Rideau Valley Soaring

A nice post to share. Something to think about. I like to call it “Altitude Therapy”

Gliding is often talked about as a sport.
But it’s good for you in ways people don’t always expect.

- Fresh air.
- Mental focus.
- Problem-solving under pressure.
- Building initiative and independence, especially for young people.
- And hours spent away from screens, doing something that demands calm, presence and teamwork.

For some, it’s the quiet that helps them reset.
For others, it’s the challenge — learning, improving, and staying mentally sharp.

However you experience it, gliding isn’t just about flying.
It’s about how you feel when you land.

What does gliding give you? 👇🏼

👉🏼 www.gliding.co.uk

With winter this year, the end is in sight ... but why does warmer weather never seem to get any closer? Here's a memory from the Covid summer of 2020. The club's SGS 1-34 is the first single seater that most of our new pilots will fly. Social distancing at 4000' over Kemptville ... oh ya!

Gliding is both a cooperative and a competitive sport. We fly because we cooperate to run operations, by doing things like running each other's wings when we launch, but sometimes we go to competitions where we compete on time and distance tasks. Here's the Grob being disassembled at the end of the Mayfly competition a few years ago.

Have you seen our new web page?

Rideau Valley Soaring – Gliding closest to Ottawa Soaring utilizes nature’s air currents to stay aloft for hours and over distances, just like eagles, condors and other soaring birds.

Throwback to last season, the Glasflügel Libelle has a very distinctive profile. Some say it's the most beautiful glider ever made (that may be subjective). There are two of these flying at Rideau Valley Soaring. It's certainly a classic.

Early March, the snow is starting to melt, though there's still 1-2 feet of soft snow with a hard crusty surface. Hopefully it won't be too many more weeks before it all melts and the gliders can once again come out to play!

Landing out in a farm field (Allez aux Vaches?) is something that glider pilots who venture further away from the airfield need to be prepared to do. On days with good opportunities to find lift, the intrepid "cross-country" glider pilot will try and go far and wide, sometimes flying 100's of km and for 5-6 hours.

The conditions were good this one day last summer, but this one area for some reason had a lot of sinking instead of rising air in it. Three pilots encountered it, and two managed to scratch their way back up and got away. One, did not …but he really found a great field to land in. The funny thing, the one who landed was the more skilled of the 3. He just wasn’t as lucky at finding a good working thermal. It’s part of the sport.

The winter is half over ... and the mercury is finally getting back to positive temperatures! When it's plus one ... and I start getting excited for the soaring season to come! Enjoy this Rick Mercer skit on how other people feel about "+" temperatures:

RMR: Seven Day Forecast From Environment Canada.

During winter, when the airfield is buried in snow, practice continues virtually using the Condor gliding simulator. We'll connect online to fly tasks and practice exercises, some with head-trackers or VR for added realism.

This weekend we’re practicing “scratching” — climbing in very weak thermals. On real cross-country flights, that skill helps us climb out of a weak lift area (holes) and avoid having to end our flight early.

Most gliders are extremely maneuverable, able to handle somewhat high G loads. This also means they can handle pretty steep turns. However if you go too steep, a situation called a "spiral dive" can develop. Every year pilots are asked to do one of these during their annual check-flight to ensure they recognize and recover from it. You can pull 3G+ on these. While not exactly the G load you would expect from military aircraft, it's something you normally would not have a chance to experience in real life. Cue "Top Gun" music ...

Happy Holidays From Rideau Valley Soaring!

Nice graphic for the season
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17HqocH6yp/