One with the sky, one with the glider....
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| Gliding safely back to earth.... Pictured above are instructor Burt Compton and staff reporter Holly Wise following her return to earth. See related story for details. (Photo by Holly Wise) |
- Two days before I glided, I learned that gliding was flying in an engineless plane, which opened up a whole new set of questions for me. Like - how do we get up in the air?
Well, to get said engineless plane into the air takes one plane with an engine and an FAA certified tow rope.
When I drove out to the Marfa airport on a day that later I was told was perfect for gliding, I got my first look at a glider in Burt Compton’s hanger.
Compton, a Master Flight Instructor and FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, transplanted to Marfa in 2001 from Miami, Florida, where his parents owned an airport and his father flew gliders. Compton’s been flying gliders since 1967 and at five years old, he was helping his father with takeoff and landing.
Our glider on this day had a wingspan of 54 feet and a canoe-looking cockpit. While I waited with two of Compton’s flight students for him to return from a flight with a customer, I was informed that if I decided not to glide, it “wouldn’t be your smartest decision of the day.”
By all means, then, let’s glide.
Once I was safely in the narrow cockpit and buckled in, Compton went through the pre-flight checklist and then showed me the art of “scooping air.”
The cockpit on a glider is not pressurized; we had open windows large enough to stick our hands out and scoop air back onto our faces. Given my distaste for hot spaces, this information was priceless.
Take-off was not what I expected. It felt like we were airborne before the tow plane had fully lifted us off the ground and seconds later we were ascending. Compton told me that “more bumps equals more lift” so our assault from the wind didn’t concern me.
At 2,000 feet above the ground, Compton released the tow rope and our bumpy trip into the atmosphere suddenly became very smooth and quiet as the tow plane dipped away from us and we were suspended in air by thermal updrafts.
I was gliding.
“My love is gliders,” Compton told me, while we soared above the Marfa Plateau, circled around the Marfa Airport and saw the splattering of Marfa town set against the West Texas mountains. “I’m one with the sky. I’m one with the glider, which is what every pilot wants to be.”
Clouds formulated and rain was falling in the distance. According to Soaring in America, a gliding booklet published by the Soaring Society of America, Inc., clouds can indicate a source of lift and for us, it did. Compton told me we climbed 200 feet after being released from our tow plane. Open countryside and desert lands are also known for providing good lift, according to Soaring in America.
Believe it or not, the number one question I’ve been asked since my experience is: how long was it? Honestly, I have no clue. I was so caught up in the fact that I was floating 2,000 feet above the earth’s surface in an engineless aircraft that I did not note the length of our flight time.
If I had to sum gliding up in one word, it’d be peaceful.
Or, to sum it up in the words of my pilot, “I feel like a kid on a playground with my hands in the air.”
And the analogy worked. I was on cloud nine on a playground in the sky.
To schedule your own Marfa Glider ride, contact Burt Compton at 1-800-667-9464 or visit www.flygliders.com.
Editor’s Note: This is a weekly column featuring area summer activities. What you read about here, the author has done! If you have an idea or suggestion, please contact Holly Wise at wiseholly1@gmail.com.