On Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 8:36:57 PM UTC-4, Roy B. wrote:
I have had lots of experience with this flying gliders in New England where there is much controlled airspace. I have found that a lot depends on whether you sound (on the radio) like you know what you are doing. If you do, they seem to take the glider traffic in stride. If you sound like you are in crisis mode they will help you - but you are not welcome there as they will likely disrupt all the other traffic to get you in.

A crisp professional initial call up indicating that you have the most recent ATIS information and a statement that you "can follow their traffic" (meaning you don't have to cut in front of somebody) goes a long way toward making you welcome.

Don't ask the tower for anything that might put them "on the spot" (like asking to land in the grass or on a taxi way) and do your utmost to roll clear of the active runway.

Transiting class C airspace with a transponder is now much easier because they will usually let you keep the 1202 code and you don't have to fumble with a new one.

My two favorite experiences were at Aspen CO being sandwiched between a Lear 35 ahead of me in the pattern and a Dash-8 behind me, and at Lebanon NH when we had to land on long distance ferry flight. Both the tug and the glider landed - and they let us launch again out of there.
Great guys in both places.
ROY

Many years ago when I got my first glider, and before I had much XC experience, I landed out at a towered airport on my 3rd or 4th flight. A far-away thunderstorm, unbeknownst to me, shut down the lift over a wide area, and I didn't have the smarts to head back to home field while I still had the altitude (9000 AGL!). Instead I searched in vain for lift near this towered airport. As I descended down the "cone of confusion" closer to the airport, I called the tower on the radio. They heard me once, but afterwards the ancient radio (or battery?) died. Since they knew I was there, and there was no traffic, I kept on searching for lift (not in the approach path of the active runway), but eventually had to land. Chose the inactive runway to stay out of the way of the nonexistent traffic. Better yet, I thought, I can land on the grass along that runway, and really be out of their way. After touchdown, the intersection with the active runway, and lights alongside it, seemed to come up fast. With lots of wheel brake I stopped a few feet before those lights. Turned out that grass strip was 800 feet long, and I wasn't yet practiced in short landings in that glider. After that I walked to the tower and had a chat with the controllers, no problem. Later got an aero-retrieve out of there. Moral of the story: land on the runway!