December 2005 — Vol. 22, No. 12 - RC Soaring - RCSoaring.com

I
’m going to wander from my regular
topic to expound on the comment at the
end of my last article about my visit to a
sailplane port in Nevada.
A decade ago I decided that I loved flying
RC sailplanes so much that I wanted to
learn to fly the real thing. Getting my
sailplane license didn’t seem like a good
idea since I would have to drive about 80
miles to the nearest glider port or arrange
for a week or so at a glider camp and then
be looking at long drives each weekend
when I wanted to fly.
Waiting until retirement seemed the right
choice. In the mean time I resolved to fly
sailplanes when travel took me to an area
with a glider port with instructors and I
could include a weekend in my travel.
The best full size flying experience I had so
far was in 2001 when I made my third visit
to Sky Sailing at Warner Springs Ranch,
California in San Diego County. The wife
and I were celebrating our 35 th
anniversary so we stayed the weekend at
Warner Springs Ranch Resort and
combined it with a glider flight duet.
I launched first with a young enthusiastic
commercial pilot, we found a thermal and
climbed several thousand feet and then my
wife launched with her instructor to fly
together. My house and office are adorned
with pictures of that memorable event. If
you want to hear more about that you
might check the RCSD column on the
subject (RCSD V18, #9, Sep. 2001, pgs 1,
The Las Vegas Valley Soaring Association club house.
10). This September, business took me to
Las Vegas. The Internet made it easy for
me to locate a soaring club near the city
that could accommodate my desire to fly
with the safety of a licensed instructor or
pilot on board.
The Las Vegas Valley Soaring Association
web page was well
organized. I contacted an instructor by
e-mail. I’m partial to Grob 103s so two
instructors, Bill Tisdale and Jay McDaniel
worked with me to make an appointment
for the two place ’glass ship.
I showed up about 10 AM on the cloudless
day and had visions of the thermals
popping up and supporting a long flight. I
learned that due to the date (September
25 th was later in the season than when I
had done this before) and the wind
direction, we would be scratching for lift.
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