And they do that with fuel?! Neat!

Yup.

On a 737 they can put about 8k pounds per wing.

Even little planes like Cessnas have wing tanks.

Wow wow!

Might see planes just a smidge differently now :)

In sailplanes we add up to around 200 litres of water to wing tanks in single-seat gliders (empty weight typically around 280kg) to improve the high speed performance (typically up to 270 km/h these days) and ability to fly comfortably in turbulence.

It's surprising what you can fly formation with, even without an engine [1] :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0icOICQLTc

Dumping (most of the) water before landing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Yv-V7eozk

[1] this particular glider does have a small engine for takeoff, but maximum speed with the engine extended is 180 km/h and here they are flying at 280 km/h.

What a rabbithole this is now :D

That glider next to the world's fastest aircraft (in 1953) dressed up for a fight, how about that.

And they can water the grass...

-

So several thousand $ to get trained and certified and finally be ready to get towed and soar...

but just a few hundred (California) to try for half an hour behind a pro in the cockpit--oh yeah!

...omg they let you fly the thing for another couple bucks!!!

If it's a pro then they'll be sitting in the back seat so you're in the front seat the same as you will be when you fly solo.

Here's a video of me taking a student for their first lesson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDZN21xzsRo

That's in a DG1000, actually this exact one ZK-GGR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeueijUoL70

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ShTUTiqlM

And how that looks from the other end of the rope:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxcJR-zipI

And from the door of the hangar (using the runway in the opposite direction). Turn it up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUnXuMVhKfs