Glider flying Mainz - Finthen

[UTubeGlennAR]

Similar happened to me in 1970. On a Friday in the spring the US Army dumped me off at this air field. The first sergeant said said since it wasFriday just come back Monday morning. Saturday arrives n nothing to do, the pace was empty, no friends, no car not even a bicycle. Than I saw a small yellow glider seemingly rising in the near distance in the air silently.

Due to the 5oo space limit-continued (below I home).

[UTubeGlennAR]

I hung out there all weekend n had a nice time.

Monday comes around and I get transferred to the avionics platoon stationed in Hanau some 30 or so miles away.

To make a long story short, I joined the club, took the train there every weekend I did not have duty. My instructor was a nice man named Carl Nagel. I soloed and on one of these solo flight I lost my canopy at take off.

I befriended a young man named Wolfgang Ermish, had a little crush on a young girl named Irean.

Continued below.

[UTubeGlennAR]

Than the next spring I was transferred to Vietnam.

Nonetheless, I have a gerat time. A flight, tow n instructor was about a dollar fifty but the Mark to Dollar was 3.62 to $1.00, that was when the dollar was king, not like it is now.

I recognized the same old tractor pulling back the tow line. Did they still use a miniature control tower made out of a small trailer as they did 40 years ago?

If I remember correctly the winch had a Olds V8 motor in it......

Thanks for the memories..........

[MrHelidude]

@UTubeGlennAR

Hi !!!

I am glade that this clip brought back some good memories. I am not sure of all the mechanics used in this gliding operation nowadays as this was only my first time there in a glider. But like you have said, it almost felt like flying in some kind of "old" past time.

It was a lot of fun and the atmosphere, people and student pilots there were very young, friendly and relaxed. That made all the difference...... :-)

[UTubeGlennAR]

LotsO little things I forgot about my time at Finthen, one I now remember is my instructor saying that most everyone in the club spoke English but along with teaching me to fly a glider, we are going to teach you to speak German..... 

[MrHelidude]

@UTubeGlennAR

Yes, so true. Everyone speaks English perfectly in Germany nowadays but they still keep that little secret to them selves. I wish that I could speak German (and my mother is German) Hmmmmm ...... :-)

[UTubeGlennAR]

Thanks to this glider club I ended up speaking German second best in our avionics platoon of a bout 3o guys (my grand dad was German).

25 summers later on a Sunday I had a 5 hour lay over at Frankfort, I found a half day rental car rate, zoomed off to Finthen and there leaning against the same portable control tower was my same instructor. We kindled a bit of a eM friendship but I guess he suddenly got sick because he disappeared from our eMing each other n I never know what happened to him :(

[StarvingMarving]

Hi Nara!  Wow! What an awesome experience :-) Thanks for posting the video; I really enjoyed it. Matt

[MrHelidude]

@StarvingMarving

Thanks Matt. Time goes by so quickly. I want to be there again. Hopefully soon ..... :-)

[AllSingingAllDancing]

I read your intro. You poor thing! I bet you were figuring the day was a wash (and not just because your drink burst!). This was a very cool video. Looks like you had a FANTASTIC time. Thanks for posting it!

[MrHelidude]

@AllSingingAllDancing

Thank you for having a look a my video. It was a big mess at first but the day turned out great after that.

I like the goats in your videos on your channel but they eat every thing that has a leaf on it so no goats for us............ :-)

[2801Paul1]

Fantastic!!

[MrHelidude]

@2801Paul1

Thanks Paul ............. :-)

Great group of relaxed and friendly pilots over there.

[3dkat1]

Yes very lucky and filmed using a mobile ph that's pretty good :)

[MrHelidude]

@3dkat1

Thanks Richard,

I am glad that I had something to record that day on. My phone worked hard but it came out well and I wasn't told to switch off my phone like they do on airliners either .............. :-)

[petleh82]

That looked great, flying like an eagle!

[MrHelidude]

@petleh82

Thank you. It was good fun and at one stage there was a real eagle or some kind of bird flying around in circles next to our glider too for a while. It wasn't frightened of the glider. It was flying in the same thermal ...... :-)

[juz70]

sweet day!

[MrHelidude]

@juz70

Thanks Justin .......... :-)

I am jealous of where you are. It is cold, wet, and windy here today, and tomorrow and the next day. Hmmmmm :-( .... I hope that your Quad-copter is back in the air soon.

[MelihAlex]

it could be nice to see you aggain!

[MrHelidude]

@MelihAlex

Yes thank you, It will be nice. Hope to see you again soon, may be even at Frankfurt Airport.

[MelihAlex]

ahhh you filmed it nice!

[MrHelidude]

@MelihAlex

Thank you .................. :-)

I only had my mobile telephone with me to film it but think it turned out really nice. Bye for now.......

[Jockeymahorn]

Ahhh Harald is flying:)

[MrHelidude]

@Jockeymahorn

Hello Jan'

Thank you very much for reminding me who the pilot was. I was very excited that day and I came home unable to remember his name. Now I can see it here for ever................ :-)

[Jockeymahorn]

@MrHelidude no problem :) 

[MrHelidude]

@Jockeymahorn

Thank you once again Harald. I really enjoyed your company that day and everyone else's too.

