GLIDING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 107, 19 April 1933, Page 2

GLIDING

HERETAUNGA CLUB NOTES MEMBERS ACTIVE DURING HOLIDAYS. MANY EXCELLENT FLIGHTS RECORDED. (By “Sky-Hawk.”) The members of the Heretaunga Gliding Club intended to have a successful day’s flying on Sunday, but the extremely high wind made it inadvisable to fly under such conditions. Although this made but another disappointing day for the year, utmost confidence was placed in the prospects for the following day, Easter Monday. The “taboo’’ that appears to have been hanging over the Heretaunga Gliding Club this year lifted, much to the relief of the five veteran pilots, who were the only members who spent the day in this field of sport. An excellent day’s flying resulted, even though there were so few memuers present to enjoy the splendid flying conditions. L. A. Wright and H. Hawkes were well on the job. “A” license-getting appears to be a very simple matter, the times being well over 30 seconds. Special mention must be made of the fact that L. A. Wright, the club’s mstr’icto, took off from one end of the lie'd flew the full length of the field, then applied full rudder and hanked steeply to turn completely around and fly bacn tho way he had come, making an ex ccllent landing exactly on the rp.'t frcn. which he took off. L. Steele, R. Hill and H. Campnell were quite pleased with the performance of the machine. Each pilot had several flights and throughout the whole day not one mishap occurred. Now that the club has proved that the new machine is thoroughly airworthy, and the run of ill-luck has broken, it is hoped that several new members will take advantage of this opportunity to learn to fly safely, and enjoy a healthy and exhilarating sport. Ab to actual training of new pilots intending to learn to fly a glider, tne method is extremely simple, even tlicugli the student cannot learn by the pen ei-’plane method, that is ‘dual CCLflOi." Leamng To Fly. What is perhaps the most important lesson in learning to glide is the ability to maintain lateral balance, i.e., by the sideways movement of the joystica, which operates the ailerons. Facing the ’plane directly into the wind, the pupil takes his seat at the controls, and without watching the wings of the machine, but looking straight ahead at the horizon, he soon cultivates the “feel” of machine. When a pupil has become efficient at controlling the machine laterally he is ready to master the other movements of the controlling surfaces, namely, the elevators and rudder. When he has learnt that the machine will climb when the stick is pulled back, and dive when pushed forward, he is ready to try a preliminary flight. It is perhaps best that thfe launching of the glider for pupils be made from the hills by means of the elastic cable. With a ground crew of either two or four, the machine will not be catapulted to a height that is likely to unnerve the pupil on his first flight. The machine seldom attains a height greater than about two or three feet. If a pupil takes particular notice of everything the instructor has to say concerning the machine, it will be found that very rapid progress can be made. , As the pupil progresses the number of the ground crew is increased, so that greater altitude is made possible. As the new pilot reaches the stage where he can act. quickly in case of emergency and cultivates to some degree the illusive sixth sense, that is, forseeing trouble, etc,, he will fly his machine by feel only, quite unaware of the movement he is making with the controls. At this stage he should be in a position to change from elastic cable launching to the far superior towed flight method which is at present in operation at the local gliding club, and it is a recognised fact that glider flying by towing is an extremely exciting form of sport, as well as being a great medium of learning to fly safely.