After 15 years of flying gliders believe it or not, every time I’m launched into the sky, release the cable and fly along in almost silence, each flight still seems special and a privilege. Thermic flights are even more special using warm rising air to gain height often right up to the bottom of the cloud which could be 2.000 feet above the ground or on a good day even up to 6,000 feet. I still have difficulty in quite believing it’s me up there all on my own flying the glider. Occasionally at Strubby you can even find yourself sharing a thermal with a buzzard, lazily circling together and gaining height.
The first photo was taken last year from about 4,000 feet over Mablethorpe looking north towards the Humber estuary. Some days there may be cloud formations at different levels as when I took the second photograph in May of this year at around 3,000 feet – a truly memorable flight with cumulus clouds dotted about just below me and a high level interesting cloud formation above me. As I said, what a privilege to be able to fly a glider and it is something almost anyone can learn to do. Fortunately it is also the cheapest way to learn to fly an aeroplane. It can all start with a trial flight at the Lincolnshire Gliding Club, Strubby, it did for me.
