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Three and a half days to SoloLasham> News > Articles > Three and a half days to Solo |
Three and a Half Days to Solo My first taste of gliding was about 14 years ago, when I was 12 or 13. Mum was a recent solo and was hooked. One hot summers day, she dragged me away from my music and took me along to Lasham Airfield where, after taking one look around, I decided that this day was going to be about as exciting as an episode of Coronation Street. After hours of sulking and making daisy chains, Mum informed me that she had arranged for me to have a flight in the T21 with some tearaway who went by the name of Mike Young. The open top idea was slightly more appealing to me so, reluctantly, I agreed. How wrong had I been?!? I remember looking down at the world like I had just seen it for the very first time. It was captivating. I just gazed around in wonderment, breathing it all in. Why didn't everyone do this? Mike let me take control of the glider for a while and then, in a moment of insanity, decided that I was going to land it! The rest is a blur, although I do remember my Mum's face, as we came in on finals, when she saw Mike waving both hands at her as he was shouting instructions through his gritted smile! The whole experience had been amazing. I had flown like a bird, just like in my childhood dreams. It was so surreal that I locked the memory away in a little bubble with all my other dreams and left it there until it felt like it had never happened at all. I grew up after that... as you do. I finished school, went to college, got a job in London and then what should happen?.... I started dating a bloody glider pilot!! After almost 3 years of watching Howard take to the skies I gave in to temptation. I booked myself on a course. The first of it's kind at Lasham. An intense one to one course called Aerotow to Solo in 5 Days. My instructor was to be Bob Bickers. It was time to recapture my dream. Here is my diary of what happened. Day 1 8am. Oh no! What on earth was I thinking of?! Help!!!! Maybe I can fake an illness.
PM: Okay, so it wasn't that bad but my oh my, do I have a lot to learn! I had a lot of fun though. We had 4 flights in the Falke motor glider today. I found out very quickly that you have to use the stick and pedals together, not in opposite directions as my instincts seemed to want to tell me! I have that under control now although I find that the pedals are a little stiff compared to the stick so I'm having to find the correct balance of force to keep everything co-ordinated. My turning feels quite good although I'm not sure about really steep turns... It feels like I'm going to fall out of the sky. We spent a lot of time today learning how to do good circuits and landings. Having the motor glider for this was absolutely fantastic. It was take off, circuit, land, start engine, take off, circuit, land, etc. So now I know how it is supposed to be done. Unfortunately having this knowledge does not mean I'm actually getting it right. I think my landings are ok (for a newcomer), but my circuits... hmmm! I'm like a young bird not wanting to fly too far from the nest. I'm hugging the edge of the airfield like I'm in love with it. It's so annoying because I know I'm doing it but I can't seem to change it. I hope Bob wasn't too disappointed. It's really hard to tell what he's thinking. He has a very good poker face. Hey ho, it's only my first day. Oh I almost forgot to say. My biggest fears before today were stalling and spinning. Now my biggest fear is just spinning which we haven't done yet. The negative G that you get when you recover from a stall is excellent! It's like the sensation I used to call 'tickle tummy', when I was a kid and I used to beg Dad to speed up to go over humps in the road, only it's better! So that's one fear gone at least. I kept asking Bob to do it again... and again.. and again! Yay! Number of flights: 4 (Falke) Day 2
Today I went to hell and back. The morning started off ok. We had 2 flights in the Falke to go over everything I learned yesterday. I felt pretty good about it all. My circuits were better and my handling felt good. Then we got into the K13. The aerotow was so frightening. I couldn't keep a straight line behind the tug, Bob was shouting at me and all of a sudden it felt very wrong. By the time we had pulled off tow I had gone to pieces. The controls felt very different to those in the Falke. Instead of the pedals being stiff and the stick light, it was the opposite way around. It was noisier and bumpier and I was sick with fear. I was dealing with a completely different animal to the Falke and I felt out of control and very, very out of my depth. I convinced myself that I didn't want to fly anymore, that I'd made a huge mistake believing that I could do this. We kept finding thermals and I didn't want to be in them; I just wanted to get back on the ground where it was safe and never fly a glider again. At one point I actually refused to fly so Bob turned around and said, "Well I'm not flying either, what are you going to do now". I had no choice but I was certain that as soon as we were on the ground, I was walking. Then the fear of landing crept in. There was no engine to start if my judgement was out, no second chance. Thankfully it was fine and I got out shaken and tearful, but relieved that it was over. My unforgiving instructor gave me a harsh talking to whilst I made my feeble excuses for being, what I can only describe as, a wuss. Afraid of using the words 'I quit', I requested a break.... Request denied! Bob ordered me back into the glider and with my bottom lip firmly sticking out, I obeyed.
