This is the first in a four-part series of posts on An Excellent Soaring Adventure.
Along with barnstorming (see "A Perfect Day..." - the Dress Rehearsal), another dream from when I was a teenager without money was to soar through the air without the noise or complication of an engine. Sailing in the sky seemed like the purest expression of flying I could imagine. So when people ask me, "why are you going to Phoenix to learn how to fly gliders," my response is, "well, it's been in the plan for 45 years now - it's about time I acted on it."
Another question might be, "but if you don't have an engine, what do you do if you're too far from the airport, or if your landing is messed up and you need a do-over."
"Yep, exactly," I reply.
It requires precision. Precision in planning, precision "on the fly" so to speak. Precision in execution. You get one chance to make it back to the airport on time, one shot at putting it on the ground where you want it. With a regular airplane, the motor is always available to help patch up mis-calculations or mistakes in time, distance, and altitude judgements. Plus there a lot of instruments available in the cockpit to provide perspective. Even when learning to fly, instructors provide all kinds of crutches. "When you reach this point in the pattern, you should be at this altitude." "Start your turn when you're over the water tower." "Look back at the runway and when you're 45 degrees from it and turn onto your base leg," or "use the lights of the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) to guide you down the glide path." With those crutches, there is not a real need for calculation and finesse, but I was never sure exactly where the wheels would touch down, or how hard or soft the landing might be. I wanted to go to the school that teaches precision flying, where I could come away with much more proficiency and accuracy. If you fly gliders, you'd better be accurate.
So the adventure finally began this week (the first of April.) Tom Gregory, my long time associate and good friend from 3M, had a similar bucket list item that included glider flight instruction. His eyes lit up when I described my intentions. He jumped at the idea that we fulfill our long-held dreams together. He'd never spent much time in a private, general aviation aircraft until our flight at the end of March, and with that experience, we sealed the deal to spend 11 days taking flight lessons from Arizona Soaring in Maricopa, Arizona.
We arrived at the Estrella Sailport at the opening time of 11:00 a.m. that Monday, following a delayed flight and late night getting to our hotel in Chandler, Arizona. Of course we were early, being as anxious as kids at Christmas to get started. As we drove down the long, sandy, washed out drive, lined with desert flowers and brush, we saw a number of camping trailers and motor homes randomly scattered about. Some had cars parked nearby. Further down, we came upon a long fence reaching out from a single, large hangar. Next to the hanger was a long roof covering a number of gliders and tow planes, and a pickup and camping trailer. On the other side of the hangar was a strangely shaped building with an annex attached. You could imagine the original building was a two story, narrow but long hut. The annex held the office of the school, and the hut contained instructor desks, a refrigerator, supplies and various moments and pictures on the walls. It had obviously been there for quite some time.
Upon entering, we saw one desk clerk and were met by two gentlemen that turned out to be our instructors. Bruce is a 70 year old ex-motorcycle dealer owner, ex-FBO (airport field service and training center) owner-operator, ex-automotive parts manager, ex-over the road trucker Certified Flight Instructor for airplanes and gliders. Tom is nearly the same age, a former FAA examiner, has been teaching glider flying for more than 20 years. Each have tens of thousands of flights under their belts, and both live on the field in one of those camping trailers.
Arizona Soaring is reputed to train more glider pilots than any other location in the country. Part of that may be because of weather. Maricopa has some of the most consistent, sunniest weather in the country, with a high propensity for the thermals that provide lift. With around 18 gliders, three of which are dedicated to training new and "add-on" (adding the glider certification to an existing private pilot certification) pilots, availability makes intense and continuous training plans possible.
In coming posts, I'll share the experience in detail. On the first day, after filling out the required paperwork and a brief review of rules and procedures, Bruce said, "let's go fly." Within 30 minutes, we were barreling down the asphalt runway in a Schweizer 2-33 glider towed by a Piper Pawnee - a great start.
Along with barnstorming (see "A Perfect Day..." - the Dress Rehearsal), another dream from when I was a teenager without money was to soar through the air without the noise or complication of an engine. Sailing in the sky seemed like the purest expression of flying I could imagine. So when people ask me, "why are you going to Phoenix to learn how to fly gliders," my response is, "well, it's been in the plan for 45 years now - it's about time I acted on it."
"Yep, exactly," I reply.
It requires precision. Precision in planning, precision "on the fly" so to speak. Precision in execution. You get one chance to make it back to the airport on time, one shot at putting it on the ground where you want it. With a regular airplane, the motor is always available to help patch up mis-calculations or mistakes in time, distance, and altitude judgements. Plus there a lot of instruments available in the cockpit to provide perspective. Even when learning to fly, instructors provide all kinds of crutches. "When you reach this point in the pattern, you should be at this altitude." "Start your turn when you're over the water tower." "Look back at the runway and when you're 45 degrees from it and turn onto your base leg," or "use the lights of the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) to guide you down the glide path." With those crutches, there is not a real need for calculation and finesse, but I was never sure exactly where the wheels would touch down, or how hard or soft the landing might be. I wanted to go to the school that teaches precision flying, where I could come away with much more proficiency and accuracy. If you fly gliders, you'd better be accurate.
So the adventure finally began this week (the first of April.) Tom Gregory, my long time associate and good friend from 3M, had a similar bucket list item that included glider flight instruction. His eyes lit up when I described my intentions. He jumped at the idea that we fulfill our long-held dreams together. He'd never spent much time in a private, general aviation aircraft until our flight at the end of March, and with that experience, we sealed the deal to spend 11 days taking flight lessons from Arizona Soaring in Maricopa, Arizona.
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| Tom waiting outside the Main Office |
Upon entering, we saw one desk clerk and were met by two gentlemen that turned out to be our instructors. Bruce is a 70 year old ex-motorcycle dealer owner, ex-FBO (airport field service and training center) owner-operator, ex-automotive parts manager, ex-over the road trucker Certified Flight Instructor for airplanes and gliders. Tom is nearly the same age, a former FAA examiner, has been teaching glider flying for more than 20 years. Each have tens of thousands of flights under their belts, and both live on the field in one of those camping trailers.
Arizona Soaring is reputed to train more glider pilots than any other location in the country. Part of that may be because of weather. Maricopa has some of the most consistent, sunniest weather in the country, with a high propensity for the thermals that provide lift. With around 18 gliders, three of which are dedicated to training new and "add-on" (adding the glider certification to an existing private pilot certification) pilots, availability makes intense and continuous training plans possible.
In coming posts, I'll share the experience in detail. On the first day, after filling out the required paperwork and a brief review of rules and procedures, Bruce said, "let's go fly." Within 30 minutes, we were barreling down the asphalt runway in a Schweizer 2-33 glider towed by a Piper Pawnee - a great start.
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| Instructor Bruce says, "Let's go flying." |
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