Minden County Commissioners invite soaring pilots

Here's a bit of good news: the Douglas County Commissioners (Minden is
located in Douglas County) have over the past few months realized what
a national treasure their airport is to soaring pilots, and want to
encourage the soaring community to come fly here. In fact a recently
completed Airport Master Plan makes more mention of soaring than any
other activity on the airport, and encourages airport administration
to set aside land for development as a soaring site. This would have
been unheard of five years ago, and I believe it heralds a change in
the attitude of the county fathers and airport administration here in
the world's greatest soaring site! I am including below the full text
of the letter to all soaring pilots from the County Commissioners and
the Airport Advisory Committee. Fred LaSor



Text of the letter from the Douglas County Board of Commissioners,
Kelly
Kite, and the Chairman of the Airport Advisory Committee, Mike
Bradford
(former soaring champion), to soaring pilots.

September 18, 2008

An invitation to soaring pilots to visit Minden

As a soaring pilot, you have certainly heard of the magical soaring
available from Minden-Tahoe Airport (MEV). You might even have flown
a
sailplane out of Minden, enjoying high altitude flight in our
world-renown mountain wave or maybe soaring for hours and hundreds of
miles in our spectacular thermals. In any case, you are familiar with
the records set from Minden and neighboring Truckee. Pilots have been
flying 500+ km triangles routinely for the past month, and
consistently
placing at the top of the On Line Contest (OLC).

We, the Chairmen of the Douglas County Commissioners and the Airport
Advisory Committee, want to tell you it is true the soaring conditions
here the best in the world. We're sending this open letter to soaring
pilots all over the world to confirm you are welcome here. We want
MEV
to continue to be recognized as the very best soaring site in the
world,
and that we do want you to come fly here and see for yourself just how
fantastic the conditions are in Minden.

After two years of extensive work the County Commissioners approved a
draft Master Plan that includes a land set-aside for soaring and other
sport aviation and sent it to the FAA. That plan puts soaring as a
priority on the list of needed Airport developments. We are on record
as wanting soaring to return to the status it enjoyed not so many
years
ago. Our new Airport Manager has as one of his goals the growth of
soaring and other sport aviation at MEV. Airport management supports
efforts to build a dedicated soaring/sport aviation facility on the
east
side of the airport, dependent, of course, on availability of FAA and
local funding. If you have questions about management's direction for
development of the east side, please feel free to call and speak to
Airport management, directly. We want you to have an exciting visit
and
we're here to make your visit rewarding.

Two soaring operators are open for business at MEV (SoaringNV and Soar
Minden) offering training, rentals, tow services and rides to glider
pilots passing through or staying for longer visits. If you have your
own glider, oxygen and tows are readily available. If you need to rent
a
glider, the commercial operators can help you out. If you'd like
instruction to improve your skills, this is the place to do it. And,
if
you want to camp, your are welcome to do so -- we have a basic
campground in front of the Airport administrative office, close to
both
soaring FBOs. We're also looking for other ways to make improvements
so
we can expand our world-class soaring facility.

Douglas County is one of the best destinations in the country for
adventure sports. While you're here check out our fishing, hiking,
horseback riding, mountain climbing, off-highway vehicle activities,
biking, kayaking, or skydiving. For those who take their excitement
indoors, we have great casinos, antiquing, and shopping. Lake Tahoe,
only 30 minutes' drive from MEV, is one of the best sight-seeing
destinations in North America, while history comes alive in Carson
City
and Virginia City.

Don't take our word for it -- come see for yourself! We're sure
you'll
find this the best soaring and general recreation destination you've
ever enjoyed.

Best Regards,

Kelly Kite, BOCC Chairman

Mike Bradford, Airport Advisory Committee Chairman