Oxford Echoes   adventures of a physician-engineer

As the sun rose this morning, a stalwart group of new Oxford University Gliding Club members took the X5 bus out to the Bicester airfield to try our hands at gliding. We all spent about twelve hours out at Bicester, and got in five flights (about half an hour in the sky) and learned how to help out with towing, dragging, and launching the sailplanes.

Compared to powered flight, the time in the air was certainly shorter and the very abrupt “takeoff” of the winch launch takes some getting used to. There is a more peaceful feel to the flight, as there is no engine noise and the local air flow and ground features play much more prominently into the flight. I look forward to being able to take longer flights when the weather allows for climbing in thermals.