Gliding 2008
So, summer has gone by and passed. But I thought that I’d tell you what I did anyhow.
I learned how to fly a plane. A glider, to be exact. Not a hang glider, where you’re hanging on for dear life, a plane with no engines. This was made possible by the air cadet program, which is funded by the Canadian government and so, we get to this for free. Well, not really. We still had to pay for our license and exam, but all our flight time and training were paid for, which I think is a pretty sweet deal.
For half a day, we would attend ground school, where we would learn subjects such as the theory of flight, meteorology, gliding procedures, flight operations, air law, navigation and radio. This was to prepare for the Transport Canada exam, which is required to get your license.
For the other half of the day, weather permitting, we went out to the field and actually flew. The learning curve was steep: within 7 lessons, you have already learned how to take off, keep behind the tow plane that’s taking you up, fly a circuit and land. You then do a solo check, and then you get to fly by yourself. then you do 20 solo flights with checkpoints along the way to make sure you’re still attaining the standard. At the end, you do a flight test, and if you pass, then you are finished your flight training.
Flying was probably the most difficult part for me. Ground school was easy because I knew how to study and how to take multiple choice exams, but when you’re flying, you have so much to think about. It took me a few extra dual flights for me to go solo, and once I did, I had a hard time landing smoothly and bounced a few times. But I learned that you have to put the past behind you and concentrate on what is happening at the time and make sure you make the right decisions so you can fly safely, and have the confidence that you know what to do.
I now go out to my gliding centre on Sundays, and I’ll be hopefully clocking in time so that eventually I’ll be able to take up younger cadets flying so they too, like me, will be inspired to go for their license when the time comes. I may or may not post pictures up on flickr later.
Leave a Reply