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Grounded for 11 months?! What to do |
I can't believe it is already time for Nationals and Soaring Safaris
are fully operational at Bloemfontein Gliding Club! It feels like just a few
weeks ago that I hurled my precious body fluids silently into a leaky bag
halfway through my last 6 hour flight in the backseat of that ASH25! Phew, that was a mouth full... (Huh, what pun?)
Well I guess that was the last soaring experience I
had, and just because I hurled it wasn't bad. It kept me going all these months! I did have a 30 minute
introductory lesson in a Cessna 172 on my birthday (My wife organised), but it did not match up
to steep turns and thermals. I counted to 3 and almost started turning
when we hit some "choppy air" as the instructor put it, only to "wake up" to the reality of a Cessna and not a Ka7.
So what does a Pupe do if he
cannot fly for real? This is a selection of what I tried...
1. Download an opensource flight simulator called Flightgear. (80 Mb + 128 Mb scenery)
2. Discover that Bloemfontein Gliding Club does not exist on the
scenery of Tempe (FATP)
3. Download scenery designers and build my own Bloemfontein Gliding Club. Give up due to a
lack of time but at least finish grass strips.
4. Use a Sweizer 32-3 virtual model and try to fly circuits.
5. Figure out how to hack the software and create your own thermals.
6. Modify the exterior paint job of the 3D model while sick in bed with some jungle fever.
7. Build my own instrument panel by hacking the
simulator a bit more.
8. Fly to the dam and back without doing an out landing (I created
very stong thermals, so it's really easy to reach home with a final
glide starting from 12 000 ft AGL!)
9. Get bored with virtual soaring and contract Malaria.
10. Begin reading up on cross country flying.
11. Search daily for free Soaring Flight Simulators, find none.
12. Discover http://www.danb.dircon.co.uk/hg/hg.htm and play around
with it.
13. Start flying Cessna 172's on Flightgear Simulator because they can
fly from HUKJ to HUEN and HUSO (Ugandan airfields)
14. Discover websites like the one about Alice (Just search for "Flying
with Alice" on Google)
15. Work hard on the Bloemfontein Gliding Club website and join the Soaring Webring.
16. Try to arrange a trip to Kenya to go soaring but realise other
things take greater priority
17. Begin to learn about Macready ring settings and competition flying.
18. Read through my training and flight log books several times.
19. Phone the Club members back home and ask many questions to the CFI and
Chairman.
20. Plan to be "War correspondent" at the Nationals of 2005 / 2006 but fail because of the job in East Africa.
21. Study cloud formations, and read what veterans have to say about soaring.
22. Download a demo version of the German SFS with an operational Ka8
and winch launch which expires after 8 minutes of soaring.
23. Drive my preagnant wife mad with the simulator's audio vario as I fall in
and out of the virtual thermals.
24. Try to reach cloud base before 8 minutes expire.
25. See if I can catch a 4+ thermal and make it back home in one
piece, all in 8 minutes.
26. Gaze at the sky and envy the thermalling skills of the Storks and Kites native to Kampala...
And the conclusion?! Well, if you have
a passion to fly, 11 months void of flying will not weaken that
passion, but only kindle the flame. I have some catching up to do and
some stories to tell. Hope to see you all at the Club!
As always, tight thermals and splendid landings.
Your Webby
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