My Flying

Today was one of those ummmhhh?!?!? days. A day with lots of question marks with equally as many exclamation marks all preceded with ummmhhhh. So what am I saying here? Ummhh, well it's kind of hard to explain.

For some reason I was feeling a bit apprehensive for that first solo flight of the day, it was a different runway with a 45 degree cross wind and the wind was gusting to 35 kph from the SE. My check flight went off well launching from 08R, but we landed on 16L after an absolutely horrid circuit on my part and my brain was a little slow during the landing as well. Scary the cob-webs you accumulate without flying for seven days.

During the launch I again pulled too steeply on the initial climb, but the speed was a constant 100 kph all the way up. Near the top of the launch I had a brain fade moment and forget to gently start levelling off, at 1400ft (a damn good launch height by-the-way), BANG, the cable breaks and I’m doing seriously negative G's as the camera, radio and water bottle shoot into orbit around my head. My straps were nice and tight so I didn't make contact with the inside of the canopy. Took me few seconds to remember to release what was left of the cable and chute.

I headed off for to the ridge with nice altitude but after 20 minutes of scrapping looking for lift I hit my 750 ft cut off and headed back to 16L. I reached it with good height to spare, planned the circuit well but fubbed the landing somewhat.

I was then reminded about my steep launch and the fact that the cable could have let rip when I was much lower down resulting in less pleasant outcome. Ummmhhh.

After that my confidence was slightly bruised and I sat the rest of the day waiting for another turn and thinking to myself, should I go when the time came. Strangely enough when I was asked later that day if I wanted to fly again I didn't even hesitate when saying yes.

The launch went off much better and I kept good forward pressure on the stick, my launch height suffered with 200 ft, but at least it was a lot safer. I bleed off the height with some nice tight turns then started a long circuit and landed very well. Finals were interesting though as I had full flaps and brakes and was keeping the speed at 100 kph and again aiming for the fence. The Blanik at the best of times has a very shallow approach and I tucked the brakes away at the last moment just to give me some extra height over that fence and so as not to alarm the folk on the ground too much.

So uummhh. Some good points, some bad points and all in all a nice day at the airfield, and as a fellow pilot said, practice makes perfect. 173.00ZAR.

A much better turn out at the airfield, but unfortunately no thermal lift. A little later in the day the Southerly picks up and the ridge starts to work, a little. I go up for my check ride. We spend 20 minutes floating around the ridge and then head back.

Much later in the day after a lot of instructional flying the instructor decides to head off to the ridge in a borrowed ASW20 (his new mistress). As we are short staffed on the ground, for a dual flight, I radio the instructor and ask if I may come and join him on the ridge in the Blanik. No problem he says.

I head off to the ridge after a really bad winch launch. I got a good height but I pulled too hard too early and climbed really steep. I still find launching the Blanik to be tricky, especially that initial rotation to climb out. I'm going to have to be careful and give some extra forward stick.

Anyways, while I'm flying the ridge one of the other members radios me and suggests that I go for my two-hours. The instructor agrees and so I start. The first hour went well and the lift was good. Later my concentration started to wonder and I really needed to try to keep focused. An hour and half later I find myself slowly drifting lower and lower and hope that the time is almost up as the lift seems to be slowly disappearing. After two hours they radio me, "two hours are up." I spend another few minutes there then head back and land. I was surprised there was no cross wind during the land on 08R and am even more surprised when I later open the canopy after landing and observe just how calm the wind has become (the airfield's windsock is shredded and useless). It was a little more than a breeze. Twenty minutes later when someone else headed out to the ridge, all the lift was gone. So I guess I was very lucky, would have hated to get to 13/4 then have to return.

So another great days flying at 370,00ZAR.

View some of the photos here.

Watch a short 2 minute movie.

So my GPL is getting closer. Basically all that is left is 20 solo flights (done 3) and 6 hours (done 2.5).

During the drive to the airfield I was admiring all those pretty Cumulus clouds and they were looking oh so good, showing lots of promise for the day ahead. Unfortunately the member turn out at the club was low, but still just enough to get us airborne.
The instructor gave one of the new students a quick flight before they hurriedly had to return to earth due to "motion" reasons.

I then hopped aboard and the instructor asks, do I think you're up for a trip to Cockscomb (and back). Now Cockscomb is a mountain some distance (60km) with little or no out-landing possibilities. The only safe place to land is a small airstrip, on a member's farm, about 50 km away. So off we go. We thermalled to 4000 feet and then headed off in a North Westerly direction. We managed to climb up to 7000 feet before having to turn back as the lift was getting thin. To say I learnt a ton during that 1.5 hour flight would be an understatement. One thing I most definitely did learn is that I really have a huge amount still to learn. A huge amount.

We return with almost 3000 feet to spare and lost some of that trying very hard to get the aeroplane to spin, the best we could manage was about a 270º incipient spin. Really enjoyed it.

On our return the instructor informs me that it is time to go solo. Not my first solo in an aeroplane, but my first in a glider. So I'm strapping myself in and I ask if he just wants a circuit. "Sure", he says, "but if you find some lift feel free to explore it". "No", I reply, "just a circuit is fine for me." So off I go. At the end of the launch I release at 1300 ft and soon find myself gently gliding through some lift. As I had all that height I say to myself, "ok, just one orbit." Then, "just one more." Eventually 15 minutes later I'm still up there and need to remind myself that I need to get my first solo gilder landing behind me. I pull off lots of tight turns to loose altitude, start the circuit at 900 ft and land just where instructed to. Damn, I was chuffed with myself.

View the photos here.

So that's a dual cross country and a solo in one day at 240,00ZAR. Not bad hey!

The day started off feeling promising, and it was.

I had seven training flights covering just about everything: stalls, incipient spins, steep turns, flapped approaches, no flapped approaches, crabbing approaches, side slips, cable breaks, cross wind landings and high wind conditions (45 kph).

I completely enjoyed every minute and it was good to get some proper instructional training for once.

I had two flights where I did everything (with complete silence from the back) including the radio work, circuit planning and landings and they both went off very well.

I'm still finding the side slips to be very tricky, i.e. crossed controls, but I did discover that I side slip much easier to the left than to the right. When you side slip to the left it's left aerolon and right rudder, i.e. both right-side limbs. Side slipping to the right requires right aerolon, but left rudder (foot). Now one half of the brain controls the right arm and the other half the left foot. This is when my co-ords get very confused.

My first cable cable break of the day was a major event for me, not in that I wasn't ready (well actually I knew before hand that it was coming) but the results took me a little by surprise. The wind was blowing a steady 45 kph and about 200 to 300 feet into the launch the instructor pulls the plug. I instinctively pushed forward on the stick, but perhaps a bit too hard, the next thing I'm lifted from my seat and bash my head firmly against the inside of the canopy. While I'm there momentarily suspended in space wondering what the hell just happened I look to my right and there at eye level, also suspended in space, is the handheld air-band radio. A second later gravity regains control and thud me and the radio return to our rightful places. Damn it looked weird.

A little stirred, but not shaken from the momentary negative G's . I regain control of my senses, yank the brakes fully open and point for the runway below. Much to my delight I also instinctively side slipped a part of the way down, not that I needed to due to there being a strong head wind, but in my books, the sooner we lost altitude the better. The side slip was to the left (i.e. the easy one), which was fortunately the correct one for the slight prevailing cross wind.

By the end of the day the wind was howling and three people were required to hang onto the Blanik during ground handling. The instructor was very happy with my progress and said he would have sent me solo, but for the high wind. So hopefully next week the weather and equipment will co-operate and there will be a willing instructor on duty. A 133ZAR very well spent.