Gliding / Soaring

I started with gliding (soaring) some 30 years ago as a member of the Belgian Air Cadets. I enjoyed gliding in Belgium with the Air Cadets. A fellow mate of my class was Yves Jeanmotte, who has become a professional pilot and a rewarded gliding champion. We flew in the summer camps at Oostmalle and Weelde and in the autumn and spring in Brustem. The gliders we flew with were ASK13 (The PL67) K8 Ka6 and ASW19. I used to be quite good in that period. I stayed with the Belgian Air Cadets until the age of 19.

Once I obtained my private pilot license some 10 years, I did some occasional gliding at my flying club in Zwartberg Belgium. But as a boy becomes a man and starts to go out with girls, spending entire weekends at the flying club became less interesting (and girls became more interesting) and so my gliding activities became less and less.

I always maintained my licence alive…as my love for gliding still was there.

Rates in Luxembourg

These are the rates applied in our club in Luxembourg when renting a plane:

Cessna 172 : 145€ per hour
Cessna 172 (with glass cockpit) 177€ per hour
Cessna 182Q: 239€ per hour

Flying the Cirrus SR-20 costs the same as flying a C182

Rates are calculated on the engine time, this means that if you lean your plane well etc… you will not be billed the full price for an hour. In practice, flying a C172 will cost you some 130€ per hour. The fuel accounts for 50% of the price 🙁