I used to see a poem called "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee Jr. all the time as a kid growing up. Even before I understood what all the words meant, I remember a sense of wonder at the first two lines. This weekend I had my chance to experience what it feels like. On Thursday night I decided that I wanted to do something this weekend involving flying, so I went on line and started googling. Now, before I go into the rest of my story, some of my readers may be wondering why the heck I would want to go flying. "Aren't you the one who is deathly afraid of flying to the point where you have to take maximum doses of powerful sedatives which make you forget everything that happened for the day leading up to and following your trip?" you may be asking. Yes, that is me, but as is often the cases, fears aren't as simple as they seem. I think I would love flying...from the cockpit! I only hate flying when it involves being unaware of what is going on. I dislike any situation where I am not well-informed. I'm the weirdo who wants to know as soon as the pilot does that there is something wrong. Honestly, I think if I had an instrument panel in place of my tray table, I would be a much calmer flyer.
So, now that I have explained away that little inconsistency, back to my story. So there I was, googling (Is that supposed to be capitalized - nah, not when I'm using it as a verb) and I stumbled across "Bay Area Glider Rides". That sounded interesting to me. Mind you, it wouldn't have five weeks ago. Five weeks ago I would have thought of gliders as boring, but that was before the Salinas Airshow. That was where I got to see a glider that did all sorts of aerobatics; loops and rolls and a dozen other tricks that sounded like the announcers were making them up on the fly (Pun intended). Granted, this glider had a jet on it which allowed it to climb and keep doing tricks, but it was still pretty darn cool to watch.
If there is one bright side to the economic downturn (This bright side is one-sided), it is that the lines and waiting periods for these types of "thrill activities" aren't what they used to be, and I was able to get a slot on Saturday. I say this with some degree of heavy heart because it is very sad to wonder how much longer these businesses will be able to keep their doors open. The sense of community that you experience within seconds of entering these offices is very strong and compelling, and one hopes that there is still room in the world for people to be able to do what they love doing for a living.
As I always do, I got to the airport very early. This is a character flaw that I have stopped trying to fight and just accepted. In this case, it gave me plenty of time to look around and get the lay of the land. The airport was very busy with CDF planes taking off and landing almost constantly in support of the fire fighting activities to the West. I even got to see an OV-10, which I hadn't seen in years. It is always interesting when the brain tries to recognize something that is familiar, but buried away. This one looked much more "regal" in red and black than the drab green ones from George AFB. I think it was happier that way.
The folks who run Bay Area Glider Rides were very nice and invited me to eat lunch with them which was an unexpected but pleasant gesture. Unfortunately, it was barbecue primarily, but they also had a nice selection of fruits which fit my new Vegan diet (1 week and counting). More significant was the fact that the lunch area afforded some much needed shade. Heat is no longer my friend. The fact that I used to be able to survive in the desert but succumb to low 100's today can only mean I have been "pansyfied", but as I have gotten older I don't like feeling like I am cooking. During lunch I learned the distinction between the terms "gliding" and "soaring". While they are normally used interchangeably, there is a difference between them. "Gliding" basically means falling forward and the amount of falling to forward movement is called the glide ratio. In the case of our glider, it has a glide ration of 30:1 which means we go 30 feet forward for every foot down. "Soaring" is when a glider goes upward using the natural updrafts or currents of air. This is epitomized by hawks rising up without flapping their wings.
After lunch, it was time to hit the tarmac and we walked to the far end of the runway where the gliders were waiting. I had a chance to get to talk to the pilot, Haven, as we walked and we found we had some shared experience in the Navy. This made me all the more determined to not embarrass myself by asking stupid questions or, God forbid, getting airsick. I really appreciated the time that he spent explaining how the controls work and the contagious affection he has for the machines and the sport. My recent parachuting experience came in handy when it came to strapping on my pack, but the major difference would be that I would have to deploy my own chute if the day took a turn for the worse. I quickly memorized the "C.B.A." approach to un-planned glider departure (Open Canopy, Remove Belt, and get your Ass out), and felt guilty sitting in the seat while Haven hauled us out to hitch up to the tow plane.
