Nice article about Jim Kellett of Skyline Soaring Club / Westchester, Virginia in this newspaper. http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/041208/Area_flying.asp Burt Marfa

For USA glider pilots. I'm looking at my brand new 2005 FAR / AIM book (published by ASA). For the first time in a few years, there are lots of minor changes to the FAR's - highlighted with a black line in the margins. Plus the Sport Aircraft / Pilot additions. I haven't reviewed it all yet,...

USA / SSA Commercial Soaring Operators and SSA Chapter Clubs: Now is the time to check your listing on "Where To Fly" (it's hiding behind "The Sport" button) at www.ssa.org and make updates and corrections, especially to your contact information. Look at your listing then email your updates to...

More SSA members / More CFIG's. It's kinda like the chicken and the egg. If your club (or Commercial Soaring Operation) needs more CFIG's - consider sponsoring a couple of candidates to attend a Soaring Safety Foundation (SSF) Flight Instructor Clinic (FIRC). Non-CFIG's are invited to register...

January 1, 2005 Marfa, west Texas USA Michael Graves, a transition pilot on his 8th solo flight earned his B Badge with a 51 minute flight on New Year's Day in our Schweizer 1-36. It was a cloudless blue day with only some distant lennies. Light winds on the Marfa Airport (MRF) and temp was 76...

Need a sailplane Tow Bar. Mine departed Marfa somehow last summer. Californians: Bring your used tow bar to the SSA Convention for cash! Send details to Burt Marfa Gliders cell: 800-667-9464

From the New Zealand newswire / Breaking News: Delore flies 2190km, breaks record 07 December 2004 Christchurch gliding ace Terry Delore and American multi-millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett have broken the world outright straight-line soaring distance record with an epic flight of 15 hours...

Some good news from the FAA regarding CFI renewals and expired CFI reinstatements. Starting NOV 15, 2013 (although the Gov't "Slimdown" may affect the exact date) a CFI who renews (or reinstates) their Flight Instructor Certificate by a Practical Test a/k/a "checkride" with an examiner can count...

Looking for a paper 1:500,000 VFR aero chart in order to orient myself to that area of France. A used chart will be OK until I get there in August. If you know of a source of these charts in the USA, please let me know.

Fantastic collection of soaring history online. The Lakes Gliding Club in the UK has scanned the British Gliding magazines beginning with 1930, and mo http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/oldsandgmagazines.htm Here is the 1970 Marfa (TX) World Soaring Championship article (from the British...

A gathering of our soaring tribes in Houston! The Soaring Safety Foundation (SSF) Seminar "Who's In Charge Here?" is next Saturday afternoon FEB 23, at 3 PM in the Hyatt North Houston hotel meeting rooms. Stay for the Soaring Society of America Awards dinner and general membership meeting...

Through a Soaring Society of America Board vote, it has been decided to have the winter SSA Board Meeting in Houston, Texas on Saturday, February 23, 2013. The host hotel is the Hyatt North Houston, The toll free number is 800-233-1234. You can start making your room reservations on December...

From now to March 31, 2013, I'm offering free checkrides for FAA Glider (Private / Commercial applicants, add-on or initial) and CFI-Glider add-on's, renewals and reinstatements. It occurs to me that many student pilots and transition pilots need to simply FINISH what they started, so here is the...

Information alert -- USA. FAA Airworthiness Directive 2010-08-01 for Blanik L-23 sailplanes. Cracks have been reported in 7 Blanik L-23 elevator / stabilizer "inner" hinges by EASA (Europe.) Inspection per the Blanik Mandatory Inspection Bulletin # L-23/052a (dated March 2, 2010) for cracks must...

From AOPA (see Chapter 14 re. glider operations). This will be very important reading for glider operators / clubs sharing public use airports that have received Federal grants. (See "Grant Assurances".) On the FAA website at: ...

Young Jonathan Aronoff worked for me at "Miami Gliders" starting at age 11. Worked Hard. Learned to Fly. Soloed my Blanik glider on his 14th birthday, February 14, 2001. Soloed my Cessna 150 airplane at Marfa, Texas on July 5, 2004. Eight years after that first solo, 2nd LT Jonathan Aronoff...

APRIL 4 - 11, 2009 TEXAS GLIDER RALLY / DICK JOHNSON WAVE CAMP Marfa in southwest Texas, the 15th National Landmark of Soaring, will host our annual thermal / wave camp for your "personal best" flights. Wave Window to 30,000' msl. Marfa Airport (MRF) is almost 5,000' msl on a grassy plateau near...

From January 3 - 18, 2009, I may have extra guest instructors at Marfa Gliders Soaring Center in west Texas. These fine fellows escape the cold north and visit me down here near Big Bend National Park. Let me know if you are interested in finishing a PVT, COM or CFIG add- on / renew your CFI-G. ...

From the AvWeb AvFlash news: Unmanned Gliders To Seek Their Own Lift "Automated on-board energy aware planning" is being developed by the U.K.'s Roke Manor Research to allow autonomous gliders to find naturally occurring lift and sustain unpowered or prolong powered flight, according to a report...

A dollar a mile in 2007. I see some interest in classic "straight out" cross country flying (and the art of crewing). Classic XC soaring for distance as done by Robert Kronfeld, Philip Wills, Woody Brown, Dick Johnson, Fritz Compton, Stan Smith, Al Parker, Wally Scott, Ben Greene, Henry...