I’m sitting in the Schweizer 2-33B strapped, waiting for the tow plane on the grass runway in Randall airport, but for the first time without instructor in the back seat. It’s just me. There is no one to adjust the rudder on takeoff or correct the stick on landing. I’m on my own now, but for some reason I felt a sense of déjà vous. I was concentrated and a little bit tense sitting in the cockpit in the cold Saturday morning, but it was not my first time; actually it was my third first solo in a sailplane. My first solo was in Israel over 20 years ago. I still remember vividly the yellow Ka-8 glider, “Kilo Oscar” (4X-GKO) at Ein-Shemer airport. After a long training in the good old Bergfalke, mostly with truck towing to 1,000 ft., came the day when I was cleared for the solo. Short briefing by the chief instructor and I’m all set. Solo not in the familiar trainer; but in a totally different glider, single seater which is lighter and more agile.

I was extremely tense and focused, ready as I could ever be. “Slack out” on the radio to the tow plane’s pilot (in Hebrew), “Takeoff” and we are running together on the long tarmac runway, which was built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in World War 2. I was so concentrated on flying properly that I’ve not heard the instructor calling me on the radio; the Israeli procedure for solo requires the instructor to supervise the whole sortie with radio from the control station on the ground. The flight was good and after the landing the instructor screamed at me: “why were not you answering me on the radio”? I even forgot to report “Down wind” on the landing pattern… but finally I was a solo pilot; wet from the initiation ceremony.

I flew dozens of flights with the Kilo Oscar, which I liked very much, but at some point after graduating Aeronautical Engineering school I had other obligations that caused me to leave the club and soaring altogether. After several years I’ve missed very much the quiet unpowered flight at a time when a new free flight sport emerged – Paragliding. I was fascinated and started flying paragliders. The flexible wing is an incredible glider, which you can fold into a back pack after landing and travel back easily. The beginning is scary – you are literally seating in a harness attached only to a piece of fabric hundreds of feet in the air; you look down and all you see are your legs. Paragliding is probably the closest to flying like a bird a human being can experience, or as Richard Bach portrayed it: “As close as you’ll get to flying without wings”.

Towards the end of the previous millennia Vered and I got married. The three of us flew to Europe for the honeymoon – Vered, I and the Contest, my paraglider. My favorite take off sites are in the Alps, where the thermals can get up to 7 meter per sec (1,400 feet per minute) and the scenery is always amazing, so I wanted to combine a trip with paragliding. One day when we were going on the cable car to Aiguilles De Midi, one of the picturesque peaks near the Mont Blanc, I saw a sailplane approaching from far away, very high over the Alps. It was flying fast and in few minutes it was thermaling high above us. That moment I’ve told my wife I want to return to gliding. I could not take my eyes of that glider soaring at over 15,000 feet.

A few months later I registered as a new member in Megiddo Gliding Center, one of the two major soaring clubs in Israel (http://mgc.org.il/Default.aspx?tabid=141&language=en-US).  The club has around 10 single seaters; like PW-5, ASW-15, Speed Astir, LS-4 and Liebelle; and two Grob 103 trainers. The club is located in the Jezreel valley, at the north of Israel; near the ancient fortress of Mount Megiddo which thrived 3,000 years ago. The name Armageddon is misspelled Mt. Megiddo name in Hebrew – ‘Har Megiddo’.

It took me a while to get up-to-speed after 10 years out of gliding. The common take off method for students is truck tow, which is like kiting. The Megiddo airport has a 7,800 ft. long tarmac runway, which like most run ways in Israel was built by the Brits in World War 2, so it’s well suited for truck tow. Israel is a dry country so there is not much grass and takeoffs and landings are done at the airport only on the tarmac runway. The long runway enables concurrent landing of several gliders, in case the landing pattern is crowded. Truck tow enables maximum release altitude of 1,000-1,200 ft. and the flights are usually not long, since you have to be in down-wind on 800 ft. This tow method costs less than air tow and enables to practice many take-offs and landings; With truck tow a student can get up to 6 or 7 flights a day.

