some days are diamonds

I've always embraced the concept of "turn key" flying. Walk out to a plane and go like you do with your car every day. No matter what you think you see, or hear about, nobody in general aviation has this. Even if you were stinkin rich and had a slave do your pre flight for you and roll out the plane and warm it up etc. You still gotta do your own pre flight. You gotta do yor own flight planning etc. Load your plane with what you want in it. Actually, I like doing the planning and the prep and anticipating. I vow this year to wash and wax the M-10 the night before every fly-in. Because I like to. But I am also lazy. My fantasy is to be able to walk out to the plane and go. Now let me talk about sailplanes. There is not even a turn key fantasy about this. Sailplanes need support to fly. You gotta have friends, or people you are paying, to tow you up. To put together the sailplane. To get it out to the runway. To help you get ready to launch and check your controls and canopy. To hook up the tow rope. To run the wing. Most glider clubs require each member to put in a certain number of hours each month doing these support jobs. This support work is fun and you learn a lot, and it's part of being a glider pilot. I'm all for it. I need it. But I am also lazy. And I hate clubs that require you to do something. When I wanted to learn to fly a glider some years back I checked out some clubs. I wanted to talk about "lessons". They talked about my "joining" and my obligations and all their rules. I found out clubs are for folks who own gliders and are in a "clique". So I went to a commercial school and learned enough to solo a Grob 103. The school welcomed me into soaring even though I didn't know anybody or anything. Now I'm fortunate to be able to rent a glider from a guy up in Smyrna. No club, no obligations, no scheduling, no meetings. Just flyin'. When I retired, my friend Geoff asked me what a "perfect day" for me might be like. This is a question of knowing what you like. And be careful what you wish for. If you had an extra million bucks, what would you do. There are different levels at which you can answer these questions. Health and wellness are at the top level. I've already had my share of perfect days. Many of them had to do with flying. Times spent with my wife who is my best friend are at the top of the list. Now back to "turn key". About a year ago on a Sunday I looked at the sky. By the way, once you fly sailplanes, you'll never look at the sky without thinking about soaring. A big cold front had come through. The sky was blue in a big Atlantic high. There were these scattered bubbly cues that were hard white. What wind there was, came from the west. There's a lot of smart glider guys who can tell you about "thermal index", "polar curves", "speed rings" etc. I don't know this stuff. But I know a damn good day for lift when I see one. I called the guy in Smyrna. On his cell. He was in the towplane and couldn't talk. That answered my question. So I rolled out and ramped up the M-10 I wandered around the house and hangar and located sunglasses, reading glasses, water bottle, checkbook, sun block, ball cap, tilly hat, kerchief, handheld radio. This was not turn key. I fly the 50 nm up to Smyrna. I can feel the jolts and bumps from the thermals. I start shouting to myself "oh yea". I circle Smyna. I see the tow plane and the 2 seat glider there on the ground. I hope the gliders are not already spoken for. I land and taxi over to the small group of about 5 guys. "Hey Lloyd, you're late. The lift is past peak. You wanna fly the 222?" I say sure but where is the 1-26. They point and there it is on base leg and I can have it if I want it. Very next tow. So get ready. I practically got out of the m-10 and climbed right into the single seat glider. No preflight. I'm strapping in and they're hooking up the rope and securing my canopy. I'm trying to do a mental checklist: shoulder harness, spoilers, trim, release tug and test, air vent closed, controls. They say Dan's gonna put me in the thermals west of the field around 2500'. Check the pattern. They get my thumbs up. They lift the wing. I wiggle that rudder and we're away. I don't think I'd been on the ground at Smyrna 5 minutes. True to the day's promise I got off tow at 2000, no sense towing any higher. I played around and got higher and cooler and what a flight and what a day. After I came back they turned the 1-26 around for the next lucky guy. I signed a blank check and handed it to Dan. I asked if they needed help for putting stuff away later. They said it was covered. I said thanks and jumped in the M-10. I know I had a lovely flight home with the canopy open. I know I flew right over Ridgely where they were flying the ultra light kite gliders. I know I landed at my place in time to enjoy the rest of the daylight and the sunset. But what I truly remember was a sailplane flight. A flight where I didn't get the glider out, or put it away. Or walk a wing. Or mess with ropes. Or gas up a tow plane. Or even drive a car to the airport. I may be a beginner in sailplanes. But I had a "turn key" flight. GA Informal.