John took a good look at the sky and smiling he opened the hanger doors. Today would be a good day to be aloft. He pulled his sailplane from it’s home in the hanger and towed it to the staging area near the flight-line. After a through pre-flight check John checked where he would be in the queue for take-off. Only two planes ahead of him. “Good, I’ll be in the air in a few minutes,” he mused to himself.
And sure enough about 10 minutes later John was following the Tow-plane to an altitude of about two thousand feet where he where he released the tow rope and began circling till he found and up-draft. In a few minutes his altimeter indicted he was passing nine thousand feet.
Off to the left was a towering Cumulus, bright in sunlight and a few scattered clouds below. But all things must come to an end, so he opened the dive-brakes and began a long descent back to earth.
John checked the traffic pattern and looked to see what other planes had landed before. The runway was clear. So he made a smooth landing with enough speed that he was able to taxi right to the hanger door. Then came the second best part of the day, sitting around the club room with other sailplane pilots rehashing their exploits of the day
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One more entry for Sunday Photo Fiction writing challenge for November 20, 2016
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Weakly Thoughts 
Sounds like a perfect day 🙂
The first part sounds so peaceful. Being in a glider with no sounds and jut looking around. What would make it even better is if the gliders were made from a clear material so there was a completely unobstructed view. That would be gorgeous. Certainly something to talk about in the second part of the day.
Great story. I enjoyed it.
The canopy – window – of sailplanes are about 3′ long and on the width they run from about shoulder to shoulder. That makes for almost limitless viewing. As a side note, that much plexiglass not only lets in lots of sunlight (hot in the summer) but it is very costly to repair if needed. Most sailplane pilots cover them with a soft cloth – like a beach tower – to keep dust and bird droppings off when they are in the hanger.
I take it you do that often then?
I did for years, but when my eyesight deteriorated a bit I grounded myself. I never had the chance or funds to get a high-performance plane, but really enjoyed the sport for about 40 years
A shame when your eyesight gets to the stage where you can’t do something you love
It sounds like you have some great memories. It would be a grand experience. Good writing, Mike. 🙂 — Suzanne