Sailing vs. Flying

Twisterowner said:
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and you never forget the first time the instructor gets out and sends you off solo

My dalliance with aviation repeatedly took me out of the aircraft door, whilst airborne. Just fantastic! :-)))

The only reasons I gave it up were the possibility of injuries (self-employed, young family, mortgage, etc) and the fact that you could spend all weekend waiting for some decent weather, ( <20kn wind and direct view aircraft to Landing Area) and even at £17 a jump it cleaned out my bank account.

And occasionally I came back to the south coast and went sailing with my sailing friends. Sailing was still better than grappling with skydiving friends in freefall...

But I'd still recommend it to anyone :-)
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Interesting thread! And probably agree with most posts
I fly commercially for a living and seem to invest most of it in the boat! I think sailing is more family friendly but equally as weather dependent as far as passage making is concerned and keeping the family on side
Used to teach gliding for a living and flew competitively for a many years....absolutely brilliant fun, and lots of adrenaline, but many dangers lurking by pressing on (some parallels) and from other competitors (not looking out)
Skill wise......not a lot of difference really, but I think sailing well, using all the things nature provides to get somewhere efficiently and quickly takes a lot of skill. Racing both gliders and yachts probably attracts those that just follow the leaders sadly.

AngusMcD.......didn't know you flew ......Caernarfon?
 
Old thread but timely. A friend took me up in his microlight last week. He has been a hang glider pilot for 30 odd years and then took up microlight flying and got his PPL (or whatever it is called) a couple of years ago. We flew out of Balado up in Kinross over to Crail and back. I thought it would be a lot more bumpy, especially take of landing but what surprised me was how smooth it was, just like floating along. While it was fun, it was not that interesting if I am honest. He took his hands of the control bar and the microlight juts flew along nice and level. I was surprised because I thought he always had to control the wing thing with the control bar or it would just climb or dive or turn. Obviously designed to be balanced in flight. Interesting concept but not for me, I'll stick to bumpy sea passages.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
I was surprised because I thought he always had to control the wing thing with the control bar or it would just climb or dive or turn. Obviously designed to be balanced in flight.
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Aircraft have to be stable, but not too stable because they also have to be controllable. Percy Pilcher and Otto Lilienthal built very stable gliders, but alas they were so stable that one they had started crashing their pilots couldn't stop them crashing and as a result both PP and OL died, as did many early designers/pilots. The true genius of the Wright brothers was to realise this and design aircraft which were much less stable and much more controllable. Adding an engine was a comparatively minor advance.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Aircraft have to be stable, but not too stable because they also have to be controllable. Percy Pilcher and Otto Lilienthal built very stable gliders, but alas they were so stable that one they had started crashing their pilots couldn't stop them crashing and as a result both PP and OL died, as did many early designers/pilots. The true genius of the Wright brothers was to realise this and design aircraft which were much less stable and much more controllable. Adding an engine was a comparatively minor advance.
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There is a knob on the control bar which changes the sensitive of the machine and a couple of options for mounting the wing which make it 'fast or slow' as he explained to me. It was set up for slow as the microlight is used as a tug. To be honest I imagined that he would always be jiggling the control bar about to maintain level flight, it just surprised me how smooth the whole thing was.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
There is a knob on the control bar which changes the sensitive of the machine and a couple of options for mounting the wing which make it 'fast or slow' as he explained to me. It was set up for slow as the microlight is used as a tug. To be honest I imagined that he would always be jiggling the control bar about to maintain level flight, it just surprised me how smooth the whole thing was.
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I've never been up in a microlight, but from modest gliding experience (about 300 hours solo) I'd say that if you are moving the controls around much in level flight you're doing it wrong ... or the designer was doing it wrong. Thermalling a glider is another matter. Are we still allowed to compare things to a one-armed paper hanger?
 
For what it is worth....

- Flying a plane is like driving.
Controlled, enclosed, relatively safe and you have to be qualified.

- Flying a paraglider is like sailing.
You out in the elements, more interaction with the elements, more risk which is managed by your skill and preparation. Every flight is different. And if you want you can be self taught.
 
northcave said:
- Flying a plane is like driving.
Controlled, enclosed, relatively safe and you have to be qualified.

- Flying a paraglider is like sailing.
You out in the elements, more interaction with the elements, more risk which is managed by your skill and preparation. Every flight is different. And if you want you can be self taught.
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I'd suggest fixed-wing gliding as the equivalent to a sailing yacht, and paragliding as dinghy sailing.

Pete
 
JumbleDuck said:
I've never been up in a microlight, but from modest gliding experience (about 300 hours solo) I'd say that if you are moving the controls around much in level flight you're doing it wrong ... or the designer was doing it wrong. Thermalling a glider is another matter. Are we still allowed to compare things to a one-armed paper hanger?
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There was no fiddeling about with controls when flying. The hanging point is only adjustable at rig up. I am not sure what the knob does but I think it is the speed of reaction or sensitivity. It had 3 settings, fast, slow, take off. The knob pulled or released a wire which disappeared into the frame.
 
prv said:
I'd suggest fixed-wing gliding as the equivalent to a sailing yacht, and paragliding as dinghy sailing.

Pete
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Na I wouldn't... fixed wing gliding is again very controlled, repetitive, enclosed and you need a license. Much more akin to flying a plane.

Paragliding you can land anywhere or take your hands of the controls for a cup of tea. You might be able to land anwhere in a fixed wing glider but then your buggered. I.e. like being aground.
 
northcave said:
Na I wouldn't... fixed wing gliding is again very controlled, repetitive, enclosed and you need a license. Much more akin to flying a plane.
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Even with the current EASA licensing requirements for gliders and the impending requirements for pilots, gliding is still a lot less regulated than power flight, and cross-country flying in a sailplane is very, very different from doing the same trip in a Cessna or Piper. Sure, circuits are repetitive but so is beating up and down a ridge in a paraglider. An awful lot of glider pilots also sail yachts.
 
northcave said:
As the saying goes... "soaring is boring".... it's all about cross country :)

I'm saying that from someone who hasn't managed any UK XC this year because I've been sailing too much haha
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I decided that flying was stopping me sailing and sailing was stopping me flying, so it had to be one or the other. I sold the glider and bought a bigger boat. One day I'll start gliding again, I hope, but probably not till I retire or the same problem will arise again.
 
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