New Glider

[ZorsT]

Yesterday, I went solo in a new glider for me,

Grob single Astir, ZK-GNH :woohoo:

I found it much like the Ka6 i upgraded from (handling wise), with the following major differences.

1) It is VERY quiet - almost too quiet (can't judge airspeed without the ASI)

2) The seating position is very relaxed

3) The flying attitude is very high - that is, to fly at max L/D, it seems as if your legs are higher than youe head, and that you are about to fall from the sky.

4) It floats WAY better - you can get places with less height loss

5) you can go MUCH faster with less height loss.

"Much like a Ka6, but better in every way"

:rockon:

A picture of the Ka6 can be found here:

http://www.glidingnelson.co.nz/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=82&page=view&catid=2&PageNo=1&key=7&hit=1

[Jantar]

The Grob is a nice glider to fly. Much better penetration than the old K6, yet I still have a soft spot for the older machine, and if its a scratchy type of day I'd rather be in a K6 than the Grob. But then the best glider of all, IMO, is the Jantar. :laugh:

[terbang]

Different to the Rhonlerche that I solo'd in in 1977 I bet.

[ZorsT]

Very much so, I also solo'd in a Rhonlerche. Wasn't in '77 though.

[terbang]

Very much so, I also solo'd in a Rhonlerche. Wasn't in '77 though.

Jeez I just looked at yer profile and yer werent born in 77 (feelin old) Nice to see some other aviators on the site and one so young. I didn't do too much gliding only enough to solo. Used to tow gliders in an old Piper cub (ZK-BOV) to get hours up for my commercial licence. It was a great time in my career and even after 16,000 hours I still have that passion for flight that I had then at age 17..

[Jantar]

Different to the Rhonlerche that I solo'd in in 1977 I bet.

I did my first 5 hour flight and Silver height gain in a Rhonlerche. The only glider with a cockpit large enough to get up and walk around in..... well almost. :laugh:

[bobsmith]

Damn that looks nice.

Been flying for about 180 hours on fixed wing aeroplane, working up to my commercial licence (done test and all just need my hours) looks like fun. I'm thinking about getting into gliding myself, tow gliders to build up some hours and get free membership to club etc... (one of my lecturer is an instructor at the feilding gliding club here so I'll be going there to have a look at them next weekend and subscribe for a three flight package they have there.)

so what kind of hourly rates can you expect on a glider like that zorst?

It's good to see that there are other aviators in this forum, :) 16,000 hours! That's a long way away for me... What aircrafts do you fly for your day job terbag? Nice looking jet in your profile. (is that a citation or a learjet? my first guess would be a learjet but I can never tell them apart very well)

[ZorsT]

That glider is rented out for $39 an hour,

But i'll be buying bulk. $650 for unlimited rental for a year. I think the Nelson Club is one of the cheaper clubs in the country though.

Our winch gives us launches for $10 a pop. Makes it affordable for a motorbike racing student such as myself :)

edit: plus, who could say no to a launch like that?

[bobsmith]

darn that's very affordable... I think even I can somehow manage to squeeze that much out of myself every year.

I think it costs a bit more at Manawatu gliding club. Will have to talk to them next weekend about pricing etc though since I don't think they have a website. They only do tow launch as well I believe...

About how many hours of flying do you get in every weekend?

[ZorsT]

depends hugely on the day.

yesterday, since i wasn't used to the glider, and the day wasn't really that brilliant, i got a total of 6 minutes. (one flight, pretty much an extended circut)

Many people dissapear for hours at a time on a decent day (most of the time)

[thealmightytaco]

Does it have Sony 6x9's?

[ZorsT]

Does it have Sony 6x9's?
some do have sterios in them that cut out when their radio is recieving, but its not the point!

Bob:

http://sites.ourregion.co.nz/glidingmanawatu/home.html

[thealmightytaco]

What about a bidet?

[bobsmith]

Cool Thanks for the link. Pity they don't have more information on it like your club does.

That's a pretty impressive launch. I've seen a few tow launches but never seen a winch launch before.

