Jack:

Good questions, most of which Bill has answered well already. But
I'll add a few more thoughts.

First, I think of soaring (or gliding, to begin with) as being very
different from powered flight. I fly both, but my love is soaring.
Given the quote at the bottom of your query, I sense you might have a
little of the soaring flight theme in your soul already. But if you
try it and decide you'd prefer to learn to fly a powered plane you
will not have wasted your time or money -- anything you have learned
in the early days of glider training will translate well to powered
flight, and in fact should make you a better power pilot.

You live near some of the absolute best soaring in the world. I speak,
of course, of Minden, NV. I run a small soaring business there and
I'd love to welcome you to SoaringNV for your training. But speaking
realistically (unless you want to spend a week here for concentrated
instruction) you're closer to Williams. They have a very fine outfit
there and I recommend them highly. You'll come through their training
with a good grasp of the fundamentals of soaring flight. And if at
any time you'd like to try some soaring in a more challenging
environment, come give us a try too. Or I should say WHEN you want to
try more challenging soaring, call us at 775 782-9409.

Although (as Bill has already said), gliders can fly just about
anywhere powered planes can fly, busy airports generally do not
welcome glider operations. For this reason you generally find them at
quieter airports, often away from large cities so the chance of a
landout does not result in a glider putting down on a golf course in
the middle of a city somewhere.

As far as when to learn, I like students to start instruction at
exactly this season of the year. We in Minden are enjoying Indian
Summer now, there is little wind and no turbulence, and we have
capacity for students. I suspect the same is true of Williams. And
the nice thing about starting now is (again, as Bill said) you'll be
ready to fly on your own and take advantage of the soaring season
later in the year.

I'd encourage you to visit some gliding web sites (ours is
www.soaringnv.com and read a little about what is going on, what
equipment is available, and who is doing what. I'd also encourage you
to join the Soaring Society of America www.ssa.org. They are
dedicated to preserving and building our sport and their monthly
magazine is worth the cost of membership alone. And you're bound to
learn about what we do and how we do it if you read the magazine
regularly.

Finally, I'd be delighted to talk to you on the phone. Call me any
time -- if I'm busy I'll call back. I'd be delighted to tell you more
about our sport or answer specific questions you might have about
training, locations, etc. And next Saturday the Pacific Area Soaring
Council is holding its annual safety seminar in San Carlos (near Palo
Alto). We charge a small fee for attendance at the day's
presentations, and another small fee for the banquet that evening. It
will be held at the Hiller Air Museum, so you get into the museum as
part of the cost, which will actually save you money. That would be a
good opportunity for you to rub elbows with folks who are passionate
about our sport. I'll be talking about soaring out of Minden, and
although some of it might be over your head you won't find a nicer
bunch of pilots who will answer your questions and give you good
suggestions about training.

Good luck with your training. By all means, do call (775 790-4314 is
my personal cell and I'm happy to talk to people interested in
gliding) and do think about coming to the PASCO safety seminar next
Saturday.

Best,

Fred