I believe I can FLY.....

I have not been a particularly adventure-seeking/loving person but there has always been one thing I wanted to do - FLY! In India, I never tried flying because it was expensive and there were not many places where one could fly for pleasure.

After I finished one of my exams last semester, I was desperate to do something different. As I walked out of the examination hall, my eyes fell on a flyer for the university gliding club. It claimed that one could fly for fun and even train to be a pilot. And moreover, it was not very expensive. So I decided to give it a try. After few mails and phone calls to the club president, a day was decided for my first flight in a glider. This process took almost a month since gliding is totally dependent on the weather and Michigan weather is most unpredictable.

As I drove to the airport last week, I pictured a lot of things. My only previous experience with airplanes of any kind has been a large Airbus/Boeing that can accommodate hundreds of passengers. I had never traveled in a smaller single/dual seater before. I also expected a huge airport with many aircrafts, tight security and people all over the place. But as I first passed by the airport, I could hardly recognize it but for a small signboard that read Rosettie Airport. The place was nothing more than a small house with few cars and a large grass field behind the house. I wandered through the deserted place looking for some help when suddenly from nowhere a glider came down from the skies and landed in the grass field. The landing was fairly short and the glider hardly made any noise one would expect from a aircraft. Slowly, I walked towards the grassfield and I could see small yellow pyramids lined up in two parallel lines. This was the only runway and the airport was merely an airstrip!

Soon, I was greeted by three people. My instructor, who also happens to be a regular pilot, the club president and a student. After the initial pleasantary exchange, I was ready for my first flight - meant to figure if I would really like to take gliding seriously. I was going to fly a Schweitzer 2-33 - a two seater trainer glider along with the club president. The club president went over the controls briefly. The biggest surprise was that the glider had no engine!! So we had to be towed by another plane to a certain height and then let loose to glide. We towed the glider to the end of the runway with a golf cart and then we tied it to our tow plane with a nylon rope. Soon we, were towed to 3000 feet and then after unhooking from the tow plane, we were able to glide for 20 min before we started losing height and had to land. I did not maneuver the plane as it was just a test flight. After I touched the ground, I was just waiting to go back up and feel like a bird. So I decided to join the club and train to become a pilot.

Last Sunday, I took my first lesson. I was going to learn all that takes to get a plane into the air. First we had to get our gliders out of the overcrowded hanger. Three of us slowly pulled the glider out. We had be cautious not to bump the long wings into the walls of the hangar. Now one has to do a detailed and laborious 'Pre-flight Inspection'. First, the gauges- Altimeter : this tells us high above the ground we are. For some reason, it already showed 200 Ft. So we had to correct for the zero error. Variometer - tells us the rate of ascent or descent and the speedometer tells us our speed. Apart from this, the Schweitzer has a rusty compass. Then the controls. The riding stick which is almost like a joy stick and controls most of the flight. The rudder pedals for direction and the trim for controlling the speed. After ensuring that all the controls were in place, it was time for the integrity check. We had to check if all the nuts and bolts are fastened. Each bolt had a safety clip to ensure that the bolt does not accidentally come off. As we went through every joint, I realized that the glider was actually older than what I thought. Few parts had some rust and there were a couple of patches on the body. The main wheel was the size of a scooter wheel and my instructor told me that the wing wheels were actually hockey pucks!!!! To be honest, I was actually more nervous than the previous time as the glider seemed more fragile than before. Despite all these flaws, our plane was airworthy and it had passed an inspection a couple of months back.

After the 'Pre-flight inspection' it was time to tow the plane to the runway. The glider takes off and lands in a direction opposite to the wind. The windsock pointed north and so we headed south. The tow rope was then fastened to our tow plane. Once the runway was clear, we took off. Since we are being towed, one has to always follow the path of the tow plane. And we need to be slightly below the tow plane. It was a bumpy ride as the wind speed was high! I felt that one needs to be very skillful to follow a tow in the air as the pilots in the tow plane and the glider have to be coordinated! After 15 minutes, we reached a height of 3000 Ft. I felt queasy whenever we were pulled up by the tow plane. Somehow, I was more nervous than the first time. Now, we separated from the tow-plane and began our gliding adventure. Since we do not have an engine, the only way to stay in the air and glide is to find 'thermals'. Thermals are hot columns of rising air which condense and form clouds. So we started hunting for thermals beneath large clouds. However, even after 10 min, we could not find a suitable thermal that could give us a lift in our altitude. The variometer said that we were descending and pretty soon we were at 2200 Ft. We had almost given up hope as the wind was strong when we suddenly hit turbulence. The glider shifted right and the nose dipped forward rapidly and I could see the ground right in front of my face!!! For few seconds, I thought that we were going to slam into earth. But my friend, managed to stabilize the plane and get out of the turbulence. He informed me that we were bordering a good thermal where there would be difference in air temperature and hence the turbulence. I was relieved as I was somehow convinced that there was some technical snag. Even if there was one, we cannot send a SOS as there is no radio. And we cannot jump from the glider because we do not have parachutes!! Parachutes are useless in a glider as they would not open from such a low height. So the only way out would be to crash land! The turbulence and the wavering in a glider is definitely more enhanced if one has traveled only in larger planes before. I experienced drift in all possible directions and the scariest was the nose dive!

Going back to our flight, we were now beneath a good thermal and to get a lift, we have to circle within the thermal and spiral upwards with the help of the rising hot air. My friend steered the plane in relatively sharp circles and slowly we ascended about 500 Ft. I was less nervous now and realized that I was actually flying high up in the skies without wings! I was exhilarated. After gliding for another 10 minutes, we started losing height again. This time we could not find another thermal and we had to come down. The landing was smooth though we landed at about 100 km/h.

I know that I am far off from flying the glider solo and there is a vast sea of knowledge and skill that I need to acquire before becoming a pilot. Though gliding seems to be a risky adventure, I am dying to get back into the air...... because for now... I Believe I Can Fly! ... I Believe I Can Touch the Sky!