How to learn

Learning to fly a glider might sound very difficult but it really is not. If you can drive a car then you should be able to learn how to fly a glider without too many problems. Read on and we will explain what you will have in store for your first flight and beyond!

First flight

Whether your first flight is a trial lesson bought for you as a birthday gift or as new member of EGC it will be an unforgettable experience. You will arrive at the airfield and you will no doubt be interested in what the weather is doing - you may only be wishing for it to stay dry but if you are lucky it may even be thermic! If you are having a trial lesson then you will already have a specific time for your flight but if you are a new member then the first thing you will want to do is get your name on the flying list. When waiting for your flight your instructor will talk to you about gliding and how everything works. You will also most probably see some take-offs and landings (and also some gliders in the air, maybe even thermalling!) so you will see how it all works and what to expect. You may also get chatting to some of our members who will be more than happy to tell you about gliding and answer any questions you might have.

Before your flight you will be shown the ASK 13 two-seater training glider that you will be flying in. These are used by the huge majority of gliding clubs in the UK because they are incredibly versatile and very easy to fly. The K13 has the typical tandem two-seater layout with the instructor sitting behind whilst you get the best view from the front! Pilots that are taller and heavier than (---kg) may have to sit in the back to make sure the glider is balanced correctly. All pilots must wear a parachute when flying in a glider. You will be shown how to put the parachute on correctly and in an event of having to bail out shown how to use it. Having to bail out of a glider is an extremely rare occurrence but accidents do happen. In the huge majority of cases of bail out there is usually a collision involved - usually when there are many gliders flying closely together in the same thermal in competitions. This is why lookout is so important in gliding. Once you have your parachute on you will be aided into the cockpit of the glider (usually the front unless you weigh more than ---kg) and strapped in. The security straps are very simple but you will shown how to undo them in the case of an emergency and also so you can undo them when you land!

You will be introduced to the cockpit controls and instruments. There are four main cockpit controls in the K13: control stick, rudder, trim lever and airbrake lever. As this will be your first flight you will only need to be concerned with the first two. When seated the stick sits between your legs (usually centrally around your knees) and move in all directions (that is, forward, back, left and right). Forward and back movements controls the elevator which is on the horizontal tailplane. The elevator controls the gliders pitch movement (i.e., nose up and nose down). When you push the stick forward the nose of the glider goes down, you lose height and your speed increases. When you pull the stick back the nose comes up, you gain height and your speed decreases. Left and right movements control the ailerons which are on the wings. Ailerons make the glider roll (or bank) which allows the glider to turn. Move the stick left and the glider rolls left. Move the stick right and the glider rolls right. Once you have the correct angle of bank you centralise the stick and the glider will remain at that angle of bank (with minimal corrections). On the floor in front of you will be two foot pedals. These operate the rudder which is on the vertical tailplane (or fin). The rudder does not turn the glider but instead controls yaw (that is, merely pointing the nose where you want it). The rudder is used to co-ordinate turns by keeping yaw and roll balanced thus creating a balanced turn. Push the left pedal and the glider yaws to the left and the nose points left. Push the right pedal and the glider yaws to the right and the nose points right. The trim lever is to the right and controls a small control surface on the elevator (called the trim tab). This essentially relieves pressure on the stick when holding the nose up or down. This allows speed control making flying much more comfortable and easier. The airbrake lever is to your left and raises two large vertical panels from both the top and bottom of both wings. This disturbs the airflow over the wing and reduces the amount of lift created. The airbrake lever locks into a closed position but if you push the stick forward the airbrakes unlock. Push forward and the airbrakes will open - the more you push forward the further they extend, and the faster you will descend. The airbrakes are primarily used for approach and landing but can also be used wherever the pilot wants to control descent (e.g., in a strong thermal).

The instrument panel on the ASK 13 is very simple with all the basic instruments on display. The instruments are as follows: airspeed indicator (ASI), altimeter, variometer, turn and slip, compass, accelerometer. For your first flight you may not even need to look at the instruments but if you ones of primary concern are the: ASI (which shows speed in knots), altimeter (which shows height above the airfield in feet) and variometer (which shows vertical speed in knots - that is, are you flying in air that is rising or falling). Some more advanced gliders will have other instruments such as computers, artificial horizon, global positioning system, electronic variometers, oxygen controls etc.

