![1979-2014 1979-2014](https://www.privatepilot.lu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1979-2014.png)
The advantage of gliding/soaring as a sport is for me that it gives me time to think things over when I’m up in the mountains. I realized today that it is exactly 35 years ago that I got my wings as a Belgian Flight Cadet at the airfield of Oostmalle in Belgium. Here’s a picture of me with my (proud) father and my mother back in 1979
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SXEl1CWgpc8/U3lGhcCspxI/AAAAAAAADpg/GGrvmuEacno/s1600/luchtkadetten.jpg)
And here’s a selfie of 35 years later. Flying a glider still gives me the same excitement as in the time I was a kid. I’m very gratefull to my parents that they sent me to the Belgian Air Cadets in the late 70’s, where I learned to fly.
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CK8rBjvarP8/U3lDDefraJI/AAAAAAAADpM/LJ3my27WFa0/s1600/2014-05-16+16.17.55-1.jpg)