[Kenw4]

Awesomeness!

[MrHelidude]

@Kenw4

Hi Ken,

The things I get up to some times. Luckily I made it back that day or else the company would have had one person short on the trip back from Germany..........

[PaulGrc]

Wow! what a ride Nara , gliding is great.

My only gliding adventure in full scale was in a cessna 172 do to engine failure :^)

Looks like the landings are rough in a glider.

Thanks for the video experience

[MrHelidude]

@PaulGrc

Hi Paul,

Thank you very much for viewing my little gliding video. The engine failure in the C172 would have been really exciting but must have been a bit frighting also. Training for engine failures in a single engine aircraft is never like going through a real engine out in an actual emergency situation.

My glider pilot must have touched down right on top of a few "potholes" on the runway, literally... I am glad that I didn't pop out of the canopy. Oh well, I had a parachute on.

[PaulGrc]

@MrHelidude

Well I got lucky that time as I was close to a small runway and golf course so I made it to the small runway and rolled on to the golf course. It was fuel contamination. I had 3 passengers on board that time and all were calm as they saw we were going to land ok.

Had it happen 30 min earlier it would have been a different story.

[MrHelidude]

@PaulGrc

Wow !!

What a great outcome from that flight and no doubt thumbs up to the great pilot training and skills you have. Do you still fly any planes ?? 

[PaulGrc]

@MrHelidude

Unfortunatly no more full scale flying for since 2000 after a inner ear tumor surgery.

I really miss flying but at least I have my models, planes and heli.

[MrHelidude]

@PaulGrc

Yes, that's true. It is just as much fun flying models as it is flying a real plane. Some times even a lot more fun because you can enjoy it with a lot more friends. I can say that too. And it is has got to be much safer for the wallet also, agree ??

[PaulGrc]

@MrHelidude

I agree too, as I have lots of fun.

[MrHelidude]

@PaulGrc

I am glad. It is a good hobby that we have...... Kind of nice to be safer on the ground also, except for the times that we have to duck from a run-away plane or a stray helicopter . Hmmmmm......... :-)

[PaulGrc]

@MrHelidude

Yes its a good hobby but still serious enough to be careful :^)

[bmzloop]

Wow, a bit of bad luck and a bit of REALLY good luck! I'm glad your phone survived the explosion. They take off fast! That's actually a bit surprising! You're a lucky man Nara ;)

[MrHelidude]

@bmzloop

Hey Daniel,

Good to see you here again. I am glad I didn't break my neck. Next time I will brace my self to the back of the seat before take off rather than lean forward with my camera phone.

Nought to One Hundred in 2 seconds can be tough on ones neck . That's why you didn't see my take off bit on the video. It was all over the place .............. LOL.

[Crashman2]

Sorry about your drink's damage, but that's a LOT better than if you had opened it in the air at any high altitude. I read of a Doctor and his wife who were flying over the Rocky Mountains (12,000 feet) in his Cessna 206 when his wife opened a BOILING-hot Thermos bottle of coffee that had been sealed on the ground. The coffee just came BOILING out of the Thermos bottle! It gave them both SERIOUS burns, covered all windows with sticky mist, and affected the usability of many of his Instruments.

[MrHelidude]

@Crashman2

Oh, That's not good at all, the story about the hot drink incident, but it is a good reminder about the dangers of hot liquids at high altitudes especially in the event of a decompression.

In my case, I am sure that I would have been given a big curse if my fizzy drink exploded in the cockpit of the glider........... :-(

Luckily it happened while I was riding the bicycle and not up there...... :-)

[GEEBEER22]

Great shots, Nara. Well done. What a day, what an experience!!

[MrHelidude]

@GEEBEER22

Thanks you ............. :-),

It was an excellent day. I was as red as a cooked prawn from the sun burn having sat on the grass watching the planes and gliders take off and land all day long. Now my fingers are itchy to fly some models again as soon as the weather gets better here .

Hope to see you soon .

[BlackarrowMr]

Very nice flight. Looked like a good day for sight seeing. the altimeter was upside down. LOL. 500 ft ?

[MrHelidude]

@BlackarrowMr

Hi !!

I was wondering about that my self but then I learnt that in Germany the altimeter in the gliders read in Meters and the Air Speed Indicator reads in km/h ........... :-)

Strange but true ...

[PeterJBradbury]

What a wonderful experience Nara, I am quite jealous! It's amazing how things can turn out some days, isn't it?

[MrHelidude]

@PeterJBradbury

Thanks Peter,

I was so happy that I had that chance on what turned out to be an absolutely wonderful day. Could never have expected any thing more . The people there made it all so much more fun and interesting ..........

[Luvtoflyhelis]

WOW, what a ride, that was awesome my friend. Happy Flyin To Ya Man

[MrHelidude]

@Luvtoflyhelis

Hello Terry,

Very nice to hear from you so soon. I am very lucky to not have missed that day. It must have been a "meant to be set of circumstances" for me. Perfect timing ....... :-)

[THEMAYQUEEN1]

Very nice footage. lucky you to get to go for a ride like that.

[MrHelidude]

@THEMAYQUEEN1

Thank you very much. It is some thing that I will always remember ......

[THEMAYQUEEN1]

@MrHelidude :)