First Glider Flight

Had my first glider ride Saturday, July 26. It was at Sterling, Ma. with the
Greater Boston Soaring Club. Had to wait all day. Should have gotten there
earlier, but it was definitely a memorable ride. We had one of the shorter
tow ropes, so we were in real close formation with a Piper Pawnee. I cut
away at 3000' msl with a former P-51 pilot on the back seat. Can't remember
which glider we went up in. They have several. Once we cut loose, I got the
controls with the understanding that if I heard the pitch of Bob's voice
going up to give him the controls because we were in a thermal. There wasn't
a whole lot of thermal activity that day, but he did manage to get us up to
3600'. I took the controls back and did some turns. It's great being able to
talk without wearing any headphones. He took the controls again at one point
for a thermal and he started cranking around to turn back into it. I was
thinking we were pretty slow for that steep a turn (it was getting down to
40 knots with a 34 knot straight and level stall speed) when I felt a
distinct buffet. Next thing I know, the nose is falling through adn we're in
a spin. The stick is in my belly and I hear Bob saying "What the heck is
happening?" I tell him we're in a spin as I watch the Earth spinning in
front of me. I told him 3 times to let go of the stick before I finally took
it, centered it adn stomped the right rudder. We came out of it pretty quick
and the glider accellerated real quick. Vne was 125 and we hit 100 in almost
no time. I pulled the nose back up and slowed us back to our 45 knot target
speed. Flew around the airport for a little while. I got us set up on a
midfield crossover to downwind and Bob took us the rest of the way in. It's
sort of wierd speeding up to land. We set up at 60. Great landing and when I
got out, I got to drive the golf cart back to boot.

Bob gave me an A+ for my recognition and timely recovery from that spin. I
was kind of concerned tha the didn't recognize it sooner and thought that he
might have just been trying to get a rise out of me, but I think he really
didn't recognize it. He's an older gentleman, I'd guess in his 70's. When we
got down he said he'd never spun out of a thermal before. He was somewhat
apologetic since we lost about 800' and didn't get it all back in the
pullout. I didn't say anything, but I wonder if I should have. There was
lots of air between us and the ground, but what if I was a non-pilot? Don't
know if anybody on the ground saw it, but one guy wanted to check my pants
for stains. Told him it was not a problem. I'd get to wear them home.

Great bunch of people and a great day all around. I'm hoping to get weekends
off at my job so I can pursue this gliding more seriously. If you have never
done it, I highly recommend it. It cost me $75 with $30 going towards my
membership should I join. Ride would have been longer with some lift, too.

mike regish

'53 Tripacer

N3428A