Gliding experience

[clarkmagpie]

I'm getting the wife a training flight in a glider for her birthday.
Has anybody done the same?
How did you find it?

This is based in the southern Lakes so the views should be incredible

[louiebaby]

I got one for the (now) wife a few years ago.

I was driving her back to the airport for her to go home, and we were taking the scenic route. I pointed out the place and said something like "Ooo, I've always fancied doing that."

She said something like "Yeah me too."

So we pulled in and she was in the air about 15 minutes later. It was all pre-booked, and she had no idea. She still talks about it now.

[clarkmagpie]

It's an aero-tow.
An extra £20 gets you from 2000ft to 3000ft which apparently gets you quite a bit more air time.
So from £65 to £85, doesn't seem to bad at all

[Mr Dave]

Its brilliant, never had an experience flight so to speak but did used to fly solo when I was younger. Nothing with wings can beat it.

[Simpo Two]

+4G, according to the instruments. Note maniacal instructor in canopy reflection! Camera between knees and yes, that's the ground up there.

[john_p]

clarkmagpie said:

It's an aero-tow.
An extra £20 gets you from 2000ft to 3000ft which apparently gets you quite a bit more air time.
So from £65 to £85, doesn't seem to bad at all

Yeah once you get to 1000ft-ish it's time to start landing, so you're effectively doubling the time in the air.

Potentially up to an hour if you go on a good soaring day and the club's not too busy (and the instructor thinks s/he can persuade your wife to learn to fly!). But most likely to be 20-30 minutes.

[clarkmagpie]

I think it could well be something we could be interested in doing but I can't imagine its the cheapest of hobbies to partake in!

[AnotherClarkey]

clarkmagpie said:

I think it could well be something we could be interested in doing but I can't imagine its the cheapest of hobbies to partake in!

It can be cheap in monetary terms but demands a lot of time.

Winch launches are awesome but you will get more air time from a (boring) aerotow.

[fatboy b]

AnotherClarkey said:

It can be cheap in monetary terms but demands a lot of time.

Winch launches are awesome but you will get more air time from a (boring) aerotow.

You can get good launched on a winch too. When I was gliding a number of years back, we had a particularly windy day. I was driving the winch and managed to get someone up to 2,500 ft by pulling them in, then letting them "kite" out, then pulling them in again.

[Zippee]

AnotherClarkey said:

clarkmagpie said:

I think it could well be something we could be interested in doing but I can't imagine its the cheapest of hobbies to partake in!

It can be cheap in monetary terms but demands a lot of time.

Winch launches are awesome but you will get more air time from a (boring) aerotow.

Exactly. Gliding and microlighting are pretty much the 2 cheapest ways to get airborne. Trouble with gliding is it's a team activity, you'll be the black sheepo of the club if you consistently turn up and just fly, you'd be expected to pitvh in and help others, move planes into position for launch etc.