Monthly Archives: April 2022

In the cross-country mentor programs that I do, a very frequent question or topic that comes up is, “what things do you keep in the glider for contests or cross country flying?”   Aside from the obvious items such as food, fluids for drinking, urine elimination items, and an oxygen system (if needed where you fly), there are many things in my glider that I have found to be helpful

Take-off run

In general, setting a negative flap setting gives you better aileron control at all speeds, for this reason typically we set a stage of negative flap during the initial stage of the take-off run.  Once we have built up sufficient aileron control, we can then shift the flaps to the recommended positive flap setting for the remainder of the launch.

The TOST drum brake, used in many gliders, has a well-earned reputation for gentleness. We can make this worse by not knowing how to adjust the cable tension, or by not knowing that the shoes can become glazed and need dressing.

For two decades, I was too busy to do

While gliding is a solo sport in many ways, a pilot and their crew need to work together closely and have a nice working relationship.  I’ve often found that my best flights in the past have come from having my father as a crew, I have complete confidence that with whatever happens on the ground, I’m in good hands, also if I need a sleep in to recover from a days flying, I can rely