[terbang]

Damn that looks nice.
What aircrafts do you fly for your day job terbag? Nice looking jet in your profile. (is that a citation or a learjet? my first guess would be a learjet but I can never tell them apart very well)
Currently driving Boeing 737-300/400 (with the big rat on the tail) have only been on them for 1 year. The profile picky is a Gulfstream GIV-SP. I flew this aircraft for 2 years (has to be my favourite type) before going back into the Airlines on the 73. GIV is also a good glider..!
I am also rated on BAe 146, AVRO RJ, and Dash 8.

[bobsmith]

Damn I knew I shouldn't play the guess what aircraft this is.....

I just learnt to differentiate between A320 and 737 and they come to Palmy daily and I watch them take off and land all the time.

[Jantar]

Try flying in Central Otago next time you're down this way. See http://www.cofc.co.nz/

[R6_kid]

terbang, by your type ratings i'd guess you either did some time in britain, or did you get those working with ansett/Air NZ back in the 80-90's?

[terbang]

terbang, by your type ratings i'd guess you either did some time in britain, or did you get those working with ansett/Air NZ back in the 80-90's?

Both actually,10 years with Ansett NZ and also 1 year with British Airways and another with Swiss Airlines.

[GNR]

o o another pilot here, IM going for my CPL in chch,
doing some aerobatics soon :D,

[Macktheknife]

I am humbled I have only just started in gliders only done 3 flights, 2 up, but I can see how I might want to get into this more. I just need to find some more money, wifey says I should sell one of the bikes.... mutter mutter.

[bobsmith]

o o another pilot here, IM going for my CPL in chch,
doing some aerobatics soon :D,

Cool, I was supposed to start on aerobatics before my CPL test but the school couldn't source an aerobatic aircraft and now I'm 10 months overdue for aeros, cant wait!!!, the school just sourced a Robin for aerobatics so it should be fun.

what have you been flying? I've been flying cherokees for last 150hours or so and just started flying the piper seneca V, will be doing my IFR rating on the seneca.

Ooohhh my type rating on a seneca V tomorrow... I'm getting nervous...

[GNR]

im a cessna man, learnt on a C150, now i fly 152, and as much as i can the 172, Soon i'll be getting a ratin/check out on a 172 RG - retractable gear, oooooo, can wait to fly that.

Do u fly full time?

[bobsmith]

I suppose sort of - I'm enrolled at Massey for their Aviation "degree"...

I wouldn't say too much in case someone from massey reads this but it's a big joke.

I think the flying training is to a fairly high standard, but the fact that they call it a "degree" is something I'm disgusted about... I used to atten a REAL university before I moved here due to their marketing... I should have known better than to fall to their marketing but at the moment it was the only place I could pay for my flight training with student loan.

[GNR]

oh yer fair enough,
im not going to get a loan, i work full time mon-fri, then fly in the weekends at a good price.
oooo did some aerobatics todays, my face was in a perminant smile the rest of the day, was so much fun, can't wait for the next lesson

[marty]

ooohh massey. still the topic of the month on pprune.....? there was a massey twin in parked up in nzhn yersterday.

would be nice to be jetting round. have to make do with aztecs and commanches atm. can't wait to get rated in my new toy though :) and blue sky here today - maybe aeros before lunch :) :) :)

[bobsmith]

Massey always seems to be on pprune, stopped reading there since, well, I think massey is shitty enough as it is and I don't wanna kill all of my spirits...

Oohhhhh your profile says Pitts Special??? Yummmm

[Jantar]

You can all have your Aztecs, Commanches and even your Pitts. I'm heading out of here for an hour or two in a PW5 before i have to submit myself to the back seat of the Twin Astir for the rest of the afternoon. :motu:

[bobsmith]

Damn you lucky bugger...

Yeah, I would much rather be flying something with one or more stupid propulsion engine on it... The only gliding experience I've ever had is when I encountered a lee wave action in a cherokee and I had the power completely closed to idle with the nose down to just below yellow line and still climbing at 700ft/min... DOH!!!!! Luckly the controller on ohakea control was feeling nice that day. :blip:

Now only if I was out that day on a glider......

was going to have a look at the gliding club yesterday but my day sorta got all stuffed up and was stuck running errands all day...

