Moving to Bend, OR

I took my first glider flight a couple of months ago at Low Country Soaring in Ridgeland, SC. (Cool group of guys there!) The flight was really cool.. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't really justify making the investment in a membership because I'll be moving in about a month. I'm headed up to Bend, OR for a professional flight program hosted by a college there.

The more I read, learn, and watch videos about gliding, the more enthralled I become with it. I'm hoping to get into it when I get to Bend. I've found one club, High Desert Soaring (http://www.hdsoaring.org/). The location is great, but I'm not sure how active of a club they are. Looks like they only have one sailplane. Anyone know about them? Any recommendations for other places I should look into?

In addition to the gliding, I'd LOVE to get a tailwheel endorsement. Seems like another one of those skill-building experiences I'd appreciate having early on in my career. If anyone has a contact for some tailwheel in/near Bend, that'd be great too!

I'm currently about halfway through my private pilot certificate, ASEL. Hopefully I can work on the Glider add-on as soon as I'm finished!

Thanks!

On 8/6/2012 10:00 PM, BQ wrote:
I took my first glider flight a couple of months ago at Low Country
Soaring in Ridgeland, SC. (Cool group of guys there!) The flight
was really cool. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't really justify
making the investment in a membership because I'll be moving in about
a month. I'm headed up to Bend, OR for a professional flight program
hosted by a college there.

The more I read, learn, and watch videos about gliding, the more
enthralled I become with it. I'm hoping to get into it when I get to
Bend. I've found one club, High Desert Soaring
(http://www.hdsoaring.org/). The location is great, but I'm not sure
how active of a club they are. Looks like they only have one
sailplane. Anyone know about them? Any recommendations for other
places I should look into?

In addition to the gliding, I'd LOVE to get a tailwheel endorsement.
Seems like another one of those skill-building experiences I'd
appreciate having early on in my career. If anyone has a contact for
some tailwheel in/near Bend, that'd be great too!

I'm currently about halfway through my private pilot certificate,
ASEL. Hopefully I can work on the Glider add-on as soon as I'm
finished!

The Bend club can answer your questions better than I can, but the times
I've been in Bend recently, they seemed to be pretty active.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

BQ wrote:
... get a tailwheel endorsement.

Try http://taildraggers.com/CFI.aspx
--
Roberto Waltman

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On Monday, August 6, 2012 10:00:41 PM UTC-7, BQ wrote:
I took my first glider flight a couple of months ago at Low Country Soaring in Ridgeland, SC. (Cool group of guys there!) The flight was really cool.. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't really justify making the investment in a membership because I'll be moving in about a month. I'm headed up to Bend, OR for a professional flight program hosted by a college there. The more I read, learn, and watch videos about gliding, the more enthralled I become with it. I'm hoping to get into it when I get to Bend. I've found one club, High Desert Soaring (http://www.hdsoaring.org/). The location is great, but I'm not sure how active of a club they are. Looks like they only have one sailplane. Anyone know about them? Any recommendations for other places I should look into? In addition to the gliding, I'd LOVE to get a tailwheel endorsement. Seems like another one of those skill-building experiences I'd appreciate having early on in my career. If anyone has a contact for some tailwheel in/near Bend, that'd be great too! I'm currently about halfway through my private pilot certificate, ASEL. Hopefully I can work on the Glider add-on as soon as I'm finished! Thanks!

Call Walt Klemper 971 226 5137 he is one of our GFIG at High Desert soaring

On Tuesday, August 7, 2012 1:00:41 AM UTC-4, BQ wrote:
Hopefully I can work on the Glider add-on as soon as I'm finished!

I've heard it said that learning to fly gliders first is cheaper and better.

On Friday, August 10, 2012 4:48:01 PM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
On Tuesday, August 7, 2012 1:00:41 AM UTC-4, BQ wrote:

Hopefully I can work on the Glider add-on as soon as I'm finished!



I've heard it said that learning to fly gliders first is cheaper and better.

True and false.

It was dirt cheap when I learned to fly gliders, in a UK civil club. The RAF clubs were cheaper than beer.

Today, it's reasonable, but realize that you are paying for the glider, the tow, and the instruction, in most cases. Now some of those may be available at low or no charge in a club environment, but there are the joining fee and dues factors. Not so in a commercial setting.

Although in many cases it is cheaper to get the power rating and a glider add-on, what king of glider add-on are you getting? It varies, widely.

I will add that in addition to learning to glide in the UK, I learned to soar, which was the more important objective.

Frank Whiteley