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.