Did I mention it was a hot day? This term had a way of re-defining itself after we closed the canopy and waited for clearance. At that point, I think I would have been happy to get towed behind the plane sans glider just to get some good wind blowing across my sweat soaked body. Fortunately, it didn't last long and we began moving down the runway. The first thing that made an impression on me was the peacefulness of take-off. In a large plane, it always feels to me as if take-off is a violent event as the engine thrust and gravity duke it out over possession of the plane. With the glider, however, it seemed to want to fly of its own accord. While I am sure the pilot in the tow-plane may have experienced it differently, this is my story and not his, so I am telling it how I want.
Haven did a great job of pointing out the sights and explaining things as we went. Once again, I was struck by the fact that if the pilot explained everything as we flew on a 747, I would be cool as a cucumber. I got used to watching our primary four indicators as we were towed to altitude: 1) Air speed indicator, 2) Rate of rise/descent gauge (Any seasoned pilot reading this can feel free to chuckle at my ignorance of what it is called), 3) Altimeter, and 4) Orange yarn. Yes, that is correct. One of the most important indicators at our disposal was a 4 inch piece of orange yarn. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. This is a really low-tech means of determining whether you are flying forward or slipping to the right or left. Since forward motion is key to the wings working right, it was comforting to have this indicator right in the center of my view (If it blew off, there was a back-up attached to the top of the canopy). This reminded me of a scene in one of my favorite documentaries, "Black Sky", where the pilot loses all instruments and uses a ping-pong ball suspended from the roof to gauge the attitude of his space craft.
We got to experience some wake turbulence from the tow plane, which was an interesting science experiment in real-life, and before you knew it we were turning for the acrobatic area where I would finally get to use the big red "Release" lever that had been teasing me since the start. At 8,200 feet, we cut loose and it was amazing how still it felt. After about 30 seconds, Haven informed me that he was no longer at the controls (Actually he was but he was in "hands-off" mode), and told me to watch what happened. Slowly, the glider began to turn left, and he explained this was because the left wing was slightly heavier. Once the turn began, it intensified quickly until we reached the wonderfully named, "Death Spiral". That was a familiar feeling because it felt a lot like doing hard spirals in a parachute. Then we did our first loop. It was a really cool feeling to loop and then cut to a turn after reaching bottom. I had been afraid to film this, though because I didn't want to take any chances of my camera coming loose. But, let's face it; I had to get film of the loop, so on the next one I asked if it would be okay to film it.
As we pitched downward to build speed, my camera turned off. While the loop was awesome, I lacked my much desired video evidence. My brain is hard wired for troubleshooting so I instantly started trying to figure out what happened. Even mid-loop I was running through my mental check-list: 1) Did the battery die? (No, I had just seen it at 3/4 charge), 2) Was it operator error? (No, my fat fingers hadn't turned it off), 3) Hmm, does it have a "G-Sensor"? It turns out that #3 was the right answer. I knew that most electronics with hard-drives have these as part of their "Drop Protection", and after browsing the menus, I was able to turn it off. The third loop was a charm and I finally got the footage to prove I was there and didn't just poach someone else's experience.
Now that we had the tough stuff out of the way, it was my turn to take the controls. The rudder didn't seem too hard to get the hang of but I do have to admit that the control stick (Pitch) was a little trickier. When you add that third dimension to motion it makes a real difference. This is more pronounced when your speed is a function of whether you are letting gravity win or fighting against it. I got a little assist from Haven, after he ever so tactfully asked whether I meant to be turning right or not, and he gave me the advice I needed which was to try to fly by feel rather than trying to continuously keep the speed right. This was akin to learning to drive. I remember at first being too focused on staying center in the lane and I was constantly correcting and over-shooting. Suppressing that urge was very similar to the pitch control, and once I decided to "Use the Force", it did seem to get a lot easier to control.
Before I was ready for it to end, we found ourselves preparing for landing. It was pretty amazing how maneuverable the glider was on approach and how quickly and softly we were on the ground. It was another amazing experience and one that I will not soon forget. I give the credit for my experience to Haven and the team at Bay Area Glider Rides, and would strongly recommend the experience to anyone looking for a better way to get high.