What a difference a flight makes! All of a sudden I knew what to expect and I was fine. The jitters had gone and I just got on with it. Bob was right and I was wrong. Don't you just hate it when that happens? We broke for lunch and when we came back I did my first unaided aerotow to 2000ft. Quite proud of myself really. A quick word on my instructor Bob Bickers. I've known Bob for a while now and he is a lovely man. He and his wife Joan have been good friends and sources of help since I've been at Lasham and although I've seen his firmer side, I have never been on the receiving end... until today. He managed to silence me like no man other than my father has ever done. It takes a lot for me to listen, but I did, and I understood. It took one look, 'that look', that made me shut up and realise that actually he probably does know better! Number of flights: 6 (2 in Falke, 4 in K13) SCRUBBED Rain, rain and more rain. I'm gutted. There's no way I'll be solo by Friday now we've lost a day. I'm going to ask at the office if we can carry on into Saturday. Not sure if Bob will be able to put up with me for that long though. Day 3
What an eventful day! 7 flights, 7 good aerotows. I guess it's one of those things that when you get it, you get it, and you can't work out why you found it hard in the first place. Out of those 7 flights, Bob says I did 5 good approaches and landings. Let me tell you about the other 2. Bob put wing tape over my ASI and altimeter; I mean that's just downright cruel isn't it? I found keeping my flying speed under control easy including whilst thermalling, but my circuits?!!???? Let's just say that on the first of the 2 I started my final approach at 900ft and the second was only marginally better at 700ft! I knew I was high but I didn't feel comfortable coming in any lower. I guess trust in my own judgement will improve as my confidence does. One of the flights today is down in my log book as a mere 3 minutes long. Bob pulled the cable at 300ft and guess what?.... I didn't panic! I just said, "That wasn't very nice", turned the baby around and landed comfortably downwind.( Another thing I had a hang up about that turned out to be fine). Ha Ha!! One more thing. I still have one hang up. Spinning. We did it and I don't like it. I know how to recover from one and I did it well when asked to but you wont catch me doing it when I'm solo. I never want to do that again. There's something about being in a glider, as it spins out of control at high speed towards the ground that just doesn't do it for me. Surely I'm not alone there! 'A good day all round' my lovely instructor has written in my logbook. I think so too! Number of flights: 7 (K13) Day 4
We got up really early this morning, gave glider B it's daily inspection and launched from the edge of the airfield before the bus had even made it to launch point. I did a good circuit and landed. The next few flights were pretty similar with Bob taking me through everything I had learned. I was beginning to feel that I was actually getting the hang of it all when something quite unexpected happened. It was about 11.30 am and we were second in the queue to launch when Bob took his parachute off and started doing up the straps in the back seat. I felt the blood drain from my face. "What are you doing", I asked shakily. Bob replied, "I think it's time you did this on your own". WHAT!!! @*+% I don't think so! "But I'm not ready", I protested. Bob gave me 'that look' again and said that if I didn't go when he told me, he wouldn't instruct me anymore. I looked at Howard, who was standing to my right, for help, to which he said casually, "Have fun babe", and promptly walked off. S**T!!!! Did nobody understand? Have fun babe? I wasn't about to go to a bloody party,! I was about to fly a glider ON MY OWN, and land it... ON MY OWN. Aaaaaagggh. I'd only had 3 and a half days of lessons; I'd paid for 5. %^*@*!! Bob screwed in the ballast and after a little pep talk I was on my own. I went through the checks slowly, trying to delay being hooked on. I could hear my heart beating as clear as a drum. I took one final deep breath as 'all out' was called and I was away. Almost straight away the glider came off the ground without the extra weight of Bob in the back. I eased the nose forward and got the glider under control and in a straight line behind the tug. I was off! I could almost hear Bob's voice still shouting instructions as I went through the motions. It was beautiful. There I was, at 2000ft, flying, all by myself. I didn't want to do anything but get it right so I got straight into the circuit as soon as my height was right and, talking myself through it, set myself up to land. My best circuit and landing so far. 3 and a half days to solo!!! Fanbloodytastic! When I got out of the glider I was shaking like a leaf. I had done it! And to think that on Tuesday I was going to give it all up. No time for congratulations! Bob sent me straight back up for solo flight number 2. I kept it brief again and did another circuit and landed.
We broke for lunch as I did my best to calm myself down. Bob suggested that I have one more flight before I call it a day so after lunch, there I was again, taking to the skies behind aerotow. This time I thought I'd have a go at soaring. It was a blue day so it was going to be a bit of pot luck for someone of my experience. I flew off so I was north east of the airfield and what should I find but a 5-knot climb! It didn't take long before I was at 4500 feet and to my joy I looked down to see that Howard, in his Discus 2a, and a few others had found my thermal. Catch me if you can boys!! Of course they didn't and gave up trying to match my superior thermalling skills! Ha ha! And then the most amazing thing happened. A group of buzzards joined the climb and as I watched them, for just a moment, I was 12 or 13 again, back in that bubble of a dream, where I was bird, using nature to make miracles happen.
Oh, by the way, that last flight was my first bronze leg! P.S. I'm a bit tiddly now. It was champagne all round at the bar tonight. How very exciting! Number of flights as P2: 5 (K13) So there you have it. I actually did it. Bob put up with me for long enough to teach me some valuable lessons and I'm chuffed to bits. Thanks Bob. Since that amazing day I have also learned to go solo on the winch (something I will only do until my bank balance looks healthier). I have had 10 solo flights in total ( I would have done more if it wasn't for my huge flying bill). Those solo flights add up to a total of 9 hours and 22 minutes. I have both bronze legs, a couple of healthy 2 hour flights and an even healthier 3 hour flight in the K8. I would have stayed up for 5 hours to get my silver leg but it was two bloody cold. I did gain my silver height on my last flight though which was rather wonderful. I know I have a long way to go and a lot of hard work to come to pay for my progress but I have wings now and I can't turn back. I wonder if Howard will let me fly his Discus 2a in the regionals next year......... |
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