subject: Ever Been Up In A Glider ? [print this page] Ok, here"s one for youOk, here"s one for you. On or around my 22nd birthday, i was visiting family in Florida and was given a great birthday present. I had the opportunity to go to a small airport, can"t quite remember what town it was in but I believe it was near Gainesville and go up in a glider ! Not a hang glider but one you sit in with a dome overhead. Basically, it was just like a small plane but there was no engine, actually there were hardly any controls at all. There was a control stick, pedals for the flaps I think, a break, an altimeter, speedometer, wings and two seats. That"s about it ! Another plane towed us up, it was awesome. You have a plane in front of you and a cable attached, the plane tows you down the run way and gets up off the ground slowly before you do. Once you"re about 2000 feet up they disconnect the tow cable and you fly around on the thermos for as long as you can, or as long as the pilot has time to. It was amazing. 2000 feet up with no engine. All you can hear is the wind and looking down the airport looked like a tiny little speck ! I believe we were cruising at a top speed of about 80 mph. Landing was easy, and was by far smoother than any airplane I"ve ever been in. If this is something you haven"t done then please add it to your bucket list now ! You can"t miss out on this adventure. I"m looking forward to going hang gliding someday. Better do it before I get too old, and I"m not getting any younger !
Hang gliding has me a little concerned though. Running down a hill or jumping off a cliff to get airborne ? Yikes ! It looks like a blast but with my luck I'd crash and burn. Nonetheless I can't imagine getting to the end of the road and having never tried it.
