Did you know that among FME students you would also find successful gliding competitors? Their parents were enthusiastic about this sport, which is practised by a surprising number of people in the Czech Republic. Lukáš can already boast of the European Junior Championship title, and Jan reached the gold at the domestic junior championships. But it's not about metals. For both young competitors, flying is mainly about freedom, a bird's eye view and sometimes also about random encounters during occasional landings in the field.
When we meet in the faculty café, Lukáš Kříž and Jan Šťastný are already out of season. "The last time we got into the air was at the end of September," recalls Jan Šťastný of the last of the convenient weekends this year. He and Lukáš have known each other for a long time, even though they study different fields at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and fly for different aeroclubs: Jan, currently a student of the Basics of Mechanical Engineering, flies for the Aeroclub Brno Medlánky, Lukáš, who is studying to become a professional pilot, is a member of the Aeroclub Křižanov.
Competitors have quite a lot of time to make friends. "Contests usually embrace twelve days of competition. Sometimes the weather is ideal and we have ten flying days. Other times we have to wait for the weather to get better, and then we talk, go on trips, or play ping pong at the airport. And in the end, we only fly for four days," says Šťastný. It is therefore not uncommon for the gliding community to have friendly relations and to know each other.
The weather represents the alpha and omega for glider pilots. Instead of an engine, they climb using air currents, which rise from heated places on the ground. It must therefore be warm and sunny enough, the gliding season usually lasts from March or April until the end of summer. The pilot will be advised on exactly where and how the air is rising by the instruments in the aircraft, but most importantly by their own experience.
"Gliding is a sport that people do at a professional level all their lives, until late retirement. You can get into a glider for the first time at the age of fourteen, you get a pilot's license at sixteen, and since then you can also compete. It's not like ice hockey or tennis, where competitors start training as small children and then their careers soon end," explains Lukáš Kříž.
The whole family flies
Jan and Lukáš have also been attending the airport since childhood, both thanks to their enthusiastic parents. "My dad is a passionate aviator, in his youth he built hang gliders himself and devoted himself to flying as much as possible. He encouraged me to go in for gliding and my sister to it too," says Lukáš, referring to his sister Michaela Křížová, who is also a successful glider.
A similar family background also brought Jan to the airport. So far, he has kept flying as a hobby, while Lukáš has decided to study to become a professional pilot. And since he has already obtained a private pilot's license, the question arises as to whether he is better off flying with or without an engine. "Definitely without it, there is nothing that can break down," he says with a laugh, adding: "There is more freedom in it. With powered flying, it is given when and where to fly, with gliding you have to adapt to the situation and weather. I like that it's a bit erratic. And yes, your engine can't fail, but the weather can."
"Failed weather" in the case of gliding pilots means that they cannot find the thermals that would lift them up, and so they have to make an unplanned landing outside the airport. "That's why it's good to be a bit of a farmer. You have to be able to choose the right crop to land in. Then we get out of the plane and call the team to come and pick us up," says Honza with a smile. "Now in the summer at a competition in Poland, I landed on someone's meadow and the locals came right away. We didn't understand each other very well, because they didn't speak Czech and I didn't speak Polish, but they were nice. Well, Jan remembers my most distant field, where they came for me sometime after midnight," Lukáš recalls with a laugh.
Both competitors have already won medals. Lukáš Kříž is the 2023 European Junior Champion, thanks to which he was able to start at the European Championships this year, where he won a great 4th place. At the World Junior Championships in Poland, he finished 10th due to that landing in the field. Jan Šťastný finished in 6th place, he brought home the gold medal from the Czech Junior Championships.
"It's all a game of probability: the more experienced you are, the more likely you are to hit the right spots with rising currents," says Jan Šťastný, adding: "I enjoy the third dimension the most, you won't experience that in any conventional sport. There's no road to stick to, this freedom is amazing." "It is said that the most beautiful view of the world is from the back of a horse. Here, there is something more, it's a bird's eye view," adds Lukáš Kříž.