I was always fascinated by flying since I was a child but is was just last year that I decided to realise my dream of flying. It took two ingredients:
- A reliable income (in this case my PhD stipend)
- A friend doing the same
What to fly?
Spending a few evenings on google provided me with vague answers about the cost and the timescale of getting a license. But one thig was clear: I was not able to afford to fly a powered plane. So I started looking for alternatives and two came to my mind:
- Powered paraglider a.k.a. paramotor
- Sailplane or glider
I decided for the glider because the powered paraglider can fly in a limited range of conditions when the air is not wind and calm, a condition very rare in the UK.
How long does it takes?
Most gliding clubs will not tell you. I will! But let me tell you something: if you are just rushing your solo flight you are in the wrong mindset.
To fly solo it takes:
- 1 full season (from end of march to the beginning of October)
- 58 winch launches and 8 aerotows (66 in total)
- 14 hours of flight time
This was my case but it changes a lot from person to person. That is why clubs do not give a number. You can expect no less than 40 launches otherwise I will say that you and your school are dangerous. Usually anyone makes it to solo in 100 launches.
How much does it cost?
Again something that gliding clubs don’t say for the same reason. It depends on you. If you need to budget, consider 3500 €/£/$ and 1 year of training if like me you do it in the weekends to your first solo and maybe the same again to get the SPL license.
General prices that I saw around:
- 250 ~ 600 €/£/$ as club membership
- 5 ~ 10 €/£/$ per winch start
- 30 ~ 50 €/£/$ per aerotow
- 35 ~70 €/£/$ per hour of flight
If you want to budget I would recommend to take the price list from the school of your choice and make an excel spreadsheet with the optimistic, average and pessimistic case. To this you have to add the transportation to the airfield.
For the ones crying that 3500 €/£/$ is expensive, please consider that a new iphone is over 1000 €/£/$, a night clubbing in London is about 100 €/£/$ and the optionals on a car can be worth a whole year of gliding. Yes, you need an income and gliding is an investment, but then is a matter of priorities!
Some tips for efficient training
- Remember, even during instruction you are flying! With a folk in the back seat but you will be doing most of the flying if not all of it. A few times I asked the instructor to skip exercises and just go flying because it was a wonderful day. This delays you progression but it is totally worth.
- Look for a club or school that have ASK21 or GROB 103 twin gliders. Or in general gliders made of fiberglass. I love flying the wooden gliders like the ASK13, they are a piece of history and I enjoy the handling, but let us be honest here. Their performance are poor and you will have to convert to the fiberglass type during you training. Do yourself a favor and start with something that flies like a modern glider.
- Be proactive with your instructor. If you just ask to fly you will not progress. When you arrive at the airfield have a look at your training record, check what are the next steps and ask to practice them. Also insist for a briefing and debriefing, if it is perfectly clear to you how the maneuver works and how the plane react you will understand faster and quicker.
- Fly continously! If like me you train 1 day per weekend on average you will need the first flight to go back to where you left the previous week or two weeks ago. Doing more days in a row is much more efficent that once in a while. If your school organises a full week consider taking some holidays to participate and hope for good weather!
- Aerotows are more expensive but you get more flight time out of them, if money is an issue train on the winch. If time is a priority aerotow is better!
- Read! If you know the aerodynamics of flying, what the glider is doing and what the procedures are, you will arrive at the airfield prepared and instructors will be more confident to teach you new thing instead of insisting on the old ones. I recommend at least the first 2:
- “Gliding From passenger to pilot” by Steven Longland. A modern book that you can read this even before beginning the training
- “Glider flying handbook” by the FAA. This is the official manual by the american aviation authority. Free online!
- “Beginning gliding” by Derek Pigott. Slightly more advanced old but good
- “The glider pilot’s manual” by Ken Stewart. Another bit more advanced
- “Understanding gliding” by Derek Pigott. Same as above
- Familiarize yourself with flight computers: you can install XCsoar or LK8000 on your android phone for free and get used to them. The learning curve on how to use them is pretty steep so why not start early?
- Flight simulators help. I used Condor soaring 2 and and basic set of controls (joystick and rudder pedals) I have to say that it gives you some help during the training. Getting the simulator and pedals costs a bit more than 100 €/£/$. But then you can learn aerotow without paying the salty price. Also you can connect your XCsoar and LK8000 and learn to use them on the ground.