Controls
The controls of
a glider are identical to the main controls of any powered aircraft.
They consist of a control column (stick), which moves the elevator (7)
and ailerons (3), and the ruder pedal which
moves the ruder(5).
You always move
the stick the way you want the glider to go. Move forward to put the
nose down, move back to raise the nose: stick to the left will start
the glider rolling over into a bank to the left: in order to bring the
wings level again you just lean the stick the way you want the glider
to go.
In addition to the
main flying controls, there is the airbrake operating lever, the elevator
trim lever, the cable release knob, and on high performance gliders,
lever for retracting the main wheel and for operating the wing flaps.
Instruments
The
glider instruments panel has the same basic instruments as any other
aircraft but, of course no engine instruments. The main instruments
are Airspeed Indicator (A.S.I.), the Altimeter, and the Variometer (vario).The
Variometer is a very sensitive instrument which shows the rate of climb
or descend of the glider so the pilot can find the "lift"
(thermals) and soar.
