What Is Gliding?
What is gliding?
Gliding is a relaxing activity and sport in which single-seat and two-seater aircraft without engines, also known as sailplanes, use naturally occurring currents to fly around the country, soar to great heights, do aerobatic manoeuvres, race in competitions or take others in the local area.
If the weather is favourable, you can soar for great distances and for long durations - some of our pilots have had flights lasting over 9 hours! Pilots glide for different purposes and so, ultimately, gliding is about the wonder of flying and experiencing the joy of being able to soar like an eagle.
Types of Lift
Gliders are unpowered and so are always descending through the air, unless they find rising air. There are three main types of lift:
Thermals: columns of rising air produced in the summer when the sun heats the ground enough, often marked at the top by cumulus clouds, which gliders can circle in to gain height and travel cross country.
Ridge: air pushed upwards when it blows against the edge of a hill, like the Chilterns ridge line next to our airfield, which keeps our gliders in the air if it is strong enough and blowing in the right direction.
Wave: wind blowing over hills and mountains comes down on the other side, rebounding off of the ground and forming waves in the air that can continue for many cycles, allowing gliders to fly over 20,000 ft in the up-going air.
When is the best time to fly?
The traditional gliding ‘season’ for long, thermal, cross-country flights is the warmer, summer months.
There are some clubs near hillier terrain that encounter great ridge and wave conditions in the winter months. The winter months can be a great time to learn to fly and most clubs will fly and train throughout the year.
Generally speaking, the only things that will stop you flying are persistent rain, low cloud and gusts of wind over 30 knots.
What happens if the wind stops?
We need to think about landing when there is no more lift to be found, rather than anything to do with the wind. If there is no rising air to be found, the glider will gently glide downwards in a controlled descent. The pilot will hopefully have calculated their height, glide angle and distance from the airfield correctly to make it back home. If this has been miscalculated and the pilot is too low, too far from home - then a field landing will be executed. Glider pilots on cross-country flights will be constantly scanning the ground for suitable fields in case the weather or their judgement fails.