April 19, 2022 Learning with Katalin

The Liberty Gazette

April 19, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Last week, we brought you Katalin Watkins’s journey to soloing a glider. The 14-year-old speaks of things she’s discovered about flying in a way that makes any listener envious. 

Katalin Watkins after first glider solo

EAL: How did you get started? 

KW: My first glider flight was in a Grob on my thirteenth birthday. We went up in thermals, which is when you find a column of air lifting, and you circle up in it. We were up about forty-five minutes, which is a quite a long time for a glider flight. So far, I’ve made forty-five flights. 

EAL: What’s your favorite maneuver? 

KW: Stalls are pretty fun because you just kind of come up, and everything’s quiet, and the wind noise goes down so much. The nose comes up, and then it starts to shudder, and you push the nose down. It’s like, whoshooo! It’s really fun. Like a small hill on a roller coaster. A little bit of exhilaration. The steep turns are also pretty cool. You’re steeply banked all the way around. Kinda freaky. 

EAL: What do you think about boxing the wake?

Katalin filling out her logbook after her first solo

KW: I’ve only boxed the wake a few times. It’s interesting how far the glider can go and it’s still fine. I don’t know how familiar you are with it, but when you’re boxing the wake, there’s a slot, which is when you’re looking ahead at the tow plane, its wheels are just below the horizon, but the wings are still above it. Once you’re in the slot, you don’t want to go above it. But it’s crazy how low you can go, and it’s fine. And you can go so far to the sides. Boxing the wake has helped me learn. I realized I didn’t need to be so pent up and nervous about this stuff because if you go really low, it’s almost always redeemable, and it’s nearly never an issue. You just say, hey, we’re too low, and it may take me a little bit to get up, or whatever, so don’t be concerned, we’re good. 

One thing I had a little bit of trouble with leading up to the solo was being stiff on the controls. On the tow, I needed to be a little easier and anticipate. Boxing the wake showed me that there isn’t an urgency to it. We have some time. 

EAL: Are you left-handed or right-handed? 

KW: I’m left-handed, but I’ll hold the stick with either hand. Sometimes, I put my arm on the side rest and lean to the side, and I’m like, ope! Sit up straight! Don’t lean! My instructor said right-handed people tend to lean to the right, and left-handed people tend to lean to the left, regardless which hand they’re using. I found that interesting. But during the tow, I was like, don’t lean! Straight up, c’mon! It was kind of funny. 

EAL: You sure grab the moment by the horns, Katalin. Thanks for sharing your learning experiences!

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