Friday, July 3, 2009

Gliding Day

Hello, how are you today?

I am great I have decided to blog about my 4th gliding adventure last Saturday, 27th June 09.


Here is a first time gathering of a collage of photos from the day. Click to enlarge please, fab size photos to view.


If you are interested in a free and a good program to make a collage like this visit Picasa, free program from Google.

I had three flights and on the third flight I took video that was from take off to landing and lasted 28 minutes. I have extracted three video clips from the video to show you what it is like up there. To have a look at them in future post - see Video Clip One (tow and disengage), Video Clip Two (into the clouds and town), Video Clip Three (surrounding landscape)

I also have a You Tube channel, MonikaRoseCrochets, and the first two videos are there with different background music. I will be adding more vids of my gliding and crafts to the channel, so keep an eye out.

It was a fantastic day. I flew three times, all aerotowed. Lots of low cloud, we were able to fly close to them and almost in them, but you cannot fly thru them,, but you can fly in between them. On the first and third flights I took full video from take off to landing and on the second flight I took pictures.

The second flight was life changing experience for me as I was persuaded into taking the controls for a couple of minutes to see what needs to be done when the glider starts moving in certain directions. I tell you, it is the easiest and the slightest touch that you need on the stick to control the glider. It is a magical experience and I would love to take control again.

It was so cold that day that on the third final flight for the day I almost froze myself in the glider, especially holding up the video cam for all that time, my hand was frozen at the end, but I survived and warmed up when we landed. I was up in the air for 28 minutes, we found thermal and we we circling for a while, that is so beautiful. I think we reached almost 3 thousand feet.

My husband is continuing to glide and gain hours towards his certificates so that he can pilot the glider. He is practicing his take offs and landings and he has flown the glider on his own with an instructor. He is doing fantastically so far. He had two flights on this day, this was comfortable for him. He is a natural pilot I tell you, he has pilot license for powered planes, like the Cessna.

I cannot wait until he completes his certificates. I think he mentioned there is another one for cross country gliding. This is what we are striving for, to go cross country on those lovely long flights so we can travel far. Explore our Aussie Land and the world. Gliding clubs are situated all over the world.

So please any Aussies that are reading this that are interested in Gliding please visit the Ararat Aerodrome, Grampians Soaring Club and become a member, it is the most magical experience.

There is also a gliding magazine, called Soaring, clik here for the link. Check the site out it has fabulous information about Gliding and pictures.

There is also another website for the Gliding Federation of Australia (GFA). Excellent site to visit. This web site is tailored to GFA members services and function, you may also visit How to Start Gliding. This is where you can find info on how to find and join clubs etc.

I cannot wait until next time we go up Gliding, the weather has not been that good since last Saturday, raining all week, so it would be all soggy up there, no good for the gliders they get bogged down in the mud and no one likes that. Hope for good weather next weekend.

Have fun everyone, spend your days free and happy, I do when I glide.

Have a fab day :)
cya
MonikaRose

3 comments:

Hey Harriet said...

What a fun (and brave!!!) adventure! Sounds like a really great way to travel around Australia (for you, not for me...I'd like a larger plane thanks ;). I hope you manage to one day take this awesome trip!

Margaret Gosden said...

What a hair-raising hobby! I do like your collage, albeit eventually made at great risk in the taking. And the shadow of the glider is a fine one, too.

Rosebud Collection said...

How come you can't go through the clouds? Some of those clouds looked like rain clouds. Scary.
Beautiful pictures.