Hannah Ploch and her instructor lift off behind a powered plane at Wurtsboro Airport in New York.NORTH CALDWELL – You may think that soaring a few thousand feet in the air under no power except forward momentum and wind would count as an extreme sport, something prone to dramatic accidents and practiced mostly by teenage boys in logo-emblazoned jackets.
Instead, Thomas Ploch said, “Gliders are very safe. The most dangerous part of gliding is driving to the airport.”
In fact, he thought it was the perfect activity for his 14-year-old daughter.
Having some experience helps: Hannah Ploch has been in and around small airplanes since she was two. She and her family live on Birch Avenue in North Caldwell but fly out of the Wurtsboro Airport in New York, where Hannah will soon receive her glider pilot rating certificate,
“Dad’s always been flying,” Hannah said in a phone interview. “He wanted me to do it, so I did it.”
The West Essex High School freshman said she started gliding lessons in the summer of 2012 and expects to get her solo license some time in the spring of 2013.
Gliders are non-powered planes that take off by towing behind a small powered plane. They can sustain flight using the wind and thermals, or patches of rising air, for up to an hour.
The glider is tied to a powered plane by a tow rope and pulled up to about 2,500 feet. The glider pilot needs to adjust his own flight to stay behind and level with the powered plane. Hannah said, “You don’t realize how many moves a plane makes until you’re in a glider.”
The Plochs prefer Wurtsboro to the Essex County Airport because the New York mountain ranges create more updrafts.
Hannah spoke knowledgably about cloud formations, altitude, and speed. She proudly noted that she’d recently found out that her grandfather had also been a pilot.
She doesn’t find it unusual that she’ll be able to fly before she can drive a car. “Driving would be harder than flying,” she said. “There’s nothing to hit when you’re up there in the sky.”
Find this complete story in this week's print edition of The Progress.
http://www.airnav.com/airport/N82
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