Once all strapped in and secure your instructor will go through the pre-flight checks to make sure everything is in order before you take-off. You will have to rest your feet lightly on the rudder pedals and the instructor may tell you lightly hold the control stick so you can feel the movements made during the take-off. The canopy will be closed and you will be connected to the cable ready for take-off. If being launched by winch then the glider will be connected to the winch cable on the belly hook (situated underneath you by the main wheel) whereas if you being aero-towed the cable will be connected to the nose hook. The wing tip holder will check the sky all above and behind, give the "take-slack" signal and then the "all-out" signal.

A winch launch and aerotow launch are very different experiences. If you are having a winch launch the glider will accelerate very rapidly (0-60 mph in a few seconds!). Once the glider has enough airspeed it will automatically want to lift of the ground and then go into a gentle climb. Once a safe speed has been reached the instructor will steepen the gradual climb. On an aerotow launch you are attached to our Piper Pawnee Tug plane by a rope which is about 150 metres long. You will become airborne very quickly and climb gently (albeit gaining height very rapidly) until you reach your goal height whereupon the instructor will release from the cable, perform a climbing turn to the left and then you will be on your way.

Once you have released from the winch or tow-plane you will be gliding and so will need to find thermals in order to stay up in the air. Other types of lift are hill or ridge lift and also wave lift although at EGC we do not have these types of lift locally. The instructor will show you how the controls work and you will be invited to have a go yourself. As described before the elevator is controlled by pushing the stick forward and pulling the stick back. The controls are surprisingly sensitive and the greater the degree of movement on the stick, the greater the angle of climb or dive.  So, if you wish to fly faster you push the stick forward, the nose drops and the horizon rises (the position of the nose in relation to the horizon is known as the attitude), you obtain your speed on the ASI and then hold the stick where it is. To keep the speed without any pressure on the stick we use the trim tab. Likewise the ailerons are controlled by moving the stick left (to bank left) and right (to roll right). Once again the rate of roll depends on how large of movement you make with the stick. Making a small movement to the left results in a slow roll to the left whilst a large movement to the left results in a fast left bank. It must be noted that once the desired angle of bank has been achieved the stick must be centralised to maintain that angle of bank - if you keep the stick to one side the glider will continue to roll until the stick is brought back to the centre position. When performing a turn in a glider we have to use the rudder as well and using the stick to co-ordinate the turn to make sure it is balanced. This is due to the long wings that gliders have which create a large amount of drag during the initial stages of a turn and when coming out of a turn (this is called aileron drag). So when you bank left you also use left rudder (more so initially and less once in the turn) - so we always fly gliders with stick and rudder together. When banking and turning yourself the instructor will operate the rudder pedals for you but you can always have a go yourself!

Your instructor may also show you how to fly straight and level maintaining a heading and let you have a go - it's actually harder than it sounds! Whilst flying straight and level you may be shown a stall (this is where you speed is not sufficient enough to maintain your angle of attack). You will start at a normal cruising speed of 41 knots and the instructor will slowly pull the stick back which will result (as you will now know!) with the nose rising and the airspeed decreasing. Keeping the stick back the nose will continue to rise and you may not be able to see the horizon in front of you whilst the speed will continue to decrease. Soon it will go more quieter and the glider will begin to buffet gently. During this stage of the initial stall where there is a lack of airflow over the wing the control stick becomes much less responsive and larger movements of the stick are needed to keep the wings level. Keeping the stick back the nose of the glider will suddenly drop the instructor will move the stick forward whereupon the glider will recover airspeed, the wings will become unstalled and the instructor can pull the stick back slightly to recover to level flight.

It may now be time to return to the airfield. The instructor will get the glider into position and start the circuit. The instructor will perform his downwind checks (also known as landing checks). When turning onto final approach the instructor will open the airbrakes and adjust them according to your height in relation to the airfield - if you look to high then the instructor will open them more and if you look ok then minimal airbrake will used. It is not unusual to come into land quite steep as to ensure a safe height and speed safety margin (we can lose more height with our airbrakes but not gain more if we need it; and we can increase our airspeed with plenty of height available but not gain more if we do not have enough height!).