h and we were out.

I spent the next ½ hour practicing some stalls, thermalling and steep turns. For the first time in a long time my motion sickness started to set in, and rather quickly. This really upset me as I thought I was getting the better of it. Anyway, after informing the instructor we lost 2000ft very quickly and I landed the plane. Ten minutes of terra firma and I felt a lot better.

The last flight was a short circuit that went well. The flying for the day four flights of 57 minutes at ZAR242,60.