First Soaring Experience

I always thought it was great fun taking my professional pilot friends
up in a glider for the first time. They find out their feet are used
for more than going back and taking a leak.

I fly power for transportation and gliders to really experience
flying. Nothing like circling in a thermal with a gaggle of hawks.
Once you get it in your mind that in most cases you can find some
place to safely land, you'll relax and have a ball. Realizing that
many glass ships have a glide ratio in the range of 35:1 to 53:1,
finding a landing place from 1000 AGL in most parts of the country is
not especially hard.

Get the rating -you'll be a better pilot for the effort.