"Stefan" wrote in message
...
Jay Honeck wrote:

I was suddenly aware that we were SOARING

Glad you enjoyed it, but you weren't SOARING. You did what we call a
sled ride: Tow up and glide down. A nice experience, but not soaring.
Soaring means staying up.

The gliding club at my airport gave free flights to powered pilots to foster
goodwill between the two types of aviators. I flew in a two-place Grob with
a pilot that I knew, so he pretty much let me take the stick at about 100'
off the ground.

The neatest part of the flight was finding thermals and gaining altitude. It
was a rush to hear that variometer pitch up and watch the altimeter wind
upwards. I was very proud of the fact that I flew for 20 minutes and was at
3000', the same altitude at which we "cut the cord". It was really awesome.

I really need to get my glider rating. The desire to fly gliders was the
initial reason that I took up flying to begin with.

-Trent
PP-ASEL