Date: 2012-08-18
From: Franconia

To: Franconia
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept in till 8:30am since I wasn't hiking today. Rocket and Srcambo decided to stay part of the day before hitting the trail. I spent most of the morning typing on Susan's computer and uploading pictures. Mid-day I drove Rocket and Scrambo to the trailhead at Franconia Notch.I received a text from Susan on the way back to her house, she has arranged a glider flight for me this afternoon! (Susan is one of the tow plane pilots at the airfield in Franconia). She called in a favor and told me to drive to the airfield and talk to Wayne.I saw many gliders lined up along side the runway when I arrived. Wayne put my name on the tow list and said I should be back at the airfield by 4:30pm. I asked Wayne some questions about gliders and watched one take off on tow. This is going to be really cool, I've never been in a glider before.I went back to Susan's to get some lunch before flying.  I also spent a little more time working on my journal. I was back at the airfield by 4:30pm. I didn't have to wait long before it was my turn to go up. The glider has two seats, one behind the other. I sat up front and Stan (the glider pilot) sat behind me. I usually feel nervous before taking off in any aircraft, today was no different. I said some silent prayers for Stan, the tow plane pilot, and myself. A woman hooked the glider up to the tow plane and shut the hatch. She lifted one wing and ran along side the glider as the tow pulled us down the runway. It was a little bumpy rolling down the grass runway but it didn't take long for the glider to get off the ground. Susan later told me that the glider has to start flying before the tow plane in order to lessen the drag. My heart was beating fast as we started our assent. Only this time my heart was beating fast from excitement not because of anything abnormal. The tow plane pilot pulled us up to Lafayette Mountain. Stan released the tow cable at 4,900 feet. I watched the elevation gauge continue to climb after we got off tow. We got as high as 5,400 feet from the updrafts coming off the mountain. This is one of the coolest things I've ever done. We could see hikers along the top of Lafayette ridge. We circled across the valley, went over Cannonball ski area, and Kinsman ridge. We saw a couple more hikers on top of Kinsman taking pictures of us. Stan pulled a really hard turn and circle over them a second time. This is awesome! The glider is quiet compared to an airplane. Stan and I can talk to each other inside the cockpit without radios. The loudest noise is the wind rushing past a little ventilation window on the side of the hatch bubble. After soaring for a little while I began to feel more comfortable. Than Stan told me to grab the stick and put my feet on the peddles. The controls in both cockpits are connected. He made a couple turns so that I could feel how much pressure he used on the controls. He told me to keep the nose pointed just under the horizon in order to keep the speed up. Then he told me "I just let go of the controls, it's all yours". I was light on the controls at first because I was afraid that I might do something too drastic and get us into trouble. Stan kept talking me through it and I made a few gentle turns. I learned to push the controls a little harder then I wanted to. I brought us back over the airport. I figured that Stan would be able to keep us alive as long as we were close to the landing area ; ) As we descended Stan took over the controls for the approach. I was relieved that he had control of the glider. It was a little nerve racking as he pulled the air bakes to slow us down, (I'm not fond of that part in commercial aircraft either). Slowing down for the landing was louder and more turbulent just like it is in a big plane. Stan is a pro, the landing was very gentle. As the glider came to a stop it softly tipped over on to one wing (that's normal, it only has one wheel). I was a little bit shaky when I got out of the cockpit. I couldn't thank Stan enough. I will never forget this day Susan. Thank you for setting this up. I still felt pretty jacked up when I got back to Susan's. I uploaded many of the pictures I took while up in the glider to my trailjournals page. Check them out if you haven't seen them yet!It's funny, just a few days ago I was having one of my worst experiences since I've been on the trail and now I'm having one of the best.