[marty]

so terbang - you're on JNC/JNO et.al? some of them are getting pretty tired huh. worked in hngr 1 (off charlie 5) doing overnight checks on them, and did a month in chch doing a return to lease C check on a QF 733 that had to have over 300 hilocks pulled out of the wing for corrosion! i've seen the light though and have moved south - the commute was killing me.

still reckon the 73 is cooler than the bus though.

[Jantar]

So I went up to the flying club this afternoon, and it was a crap day. 5 - 8 kt southerly so no thermals. The wind wasn't strong enough for wave, and it was steady so no chance of any instability at all. The tow plane was away so that meant we only had the winch to use.

but the good thing was... only two students turned up, so another instructor and I took the Twin Astir for some low level ridge soaring. Absolutely fabulous flying along a low ridge which is inside the circuit and directly below the powered aircraft downwind leg. Only 500 - 800 ft above the airfield height on a beat of about 5 km long and trying to stay airborne in a 5 kt breeze. The best fun anyone can have with their pants on. :D :yeah:

[marty]

up to the barrier today via ardmore, then down through crappy vfr at 700ft via whitianga to tauranga. kaimais closed out so back up thru the waihi gap which was clear and calm, back to hamvegas.

another round tomorrow....

great day :)

[bobsmith]

This is turning into a resident kiwibiker aviation thread......

Well I'm glad you're all having fun... We have this stupid rule at Massey that the students have to have a current class 1 medical for all flight checks... some stupid equivalence with CAA or something, anyhow, I was supposed to do my seneca rating last week, got cancelled and since my medical expired on friday couldn't do it today, have lectures the rest of the week so wasn't too worried..... until the bastard of the medical centre rang me up this morning to cancel my appointment tomorrow to see if I can reschedule for next week!!!!

I'm like WTF!!! (I didn't say that to the lady since I do want a medical scheduled soon) They better get me another time this week or I'll be screwed since I rather not do my type rating a month after my last flight....

I hate doctors, I have to put up with shit from idiotic doctors and nurses at work (advice, if you ever get your blood taken make sure the form and the specimens have YOUR FULL name and date of birth, its amazing how many doctors and nurses can't get their patient's name right) and now I gotta put up with stupidly scarce aviation medical doctors (in palmy anyway...)

[N4CR]

Students need class 1 to go into the circuit/flight checks.. wtf!? You only need class 2 for PPL holding. Sigh.

CAA are a bit nazi sometimes eh.

[bobsmith]

"a bit" ? "sometimes" ???

Oh and we also need to attend 90% of lectures and obtain 70% pass in exams, I mean I understand 70% pass (like normal caa exams) but 90% attendence? WTF!!!!! (I never went to my lectures much when I was attending a REAL uni...)

Oh well better head off to my lectures so I don't get marked absent....

[GNR]

"Oh and we also need to attend 90% of lectures and obtain 70% pass in exams"

well im rooted, i don't do any lectures? i just study at home and sit the exam, its worked so far with CPL law, Got CPL met soon :S.

[marty]

cpl law is good. met and nav a bit tougher. and how many times should someone have to sit a human factors exam? 4 different ones for me - LAME, PPL, CPL, ATPL. ridiculous.

[GNR]

yer mets a bit tough, i think i'll be right tho

DO the human factors exam get much harder? like gonig up thru the grades...ppl...cpl....atpl??
whats LAME?

[Michaelt]

LAME is Licensed Aeronautical Maintenance Engineer or something along those lines.

I've done a bit over 60 hours in Tomahawks, and a few glider flights in a Blanik and a Grob Twin Astir.

Marty, feel free to add me to the list of people begging you for a ride in that Pitts.

[marty]

will do. on a cost-share basis of course. :) 5 hrs into my unlimited aeros rating now. should have it sorted by 13hrs or so. learning tumbles (lomcevak) and avalanche atm

[Street Gerbil]

Yesterday, I went solo in a new glider for me,
Grob single Astir, ZK-GNH

:gob:
In Russian "Grob" means "Coffin".
Oh dear...

[marty]

in english, gay guys stick 'gerbils' up their bums.

oh dear.....

[Street Gerbil]

in english, gay guys stick 'gerbils' up their bums
Yeah, I heard that too. However, to my best knowledge it is an urban myth (http://www.snopes.com/risque/homosex/gerbil.asp).