SOLO FLIGHT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 134, 29 January 1932, Page 2

SOLO FLIGHT

I training australian pilots in art of GLIDING. \ - I RISING BY INCHES, j Man has envied the birds since the j beginning, and as a means of emulating them many have stuck to gliders, in preference to engined machines, says a Sydney daily. With a glider the pilot is dependent upon atmospherie conditions to pull him through. In powered craft the pupil flies with j dual control, and has an instructor with hira. In a glider the pupil is always alone. Two methods of training are employed in Sydney glider clubs. In one the pupil, after elementary theoretical instruction in the use of the rudder and joystick, takes his seat in the glider and is drawn slowly aiong the ground. A motor car is used for towing. As the pupil becomes accustomed to maintaing lateral stability the speed gradually is increased, and the glider rises slightly. Each increasd in speed means greater altitude. ~ The average pupil has 12 to 18 ground "flights" and a further 30 or 40 "flights" of increasing altitude before he finds himself controlling the glider 20 feet ahove th'e ground. Elastic Ropes. , The other method is to catapult the glider by means of elastic launching ropes. The pupil, after instruction on a fixed ground model, is launched in a glider with force sufficient only to lift the machine slightly-. Light ropes attached to the wing tips are held by instruetors, ready to pull the machine to a point of equilibrium should the pupil err. In this method also the pupil gains altitude progressively. There are more than a dozen gliders in New South Wales, despite that the sport was seriously commenced less than two years ago. Membership of glider clubs runs into several hundreds. In Victoria and South Australia gliding is much more advanced than in New South Wales. At a meeting held in Koroit, Vic.r last year, a pilot remained aloft for two hours 45 minutes, soaring solely with the aid of air currents. In New South Wales endurance flights have not been attempted. Victorian enthusiasts also have done a fair amount of flying on sail-planes and secondary gliders, but although there is one of the former type in New South Wales, difficulty has been experienced in finding suitable ground from which to m'ake proper tests.