Can you glide in the rain

She always dreamed of being a pilot but thought that the cost would make that impossible. However, she found out about gliding during a holiday in Cyprus, came home, joined her local club and is now a fully-fledged pilot about to take her first steps into cross-country flying.

As well as flying as often as she can, Sarah, like many glider pilots, helps with the smooth running of her club. She is its Trial Lesson Coordinator and takes her turn driving the winch and running the launch-point.

She says that she finds the social aspects of the sport almost as exhilarating as flying! I find gliding a truly addictive hobby, where I am always pushing my boundaries to move on to the next step. Our website uses cookies to provide insights and to ensure you get the best experience whilst visiting.

Learn more. We respect your privacy. Please see our privacy policy for further details. Try Gliding. What is gliding? Glider pilots use three main types of rising air to stay airborne: Thermals — columns of rising air produced when the sun heats the atmosphere Ridge or hill lift — air pushed upwards when it blows against the edge of a slope Mountain wave — currents of air that rise to get over the top of hills or mountains and then flow and rebound, creating a wave-like motion that can continue for hundreds of miles.

What does it cost? When can you glide? In the main though, the optimal weather conditions for gliding are sunny and not too windy. Where can you glide? Who Can Glide? Alex Harris When he soloed in , aged 15, Alex was the first UK pilot to take advantage of the new rules which had reduced the earliest solo age from 16 to Steve Derwin Steve took up gliding in as a way of revisiting his beloved hills, after losing the use of his legs in a motor cycling accident.

Claudia Hill Technical translator, Claudia, started gliding while at university in her native Germany. Want to get your gliding fix? About Gliding What is gliding? Who can glide? Login Username Password. Newsletter Signup. If a glider can circle tightly enough in the bubble of air, it can go up too.

On that day at Hendon, I circled in a thermal rising to a height where London gradually became spread before me, from Tower Bridge in the east to Heathrow airport in the west. And 44 years later, I am still circling in thermals.

Yesterday before it started to rain I turned circles constantly for an hour about ft above a ruined hilltop castle just trying to stay up - often with an equally persistent buzzard for company. Flying with the cadets was free and I managed to do quite a lot of gliding and some flying at school. On gliding expeditions out of London, I learned to make use of "hill lift", exploiting the fact that when the wind hits a ridge, the air rises.

I began to fly over more dramatic landscapes, such as Cheddar Gorge, and to stay up for an hour or more. But it all had to stop after I left school; when I was working before going to university and while I was an undergraduate, flying was simply too expensive.

I couldn't stay away for long, however. Five years later as a graduate student I started gliding again, first in Norfolk, then Scotland, Sussex, Hertfordshire and finally Oxfordshire, where I still fly. During this time my repertoire expanded. I had learned "winch launching" at Hendon: this is when the glider is attached to a long cable stretched along a runway. The cable is reeled in, on to a rotating drum, and the glider gains forward speed to climb at a rather steep angle.

At about 1,ft, the glider is released and can fly free to find rising air. The process is rather dramatic, but it works surprisingly well. I also used to drive the winch, and remember being provided with an axe that I was supposed to use to hack through the cable if the glider failed to release. Luckily, I never had to use it. The other launch mechanism I learned was to be "aerotowed" behind a tug plane.

The glider is attached by a rope to the tug, which climbs to about 2,ft before releasing the glider. This is a more civilised process - but even so, bobbing behind a plane in bumpy air can be quite an interesting experience. But the most Heath Robinson-esque mechanism I used was a bungee launcher. In effect, the glider is attached to a thick elastic band, which is stretched and then released. This type of launch has to be executed from the top of a hill.

It is a very gentle method, but immediately after the glider has been released, life becomes rather busy: ridge lift needs to be found straightaway. The only alternative is an immediate landing, which explains why this method of launching has almost disappeared today. Another way of staying in the air is "wave soaring". When strong, steady airstreams hit hills or mountains, the whole atmosphere can undergo oscillations.

These occur downstream of the hills and are marked by strange, elongated flying-saucer-shaped clouds. Wave flying can be very rough, but it can also take a glider very high indeed. In Scotland, I have been to 14,ft, and in the Alps to over 20,ft. Flying at these heights in a glider is a mysterious, almost spiritual experience. The world and people are very distant, and here in the Alps, the outline of the grey-and-white mountains is etched against an ultramarine sky.

It seems almost impossible that you will ever return to the ground and the everyday world. A running hat with a bill that extends out over your face. Synthetic, form-fitting clothing including socks. If it's warm, skip the jacket and embrace getting wet. A jacket will simply make you feel hot. Here are our tips for wearing running shoes in the rain: Save your favorite shoes. How to dry your wet running shoes Remove the liner inside your shoe so that it can air out and dry faster.

Most shoes have a removable sock liner that you can slip in and out. Stuff your shoes with newspaper. Crumple up some newspaper or other light paper not toilet paper! The paper will absorb the excess water in your shoes, shortening the drying time and keeping them funk-free. You can also use cotton rags. Put your shoes in a place with good airflow. That might be beside a floor vent, in front of a fan, or in a covered outdoor space.

Remove the paper after a few hours. Either throw the paper away or dry it out to use it again! Try water-resistant shoes Some brands make your favorite shoe in a waterproof version for your rainy workouts. Keep Reading. Running shoes are tough. Running shoes take a beating under our feet, bake on the asphalt and get caked in mud not to mention sweat.