Nia continues to be obsessed with all things aviation-related. So obsessed, in fact, that she can now tell you what make of plane is flying above just by listening to it! And her favorite weekend activity as of late is heading out to the Bend Municipal Airport with a aviation scanner radio to listen to the communications between the pilots and flight control tower (and watch the planes come in, of course).
I had initially assumed that 13 was too young to do much with aviation, but there are a shocking amount of ways for a teen to get involved with planes. We have yet to take the plunge and join an organization, but it’s very likely going to happen come Fall. In the meantime, she is familiarizing herself with all the options available to her. Last weekend she went to the airport to meet with the local glider club and do a test flight.
Gliders planes differ from airplanes in one major way–they lack an engine! Therefore, to become airborne, the glider must be dragged up into the air by a small plane and then released. How long it stays up is dependent on the level of wind and the number of thermals (updrafts of air) it can ride. Gliding is something that you need to do in a group though, since the glider cannot stand on it’s own and needs to be held on both sides during takeoff and caught after landing.
Gliding is a cheaper alternative to flying motorized planes, but employs near-identical flight controls, so much so that hours spent learning to fly gliders can count toward the total hours needed to acquire a pilot’s license. Bend has a great glider club (the High Desert Soaring Club) that meets twice a week from March to November. Nia went out during one of their meet-ups and was able to meet some of the other people in the club (ranging from an 8th grader all the way to adults). During club meet-ups, they take turns going up in the club’s two gliders, and everyone who isn’t flying assists during take-off and landing.
Nia did a 30-minute trial ride with an instructor last Sunday. She definitely got the better of the two seats! As you can tell from the picture above, she was pretty stoked. I thought it looked downright terrifying, but when I asked her if she was nervous beforehand, she simply replied, “Nah. Flying is amazing. Besides, even if I did die, at least I’d die doing something that I love.” Hmmm . . . I didn’t find that answer too comforting.
I thought you might enjoy seeing a little video of her gliding expedition. You’ll see the assistants I mentioned, as well as an old crop duster plane that tows the gliders up.
As expected, she absolutely loved it. The other club members commented that she was the most enthusiastic first-time glider they’d ever met. :) That sounds like my gal. This flying thing is looking more and more like it’s here to stay!
