cdiver2
Contributor
Wednesday I took my wife to fulfill one of the things on her bucket list...Gliding. The plan was for just my wife to fly, a birthday gift from me. After landing all excited telling me she took the controls she did her best to talk me into going up, now I had done this a few times in the past and was not to bothered about doing it again so I said to my wife and pilot OK IF, we can do some acrobatic stuff (I had never done them before). To my surprise the pilot said "ok I will have to go and get a couple of parachutes if we are going to do them" !. So after a very brief instruction on how to open the chute (grab this ring and pull across your chest) up we go.
We level out at 5,000 ft and the pilot asks "are you ready for a loop", with a little apprehension in my voice I said "go for it". We start with a little dive to get up speed and then turn into a vertical climb this feels a little like a roller coaster, next the turn over the top weightless but I still managed to keep my orientation and take photos then into a nose dive straight down, this is ok no problems keep on taking photographs. THEN comes the nose up to level flight, first I suddenly I weigh a ton and think I am going to come out the bottom of the plane but my stomach may come out of my butt first, then my face feels like its melting and going to run down onto my chest. At this point I think if I could have got out and used the chute I would have gladly done so. We do a couple more loops but I am not sure what I am getting in the photographs as the instrument console sits fairly high up and I am not looking through the view finder but over the top of the camera, so on our last loop I hold the camera out at arms length and above my head only to find I can not keep my arms up against the Gs we are pulling and my hands are forced down onto my knees after what felt like an eternity fighting against it.
Next the pilot asks if I would like to do a clover leaf, I figure nothing can be as bad as the loop so I said "go for it. Once again we start with a dive to get speed up then into a vertical climb until we are nearly at the stall point then we turn onto our right side, then upside down, then dive and pull out into the same direction we started in. I was wrong it was as bad as a loop. We do a couple more of these and the pilot asks if there is anything else I would like to do. So I explained a maneuver you see in the movies were the planes are flying in a straight line along side each other when they see the enemy in front and below, they then one at a time dip there right wing and do a diving 360 turn. "No problem its a bit like a clover leaf" and before I can say another word we go right into it. After three of these I was at last disorientated and ready to settle down for a scenic tour.
After all the excitement the pilot tells me he is looking for a thermal to get some altitude back, looking at the altitude meter I see we are are at 1,500 feet. Having found a thermal we do a circle for about two minutes gaining 800 feet even though you could not actually feel yourself climbing. After this it is my turn to take the controls and if I say so myself I did not do to bad, straight level flight, a couple of turns and I was only told once to keep the nose down so that you cold see the Horizon.
After landing the pilot told me he had also enjoyed the flight, it was very rarely he got to do stunts whilst taking up fair paying guests...I wonder why, maybe the had more sense than me.
All in it was a great day I got to live some of my boyhood dreams crossed one of my bucket list...actually two of my bucket list, I had wanted to do this in a jet fighter but after the pilot telling me we were only pulling 3 - 31/2 Gs I think I will forget about that.
The photos did not turn out as hoped between a hazy day and taking the shoots through the canopy.
We level out at 5,000 ft and the pilot asks "are you ready for a loop", with a little apprehension in my voice I said "go for it". We start with a little dive to get up speed and then turn into a vertical climb this feels a little like a roller coaster, next the turn over the top weightless but I still managed to keep my orientation and take photos then into a nose dive straight down, this is ok no problems keep on taking photographs. THEN comes the nose up to level flight, first I suddenly I weigh a ton and think I am going to come out the bottom of the plane but my stomach may come out of my butt first, then my face feels like its melting and going to run down onto my chest. At this point I think if I could have got out and used the chute I would have gladly done so. We do a couple more loops but I am not sure what I am getting in the photographs as the instrument console sits fairly high up and I am not looking through the view finder but over the top of the camera, so on our last loop I hold the camera out at arms length and above my head only to find I can not keep my arms up against the Gs we are pulling and my hands are forced down onto my knees after what felt like an eternity fighting against it.
Next the pilot asks if I would like to do a clover leaf, I figure nothing can be as bad as the loop so I said "go for it. Once again we start with a dive to get speed up then into a vertical climb until we are nearly at the stall point then we turn onto our right side, then upside down, then dive and pull out into the same direction we started in. I was wrong it was as bad as a loop. We do a couple more of these and the pilot asks if there is anything else I would like to do. So I explained a maneuver you see in the movies were the planes are flying in a straight line along side each other when they see the enemy in front and below, they then one at a time dip there right wing and do a diving 360 turn. "No problem its a bit like a clover leaf" and before I can say another word we go right into it. After three of these I was at last disorientated and ready to settle down for a scenic tour.
After all the excitement the pilot tells me he is looking for a thermal to get some altitude back, looking at the altitude meter I see we are are at 1,500 feet. Having found a thermal we do a circle for about two minutes gaining 800 feet even though you could not actually feel yourself climbing. After this it is my turn to take the controls and if I say so myself I did not do to bad, straight level flight, a couple of turns and I was only told once to keep the nose down so that you cold see the Horizon.
After landing the pilot told me he had also enjoyed the flight, it was very rarely he got to do stunts whilst taking up fair paying guests...I wonder why, maybe the had more sense than me.
All in it was a great day I got to live some of my boyhood dreams crossed one of my bucket list...actually two of my bucket list, I had wanted to do this in a jet fighter but after the pilot telling me we were only pulling 3 - 31/2 Gs I think I will forget about that.
The photos did not turn out as hoped between a hazy day and taking the shoots through the canopy.
