My passion
and ambitions
Feeling of freedom, connection with nature
I am Barbora Moravcová, glider pilot and Czech Gliding National Team member, representing my country in this beautiful and demanding sport. Gliding has fascinated me, not only because of the feeling of freedom and strong connection with nature. It's an incredible relaxation for me, but sometimes also a great dose of adrenaline. From my early beginnings in this wonderful sport I've wanted to spend my free time gliding, compete in championships and thus become one of the best athletes in the world.
Ask any pilot how they got into aviation and you'll hear a love story
Although both of my parents are pilots in their free time and so I have spent most of my life at the airfield in Zbraslavice, I did not show much interest in airplanes as a child, perhaps because I felt sick to my stomach in any means of transport. I was fascinated by horses, so from the age of seven I devoted myself to vaulting, later to classic riding, dressage and show jumping in a horse club. The childhood dream of becoming a jockey faded relatively soon, as I always relatively stood out from the crowd due to my height. However, it did not stop me in any way, which is why I devoted myself to these beautiful proud creatures and this sport until I was 13 years old. It was fatal for me to ride a horse to the airfield in Točná, where I broke my leg after falling from a horse. After a few months of convalescence, I returned to the declining horse club. Shortly after my come back, my favorite horse went to horse retirement, so nobody and nothing kept me there anymore. So after the next few months, I took a break with the horses and looked for another horse club where I could realize myself. In 2010 Zbraslavice Aeroclub organized the Czech Junior Championships, where I had the opportunity to listen to the incredible experiences of the glider pilots about the beauties of gliding, so I started to long for the experience as well. Thanks to the fact that my stomach didn't perform well during normal flights with my dad without any major turns, I asked a friend flying cross country flights to take me up, so I could try out what gliding actually entails and what it is like to use thermals for flights on distance. Circling in thermals was like endless serpentines on the road, so after the flight I got off the glider with a full bag and an empty stomach, but with an incredible desire to try more.
Since then I dedicated my weekends to part time jobs to earn money for elementary training. Most of the pocket money also went to the money savings intended for gliding training. Cleaning woman, promoter, theater presenter, flower sales, English translations, nothing was too small for me and every paid hour moved me closer and closer to the desired goal. Thanks to the endless support of my parents, I also found employment in the organization of competitions across the country, even as a competition judge. After gaining the judge's license, in addition to smaller competitions, I also evaluated the National Championship of the Czech Republic and thus gained valuable knowledge in gliding. I took every opportunity when I could to get into the two-seater gliders as a passenger to practice and eliminate my nausea, and so I was increasingly looking forward to my own beginnings. After a year and a half of hard work and excitement, I started my basic gliding training at the Aeroclub Zbraslavice.
I have been flying for the tenth year in the Zbraslavice Aeroclub, where I also had my competition premiere in 2014 at the AZ Cup. Over time, I got into a junior national team and was able to represent the Czech Republic at the Junior World Gliding Championships. At the same time, I took a place in a women national team thanks to my achievements during national championships and so I had the opportunity to fly in paradise for all glider pilots, in Australia, at the Women's World Gliding Championships, where I flew for my first daily win during the worlds and placed eighth overall. I managed to place 4th during the last year's Women's Worlds at Husbands Bosworth. For the last three years I have been flying in the standard class, which are gliders with a 15 m wingspan and water ballast. In this category, I have just managed to win the title of Woman Vice-Champion of the Czech Republic twice in the last two years and last year I won the the title of the Woman Champion, so I will represent the Czech Republic at this year's Women's World Championship in Garray, Spain. Thanks to being included in the national team, I have the opportunity to use the equipment of the Aeroclub of the Czech Republic throughout the year, so before the world championship, in addition to free practice, I have two races in plan - Flight Challenge Cup (Prievidza, SK) and Fatra Glide (Martin, SK). The practice is over and the biggest challenge is waiting for me in July.
How does my training look like and how do we actually race?
Gliding is an extremely demanding technical sport. In addition to the movement in three-dimensional space together with the correct piloting technique, I must pay attention to other possible traffic around me, weather changes, navigation, competition tactics, etc. In the cabin, we as pilots are exposed to extreme temperatures, which also increase the body's resistance. Thus, preparation for competitions consists not only in flying itself, but also in individual work and training on the ground, from mental training to physical training. A normal sailing competition lasts two weeks and one competition flight lasts in the order of three to seven hours, which is why very high demands are placed on the psyche as well as physical endurance.
Each competition day a competition task is announced depending on the weather. It can be either racing task or designated areas task. The competition track for the racing task consists of a start line, turn points (defined in space as cylinders with a radius of 500 m) and a finish ring; all points are defined by GPS coordinates. The length of such competition track can be 100 to 1000 kilometers. After crossing the start line, the goal of this task is to fly around the task and all its turn points at the highest possible average speed. The second tactical type of track is the task through designated areas, where instead of turning points in the task there are designated areas with a radius of up to 40 km, which give the pilot the opportunity to choose the most optimal route with respect to the current weather (storms, showers, etc.). This task has a specified minimum time on the track, usually 2 to 3 hours, which is counted down after crossing the starting strip. During this time, pilots must fly as much distance as possible in those defined areas to achieve the highest possible speed on the track. The winner of the entire (usually two-week) competition is then the pilot who receive the highest number of points for all competition tasks.