KRONFELD ON GLIDING AND SOARING.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

i8o KRONFELD ON GLIDING & SOARING
very differently from the framework machine which we
used for the * A ' and * B ' tests ? "
" All steering rules are, of course, exactly the same.
But the fuselage-planes are much more sensitive, and as
they need stronger wind for flying, they are speedier.
When you are used to these differences, you will prefer
to fly in such planes, but people generally find it rather
hard at first to accustom themselves to the new type of
machine. You will soon realize that when we all practise
with the ' Priifling.' "
We set to work once more on the gentle slope. But
this time our progress is quicker, for the material with
which we have to deal has already been sifted, and all
the pupils now here have shown flying talent. At first
the sensitive machines are often over-steered, but soon
everyone grows used to them.
One of the pupils pushes the machine too much. When
asked why, he answers : "I am always afraid that I am
over-pulling because the plane flies so easily, and I can
only hear it whistling when I push/ 1
" That is a mistake which is often made when you start to
fly fuselage-planes, because they offer less resistance to the
air and have no wires in which the wind can hum. All the
sounds connected with such planes are softer, so that it is
necessary to listen more attentively ; this applies also to
the feel of the wind on your face."
These difficulties in flying the new kind of plane are
soon overcome. The real training for the " C " test,
the Soaring Pilot Test, consists in the continuous flying of
good " S " curves. For the " B " test two turns were
required, but now the candidate must describe two complete
turns upon a much shorter course or turn backwards
and forwards more often upon a course of similar length
as the former one. The main object of the flyer is to
remain as long as possible upon a slope where the upwind is
strongest. But the pupils soon find out that this depends
more or less upon the wind ; it is far easier to fly turns
within a narrow radius against a strong wind than it is on
calm days. The stronger the wind, the more our turns
will be compressed and elongated ; in such a way figures