I went gliding!!!

I still don't quite believe I did this but yeah, I went gliding today. It's basically like getting into a small airplane and flying but the airplane has NO engines. The controls are all the same. We were pulled into the air by a winch at the end of a long field. There was a rope that pulled really, really fast and the plane lifts up into the air through aerodynamics!

One of the other MIT students did this and told us all about it. There is a Cambridge University Gliding Club and with a term membership, you get to take lessons and go flying for pretty cheaply. They also do trial flights (which is what I did) so that people get a feel for gliding. It costed £18 but well worth it. I don't think you can go gliding for that price anywhere else.

They picked us up in a van and drove about 30 minutes to an airfield. I think this was also my first time in a car in Britain! Driving on the left is so weird... Anyway, the flight only lasted for about 5 minutes. But I got to play around with the controls and made the plane turn left and right and dive and such! It is so amazing. There really isn't much to do. Just one joystick and a couple of other things. The dials were easy to read and were in feet and knots. The landing was not bumpy at all, very smooth.

The other people doing the trial flight were quite interesting as well. There was the president of the Cambridge Union. They put on debates that are supposed to be pretty interesting, sometimes controversial. I also met an Irish grad student. She and I didn't know our weight in kg... We were like, "uh, pounds?" And I also met an Amerian grad student who did her undergrad at Stanford and some grad school at Johns Hopkins. All in all, it was a very interesting afternoon. Well worth braving the cold. It was freezing outside!

Don't think I will join the club though. 5 minutes is enough for me. I felt a little airsick at the end. Would've been fine if the instructor hadn't turn so suddenly that one time... But yeah, Go Fluid Dynamics!!