i recall reading a book a long time ago. It was like Call of the Wild meets Into the Wild or something. I don’t recall the title but one of the major themes in the book was actually gliding. It was my only experience with gliding since i recall it being fairly descriptive in a way that a reader could assume the author piloted gliders. I think it was paragliding or hang gliding actually but the way he described thermals felt authentic (at least in a fictional adventure title maybe based on a true story).
Even just from that, it definitely felt there was something off about gliding. Thanks for explaining what it was. Very informative. Voted!