On Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 10:50:36 PM UTC-4, Mike Schumann wrote:
On Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 12:04:29 AM UTC-5, Bob Youngblood wrote:
On Monday, June 8, 2020 at 8:42:06 AM UTC-4, Mike Schumann wrote:
The Everglades Soaring Club has disbanded. There were a bunch of guys flying at LaBelle a couple of years ago. It was an informal group organized via e-mail by Tom Irlebeck. Unfortunately that group also disappeared after Tom’s fatal accident.

There’s definitely interest in soaring in SW Florida if someone can organize a viable operation. My personal feeling is that the best approach is to find a suitable hanger and then partner with one or more northern clubs to bring down some of their equipment for a winter operation.

My last account of the group was just before Tom's accident. The guy who owned the Pawnee was a Dr. from that area last name Caldwell. There was also a 233 there that was in the process of being rebuilt, things have since been removed from their website and no activity is there at this time. LaBelle is a great place to fly, from Vero to LaBelle is a great area for soaring probably the best in Florida. The Miami area is also a great place to soar, having lived there for many years and flying the Everglades where the thermal conditions would amaze you and so would the pucker factor trying to find a place to land if needed. E9, Bennie and myself would take off out of Thermal Research and head toward Shark River Valley and then to Oasis Ranger station and further NW to Immokalee and return, those were the days!

Tom Irlbeck's informal glider group used a Socata Rallye towplane that was based at La Belle. I'm not sure who owned it or whether it is still located at La Belle. Dylan Caldwell owned the Pawnee that the Everglades Soaring Club used at La Belle. I don't think it saw any action after the Everglades Soaring Club disbanded.

The last thing that I heard about that Socata was that the pilot owner had a bid motorcycle accident and was not flying. Back in the day a long time ago there was a group operating out of Naples, wow, time has flown bye! If you go online and read about history of Miami gliders there is a very good description of the old flying glider sites in Florida. Bob