Glider destroyed by lightning

Peter Dohm wrote on 02/03/09 05:58:

Your point about the duration of your introductory or re-introductory
flights almost earned you a place in my "save" folder in case you later
turned out to be located somewhere near my path of travel--since my
introduction was long ago and only about 20 minutes. However, your envelope
address and lack of a sig-line negated what might have been a successfull
use of "web 2.0"


His post shows
Organization: hispeed.ch, so if you are in Switzerland...
I can imagine a glider flight in the mountains being really great.
My brother learned to fly gliders in the Alps, in southern Germany. He loved it.
Over here, one of the few glider flights I had made me feel bad in the stomach,
which is rather unusual for me. But we were doing really tight turns, and I
probably looked too much at the ground.

-Joe

Joe Feise wrote:

His post shows
Organization: hispeed.ch, so if you are in Switzerland...

Bingo.

Over here, one of the few glider flights I had made me feel bad in the stomach,
which is rather unusual for me. But we were doing really tight turns, and I
probably looked too much at the ground.

Don't feel bad about it, you share this experience with a lot of first
timers and even with some power pilots. The movements when thermalling
can be really extreme (tight turns in rough air), but you get used to
it. That's one reason why some say that a first time glider ride should
just be a simple sledge ride with no thermalling. I don't agree, but I
am very careful and stop all thermalling immediately at the first signs
of uneasyness of the passenger. After all, a passenger ride should be
fun for the passenger.

Originally Posted by John Smith

Joe Feise wrote:

His post shows
Organization: hispeed.ch, so if you are in Switzerland...

Bingo.

Over here, one of the few glider flights I had made me feel bad in the stomach,
which is rather unusual for me. But we were doing really tight turns, and I
probably looked too much at the ground.

Don't feel bad about it, you share this experience with a lot of first
timers and even with some power pilots. The movements when thermalling
can be really extreme (tight turns in rough air), but you get used to
it. That's one reason why some say that a first time glider ride should
just be a simple sledge ride with no thermalling. I don't agree, but I
am very careful and stop all thermalling immediately at the first signs
of uneasyness of the passenger. After all, a passenger ride should be
fun for the passenger.

I am getting some tips here, so I guess A full English fry up breakfast just before would be a bad idea and if I keep my eyes closed that may help.

How will it feel doing a loop the loop? I know one thing, I will be double checking that the seat belt harness is well fixed to the glider body before take off as I don't fancy falling out whilst flying upside down and I don't want to do another parachute jump!

John Smith wrote on 02/04/09 01:50:

Joe Feise wrote:

His post shows
Organization: hispeed.ch, so if you are in Switzerland...

Bingo.

Over here, one of the few glider flights I had made me feel bad in the stomach,
which is rather unusual for me. But we were doing really tight turns, and I
probably looked too much at the ground.

Don't feel bad about it, you share this experience with a lot of first
timers and even with some power pilots.


Well, yeah, I *am* a power pilot... VFR only, though.

Graeme Cooper wrote:

I am getting some tips here, so I guess A full English fry up breakfast
just before would be a bad idea and if I keep my eyes closed that may
help.

Maybe, I've never tried closing my eyes while thermalling... :-)
The most important point is not to move your head. (Not if you're the
pilot, of course!) Opening the vent and let cold air blow into your face
helps, too.

How will it feel doing a loop the loop?

Frankly and disappointingly, not too spectacularly. G-load is always
positive, so you keep sitting in the seat, and it doesn't challenge your
inner ear either, because the acceleration is strictly one-dimensional.
If you close your eyes (as you've intended to do), you will not even be
aware that you've done a loop. That's why a loop is well suited for an
intrepid but unexperienced passenger.

On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:24:57 -0800 (PST), Cooperman wrote:

Please help me to raise awareness and funds for the Parkinson's
Disease

Sent mine to Doc Hollywood.
--
Bear Bottoms
Private Attorney General

Originally Posted by Bear Bottoms[_4_]

On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:24:57 -0800 (PST), Cooperman wrote:

Please help me to raise awareness and funds for the Parkinson's
Disease

Sent mine to Doc Hollywood.
--
Bear Bottoms
Private Attorney General

Doc Hollywood was played by Michael J. Fox who has Parkinsons so I guess you are supporting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Reasearch, Am I wright? In which case thats fantastic and all for the same cause.

May I take this oppotunity to say a BIG THANK YOU to all those who are supporting me in this. The total amount of donations received so far from friends, family, gliding clubs, members of gliding clubs and aviation enthusiasts now stands at £788.00 (with gift aid) which equates to approximately £750.00 going direct to the Parkinson's Disease Society after Justgiving have taken their admin fee. This is absolutely fantastic and better than I ever imagined and we still have over 2 months to go before the big day.
Thanks again for your support and messages of good luck.
Graeme

On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:32:33 +0000, Graeme Cooper wrote:

'Bear Bottoms[_4_ Wrote:
;682232']On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:24:57 -0800 (PST), Cooperman wrote:
-
Please help me to raise awareness and funds for the Parkinson's
Disease-

Sent mine to Doc Hollywood.
--
Bear Bottoms
Private Attorney General

Doc Hollywood was played by Michael J. Fox who has Parkinsons so I
guess you are supporting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's
Reasearch, Am I wright? In which case thats fantastic and all for the
same cause.

I don't know. Wilbur or Orville?
--
Bear Bottoms
Private Attorney General

Well I did it. See my scrapbook of the days events of 10 years ago that has just been updated to include photos of my return to the sky:-
http://sites.google.com/site/thebig4...attredirects=0

Thanks to all those who supported me in this for your messages of support and donations. You have helped me to help the Parkinson's Disease Society help others. The total raised so far is over £1500!

I will leave you in your aviation world, My feet are safer on the ground!

All the best and

Thank you
Regards

Graeme Cooper

Sorry its me again, I have updated my scrapbook to include the TV and radio interviews of my return flight and a film of the reconstruction if you are interested. See :- http://sites.google.com/site/thebig4...theskiesagain/

Bye for now
Graeme Cooper