The term “gliding” generally refers to flight without an engine, usually by means of a glider that is pulled into the air by a motorized aircraft until it takes off and is finally capable of free flight using only wind energy and the force of lift, whereby weather conditions and the pilot's experience are decisive. It is a slow and elegant flourish, with straight glides and steep soaring flights using only the wind: a distinction is made between thermal flights, which use the warm updrafts in a spiral, dynamic flights, which use the wind currents to overcome slopes, and the heaviest type of gliding, which follows the waves and “surfs” on the oscillating movements of the air which “crests” over the mountain ranges.