Not enough to check all around you

I had my engine hiccup once while climbing out of Oshawa airport - the need to do something that like flashed through my mind for a split second. It's enough to scare the bejesus out of you.
 
Wait a minute. Up IS around you. ;)
 
I had a winch launched glider flight measured in minutes once. No thermals...just made it back to the field.
 
As a dispatcher I can't imagine that coming over the radio.

"Dispatch, Traffic stop"

"Go with the marker."

"Uhhh...that's a negative dispatch. No marker. But I can go with the tail number."

"Go with make and model then"

"Roger dispatch. 2 door Cessna. White in color."
 
Good timing by the cop entering the highway.

Apparently they towed the plane back to the airport along the road as it was the easiest way to get it out of there.
 
jc100 said:
I had a winch launched glider flight measured in minutes once. No thermals...just made it back to the field.
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That's a shame. You should try again. My only time was at least 30 years ago and I still remember the details. Very different sensations and responses compared to a Cessna 150 for example (they gave us some time with the controls, geez do they turn quickly with no effort). I only had the one ride out of Arthur, Ontario and the sky was very overcast so they estimated we'd only be up 15 to 20 minutes. At least they use a tow plane so we had some altitude to start with. But yup, about 15 minutes later we were down.
 
yeah - everyone should take a sailplane demo flight on a sunny day after a thunderstorm with puffy white clouds marking the big elevators in the sky ..... it's a rush and not all that expensive either for the demo or even getting your solo licence.
Far and away the least expensive form of flying and many glider pilots are pros ( like Sully who did the water landing in the Hudson ) who come to fly instead driving the bus ....modern airliners are just about at that stage.

I took an hour demo flight at SOSA north of Hamilton - got to fly the plane, soar up to 6,500 ' ( that's a very good day in Ontario ) and 40 days later had my solo licence.
Flew for 5 years but after that it' gets either expensive ( cross country flying and landing out ) or you end up instructing which is okay but not for me.

I do have a shorter "flight" tho.
My first solo was a hop about 5' in the air and a roll out off the run way. They should never have paired a first solo pilot with a first solo tow pilot.
He did not tighten the rope and had i not pulled the release he could have flipped on his back and been injured or killed.
All worked out okay tho...lots of pats on the back for "doing the right thing " - pretty much by instinct - I actually thought it was something I had done wrong .

The real solo came next - all my nervousness was washed away and I had fun for an hour over Lion Safari tho I perhaps got a tad low coming home. :D.

Arthur has lots of planes and good training program and an easy to land in field.
SOSA is the hot competition pilots home. If you train there it can be rather "intimidating" from an instructor standpoint and there are too many trees around a small field.
But I truly had a ball those 40 days and and after .....chasing a seagull around in a thermal after my endurance flight was a highlight of my life .....having a hawk thermal with me off my wingtip and look me straight in the eye....wonderful memories.

I was happy to see my fav single seater in hanging in the Smithsonian.

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If you can take a couple- three weeks...you can get your solo licence which includes all your training and air time ( 40 tows and flights ) for about $3k - get your pilots licence and it's a easy step from their to power with some more training. Nice bucket list check off.
 
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I've been a lot of times, winched and also a "cheat" glider with a motor just for take off and landing. The winch was the best, open cockpit and amazing experience, the short flight was followed by one for about an hour or so as we caught thermals off a large concrete parking lot and spiralled up to a decent altitude. Most interesting was the "motor" glider as I got to do aerobatics with an Air Force pilot. Would definitely recommend this to anyone.
 
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