‘Chipping Base’
118.685 MHz
I’ve always enjoyed the experience of flying whenever I managed to do any, but I came quite late to the sport of gliding. At the time, I was looking for a challenge in my life and wanted to learn new skills. I thought that learning to fly a glider would fit the bill and give me something to get my teeth into. It certainly did!
I knew that learning to fly; learning to control an aircraft and safely launch and land up to solo standard, would exercise my mind. What I didn’t realise at the time, was how much else I would need to know in order to become a reasonably competent glider pilot and over the years after joining the club, I have had a wonderful time delving into a huge range of new knowledge and skills. I found the whole experience both challenging and wonderfully fulfilling.
I list below some of the areas that you will immerse yourself in on your journey to flying competence:
Meteorology (BIG topic! – I promise, you’ll never look at the sky the same way again!)
Principles of Flight and Aerodynamics
Air Law and Airspace regulations
Radio Telephony and communications
Understanding flight instruments and avionic flight computers
Airmanship - (the art of safe and considerate flying)
Air Navigation and understanding aviation maps
Human factors that affect flight
Field landing considerations
The use and care of parachutes and oxygen equipment
How to carry out pre-flight checks
Flight logging and recording
Safe ground handling of aircraft
Rigging and de-rigging gliders
Assisting launch operations
Winch Driving
Tractor Driving, cable laying and aircraft retrieves
… and lots more!
All in all, it makes up an engrossing and fascinating course of study and I promise you, there’s something there for everyone!
< Back to Soaring Fun Index
It looks very beautiful, floating away up there in the clouds, but do you actually understand what makes it fly?
Will tomorrow be a good day to come in for a flight? - Or should you just stay in bed?
There’s a lot of important information on your instruments and onboard computers, but you have to understand what it all means!
Navigation can be fairly straightforward, once you know how to read an aviation map.
Learning to rig and de-rig different types of glider is an essential skill.
All solo pilots at Chipping have to learn how to operate our winch.
And everyone has to learn how to log flights and operate the equipment in the launch control vehicle as well.
It may look straightforward, but there are many skills to learn before you can assist with a launch, or safely retrieve a landed glider across an active airfield.
