Nervous flyer considering learning to glide

Originally Posted by Caecilius

I'm a nervous flyer who spends a lot of time as a commercial aircraft
passenger. My number one anxiety is that freefall feeling when the
plane drops, like you'd get on a rollercoster (I don't like those
either).

As a bet with myself, I bought a trial lesson at my local gliding club
in SE England. It started out with an aerotow to 2000 ft, which had a
bit of the dreaded turbulance (the instructor said "it's been a bit
bumpy all day"). But the rest of the flight was fun and when we landed
I'd have gone back up again if I could.

Does anyone know if it's possible for people to overcome the fear of
freefall through gliding? I'm keen to do some more flying, but I
wonder if my fear will be a barrier for me.

Another question is winch vs aerotow. My local club does both. I did
aerotow, but I saw someone else winch launch. The winch is much
cheaper, but it looked really scary as an observer: the glider must
have been at a 45 degree angle, and I wonder what the accelleration in
the cockpit would be. I'd like to try a winch launch, but I'm worried
that it may be too much for me. Can anyone give any insight to what
it feels like in the glider? There are plenty of youtube vids, but
they can't show what it feels like.

Things might be different for you based on what fears and feeling you encounter, but here's my take:

First, I have a fear of falling. You will not find me going up a ladder to put up Christmas lights, nor do you find me hiking to the edge of mountains. Therefore I do not go on the drop rides at amusement parks either....

Yet I fly a Pilatus B4, and I like to do tail slides and have fun pitching over 180 degrees, swinging back before stabilizing straight down, then pulling back to level. But I am in control, strapped in, etc, so it doesn't bother me at all, and neither does any other maneuver. While going out soaring, I rarely fee any hard drops like you do on airliners, but I am an east coast US flyer. I experience more kicks UP than drops down. Love soaring.

I think as others have said, if you are in charge, flying the ship, loving the great visibility, you'll have no issues.

Squeak

Am Montag, 3. August 2015 14:43:04 UTC+2 schrieb Squeaky:

First, I have a fear of falling. You will not find me going up a ladder
to put up Christmas lights, nor do you find me hiking to the edge of
mountains. Therefore I do not go on the drop rides at amusement parks
either....

Similar thing here - no ladders & I hate see-through stairways.

I started gliding late (29 yrs) and in a foreign language so I learnt German & flying at the same time. Flying was far easier...

In the meantime I have over 1200 hours & fly a pretty good 18m glider (plus passengers in club 2-seaters)...

On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 09:17:34 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Am Montag, 3. August 2015 14:43:04 UTC+2 schrieb Squeaky:

First, I have a fear of falling. You will not find me going up a ladder
to put up Christmas lights, nor do you find me hiking to the edge of
mountains. Therefore I do not go on the drop rides at amusement parks
either....

Similar thing here - no ladders & I hate see-through stairways.

I started gliding late (29 yrs) and in a foreign language so I learnt German & flying at the same time. Flying was far easier...

Well, I'm quite a bit older than 29! (been using usenet since the UUCP
days). So I think it'd take me a very long time to get to solo if I
decide to take it up.

The thought of learning flying in a foreign language is almost
laugh-out-loud funny to me. It's the sort of thing the Monty Python
team could have done a sketch about.

On 03/08/15 17:55, Caecilius wrote:
On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 09:17:34 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Am Montag, 3. August 2015 14:43:04 UTC+2 schrieb Squeaky:

First, I have a fear of falling. You will not find me going up a ladder
to put up Christmas lights, nor do you find me hiking to the edge of
mountains. Therefore I do not go on the drop rides at amusement parks
either....

Similar thing here - no ladders & I hate see-through stairways.

I started gliding late (29 yrs) and in a foreign language so I learnt German & flying at the same time. Flying was far easier...

Well, I'm quite a bit older than 29! (been using usenet since the UUCP
days). So I think it'd take me a very long time to get to solo if I
decide to take it up.

I started when I was 49, and went solo after a "normal" number of winch
launches, i.e. 50-100, or 30 plus one for every year of your age. It
is about as difficult as learning to drive a car.