TezzaP

Some years ago I was made aware of stick on lenses which are the lower bifocal section of your glasses. In short, you wet them and they adhere to your normal sunnies and are available in various strengths to suit your prescription. Best of all they are quite cheap being about 20 to 30 dollars over the net. Try searching for stick on lenses and you will have lots of options.

I initially used them on non prescription Serengeti driver tint glass lenses, graduated darker at the top than the bottom and a brownish tint, but use them on a prescription pair now. The stick on optics aren't perfect but more than adequate for reading instruments in the car or aircraft. I talked to my optometrist about them when moving to the prescription distance lenses and he advised me what strength to apply.

At the price I thought they were worth a try and a decade later I am still using them having changed strengths as needed. Certainly a lot cheaper than changing high cost sunglasses every time your prescription changes.

Welcome to the forum.

Terry

Nice to see a wide variety of aircraft including gliders. Welcome aboard.

Terry

Southern Cross Gliding Club at Camden do aerotow launches and have a comprehensive fleet including 4 twins and several single seaters at different performance levels. They operate on weekends and Monday, Wednesday and Fridays midweek and offer 10 flight packages which are good value. There are two other clubs operating touring motor gliders at Camden but that is a different form of gliding entirely. As already mentioned, Central Coast Soaring Club operate at Mangrove Mountain and winch launch on Thursdays and weekends. They have an open cockpit version of the venerable K13, which I think would be great fun.

Further afield, Bathurst Soaring Club operate on weekends but do occasionally offer ab initio training courses mid week (check their website). Personally I can recommend Lake Keepit Soaring Club which operate every day with a professional manager midweek, accommodation at cheap rates on the field, good aircraft and unrestricted airspace. In winter it may also have weather advantages. A number of members fly their powered aircraft up from Sydney if you want to fly in and avoid a 6 hour drive. If you were to do a 5 day course you would almost certainly go solo and probably get a few of the earlier qualifications done as well.

There are lots of options depending on your time availability and preferences for airspace and there are several very well regarded clubs in country NSW. The GFA website has a find a club link on their home page but here it is adminGlidingAustralia

Whichever option you choose, you will love it.

Cheers, Terry

Thanks for posting. I particularly enjoyed the article about the Wasserkuppe. It is on my list of destinations should I travel to Germany.

The Grob 103 Twin II is a little different to the Twin Astir (otherwise known as the concrete swan). The Twin Astir has very heavy controls and I struggled with it for a few hours one afternoon however the wing profile apparently has some advantages for cross country flights. I'm not interested in finding out. In contrast, the Twin II has light controls and a reported 36:1 glide ration one up and is quite pleasant to fly from my experience.

The proximity to other aircraft takes a little getting used to. I remember on the early flights thinking we were awful close to to the tow plane (while still on tow!) and I still get edgy whenever there are more than a couple of us in a thermal but I have to learn how to manage it better.

The Grob 103 is a nice glider to fly. I recently did a 150km silver C distance and height gain in one.

Welcome to the glider clan and I hope you enjoy the challenge.

Terry

Join the throng. I am reminded of something from the old movie "Zorba the Greek". When the lead character was asked if he was married he replied, "yes wife, kids, the full catastrophe..".

If you hang around flying clubs long enough, you realise that history is almost a prerequisite!

Paero, what is it about the PFX that you don't like?

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the fold and enjoy the journey.

Fantastic outcome and in a tiny Cri Cri as well. Cop that Airbus and Siemens.

Or determination by Airbus for their E-Fan be the first tomorrow. The Airbus website is extensive in their claims for a record breaking flight tomorrow. It's pretty easy to speculate they would have been very unhappy to be upstaged by Pipistrel and Siemens may have been subjected to considerable pressure to pull the plug!

It would appear that there may be more to this than safety concerns. Pipistrel have been at the forefront of energy efficient flight for some years.

http://www.flyer.co.uk/aviation-news/newsfeed.php?artnum=2326

And Pipistrels official statement about the situation. http://www.pipistrel.si/news/electric-crosschannel-flight-official-statement

Welcome. Looks like were clubmates! Loving the Foxbat as well.

It's a self launching motor glider designed for soaring flight. I would expect registration and pilot certification would fall under the Gliding Federation.

There are several examples of jet equipped gliders available; mostly sustainer as opposed to self launching. Refer the JS1 which is rather popular now and several sustainer examples operate in Aus with jet engines fitted.

The jet engine is not unique. It's the very clever integration of the engine within the airframe and the electrically driven undercarriage which is so special about this project.

You may find that your fear of heights doesn't translate to flying. I cannot stand near an edge at height or even near a floor to ceiling glass window several floors up. Strangely, I have no such fears when banking aircraft, typically gliders but also a Foxbat with amazing visibility. I have no explanation but somehow it is different in my head.

Welcome and all the best for your lessons.

Welcome to the forum yourself.

My wife and I have been doing Rocky Horror gags all day. Endorse everything you said. Fabulous show and would see it again in a heartbeat.

Kaywoman, yes but now you have been bitten by the aviation bug you'll have to try for yourself. After all, it's just a jump to the left (seat).

Sorry saw Rocky Horror last night and couldn't help myself.

Boleropilot, yes a drifter flight is on the list as everyone raves about them.

Haha. Nice to see two enthusiastic welcomes.

Kaywaman, theres a gliding club in Canberra so maybe go up for a flight in something with a 15 meter wingspan and no noise.

Welcome to the clan. There's plenty of newbies like us and so many experienced aviators to learn from. Don't forget te tell us about your first lesson.

Terry

Firstly, welcome to the forum. I have a gliding background and have only had one power lesson in a Foxbat so I'm no expert.

In short I was very impressed with the climb rate two up, coordination of the controls good and well weighted, steep turns, stalls and side slips were uneventful. A glide approach on landing was very controllable in about 15 knots with about 5 knots crosswind component. I found the glide ratio much better than I anticipated.

A lovely aircraft to learn on and I daresay own, with great visibility. Over to the experts.

Terry

Adam,

I have become a fan of your podcasts recently. I have never downloaded a podcast before but after seeing your posts on this forum have been saving them and listen on the 6 hour drive to my gliding club.

They are all interesting and make a long journey enjoyable. Keep them coming.

May I suggest an interview with Ingo Renner, an Australian glider pilo, with 30,000 hours in gliders, 4 times world champion and recipient of the FAI Lilienthal medal.

Thank you both for the welcome, it's much appreciated.