Glider Talk

Like skiers, sailors and surfers, sailplane and hang-glider pilots have their own vocabulary. A few definitions to help neophytes find their way among the updrafts:

Cloud street--A row of cumulus clouds marking thermals.

Diamonds--Highest international soaring awards, earned for altitude gain of at least 16,404 ft., distance beyond 310.7 miles and a flight of at least 186.4 miles to a prede-clared goal. Minimums are in irregular numbers because they are based on metric units.

Diamond mine--A good location to earn diamonds.

Floater--A light sailplane well suited to weak lift conditions often found in the East.

Glass ship--A sailplane made of fiber glass.

Lead sled--A heavy sailplane that performs well in the very strong lift conditions found in the southwestern U.S.

Out and return--A sailplane flight, for competition or recreation, to a fixed site and back.

Retrieve--Trip to disassemble and bring back by trailer a sailplane that has landed off-field.

Sink street--An area of descending air, often between cloud streets, that pilots try to avoid.

Trapeze--The control bar of a hang-glider.

Tucking--Pulling in on the trapeze to send the hang-glider into a dive.

Zooming--Diving fast between thermals, then gaining altitude by pulling up into a steep, climbing turn in the next thermal.

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