The training program starts with several air tows to gain some minimum amount of air time for basic practice of glider handling and later-on the student switches to the truck tow. When the student is proficient in both truck and air towing and is getting close to being ready for solo, the emergency procedure session commences. Cable break under 200 ft. altitude, cable break above 200 ft. and landing with the tow airplane; to simulate cable release fault. After all the training and practice I finally was ready for the first solo, for the second time in my aviation career. I trained on G-103, which is very similar to the ASK-21; but in contrast to the American practice, in Israel you solo in a single seater. On top of all the anxiety associated with a first solo; there is the additional challenge of getting acquainted with a totally new glider. I’ve flown the Ka-8 in the past, but the PW-5 is totally different. It’s a new composite glider, 30 years younger than the wood, metal and fabric bird.

The chief instructor briefed me on the PW-5, its different speeds and the extra attention I should put to gentle steering. I’ve fastened the seat belts, performed the pre take-off check list and called the truck driver on the radio “Slack out”. First solo again, no instructor and I’m seating in the cockpit of a brand new glider. The heart beat soared, the adrenaline started to flow and then “Take off”. The truck and I ran together on the long runway for few seconds until the light “Alpha Zulu” (4X-GAZ) just leaped into the air and my heart beat followed… after a minute or two of adjusting to the new bird, I started to enjoy it. The agility was new and fun. The flight was short and after a good landing my second first solo was over.

In a few months, autumn arrived, and with it the migration season; wherein the European birds migrate to Africa for the winter. It turns out that the main migration route passes over the eastern Mediterranean coast, where Israel is located. One of the most amazing facts about this miraculous phenomenon is that the migration seasons, to Africa in the fall and back to Europe on spring, coincide with the best cross-country and thermaling weather in this area. The sky is often filled up with cumulus streets and soaring for hours is not a challenge. The waiting lists for the club gliders are the longest and everyone shows up early.

Finally my turn for the PW-5 came and I was excited from the opportunity for a first long flight, not just takeoff, few turns and landing. I strapped myself in the “Alpha Mike” (4X-GAM) and 10 minutes later I was thermaling over the Jezreel valley with a flock of short-toed eagles up to the cloud base at 6,000 ft.  in five meter per second lift (1,000 feet per minute). This was my first over an hour solo flight, and soaring with these magnificent birds made it even more special. I enjoyed flying the PW-5 very much but when I was about to become a father, it was something I had to give up. It was too much for me to wake-up on 6 AM in order to be at Megiddo at 8 AM for the morning procedure of taking the gliders out of the hangar, washing them and ending with the pre-flight checking and cable deployment; commuting the gliders all day long from landing to take-off position in the scorching Israeli sun and flying in between is tiring too; while the day closure procedure is the opposite – putting back all the gliders and tow planes in the hangar and covering them. I used to return home totally exhausted between 8 and 9 PM.

 

And back to Valley Soaring Club, 11 years later. On one sunny summer weekend driving back home on the I-84 east from a trip to the Raymondskill falls I saw a row of gliders at Randall airport.  The thought of flying a glider again immediately popped up, even though I was about to resume paragliding with the kit I’ve brought with me from Israel. Few months later I drove to Middletown with a friend for an introductory flight and it was it – the paragliding will wait for a while and my lovely red and white Apco Vista canopy will continue to rest in its backpack. Two weeks later I was registered already as a club member; Trainee for the 3rd time.

On Sep. 17, 2011, John Merola, the FAA instructor, has signed my log book and few minutes later I was strapped in the SGS 2-33B, for my first solo in a two seater. The wing runner rocked my glider’s wing (there is not much use of radios in Valley Soaring Club) and when the slack was out I’ve flapped the rudder and the takeoff commenced. The take off, flight and landing were good and the third first solo was over.

It’s good to be a sailplane solo pilot again. I did three first solos in three different airports and in two countries.