A glider experience

I have my first glider flight today. I received it as my birthday present. The glider club was about 25mins drive from home. We began at 10.30am for the flight briefing. It was mainly information about the weather of the day and who were assigned to the planes.

I was assigned to my pilot Benoit with 3 other people. While Benoit was checking on the sailplane , we listened attentively to his explanation and instructions. We were also briefed on the use of the parachute in case we needed to eject from the plane in mid-air.

After that, the gliders waited in line to be aerotowed by the powered aircraft . While waiting for my turn, we had a picnic lunch. The boys played baby-foot in the club's room to kill time. They also patiently watched gliders taking off and landing. A2 even got invited to sit in a glider.
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 When it was my turn, I put on my parachute and took my place. Because of my light weight, metal weights were added just below my seat. The 50m rope of the powered aircraft was hooked onto the front of the glider and then we were off.

At the attitude of 500m, my pilot released the rope and we soared higher and higher by "riding" on the wind. That also meant that the glider was turning in circles. I assured my pilot that I was alright with the twirls.

Our highest attitude was 1200m. He could not go higher as the aviation regulation did not allow in case of collision with commerical planes.Our fastest speed was 190km/h with the 40km/h wind pushing us from behind.

Today was an ideal day. The wind was strong and my experienced pilot knew exactly when to ride on it.  He even let me pilot the glider when we were very high and it was not at all easy.We did a sharp left tilt and I had a thrill. It was fun.We had a difficult time during descent as the wind was blowing us up.

The flight lasted about 30mins and we managed to go to Chartres to see the cathedrale.

The landing was just as smooth as the take off. The boys were happy to see me when I landed. They wanted to try too. They have to wait a while because they have to be at least 33kg to fit into the parachute before they can fly.

The people at the Club CVVE were very friendly. We had a great afternoon at Bailleau. After seeing my videos taken in the air, Seb shows interest in trying out too. I love this experience so much that I will try it again. Maybe at another location for a change of scenary.