>> We're here at Beloit Airport
in southern Wisconsin on a
beautiful day for flying
gliders.
There's a lot of pushing a
pulling and community effort
that goes into running a glider
operation.
[propeller hums]
We're about 4,000 feet above
ground.
I'm going to pull the release
and we're going to make a
gradual right turn.
Okay.
[level clicks]
There's that.
[propeller hums]
[silence]
In this part of Beloit, there's
a Walmart and Menard's, and
assorted other places that just
have big, giant parking lots.
A parking lot heats up better
than the surrounding grass.
And that temperature difference,
while the warmer air starts to
rise, as it does it begins to
rotate, typically, and form a
column of rising air.
Now, the idea with this circling
is that this is a column of
rising air.
To stay in it we need to circle.
And we're able to climb, and
have some fun flying where the
hawk and other birds fly.
When I was a little kid I used
to have dreams that I physically
could fly, just like a bird.
One day, however, driving down
the road I saw these two planes
and wondered, what was that?
Well, it was a tow plane and a
glider.
I followed them to the airport
and went to take a ride.
I thought I was just going for a
ride, which is fine.
But when we were up flying the
pilot said, okay, this does
this, this does that.
And he's showing me all how the
controls work.
And then he said, okay, now you
can fly.
I just remember that phrase was
amazing.
You can fly.
Really?
That was on May 28, 1972.
Soaring is the poetry of
aviation.
It is a challenge to fly a
glider and be able to stay up.
The fact that you have 900 or
1,000 pounds worth of aircraft
that's no sinking.
No, it's climbing.
You're trying to get the best
performance out of yourself,
from the aircraft, reading the
weather, decision-making in
flight.
Shall I go to this cloud or
shall I go to that cloud?
This is the art and technique of
exploring what's possible with
the aircraft.
We have the same set of controls
as any powered aircraft, save
those which are related to the
engine.
But we have three axes of
control, we can control pitch
and roll and side to side with
the nose in the same way that an
airplane pilot does.
There is that kind of
competition sometimes between
pilots flying on the same day,
even though it's not an
organized competition.
The question is, how well can
you do?
Can you keep up with the other
guys?
Can you be the leader of the
pack?
The feeling that I get is a
sense of challenge and
possibility, and the freedom in
that aircraft to try my best
every time I fly.
It's a constant reward that I
get from flying.