Soaring

I'm currently a member of a club called the Soaring Tigers. Click on this image to visit the club's website:

Video showing me Thermaling in the club's 1-34

Taken by my friend Noriko Schneiderman from our club's two-seat glider being flown by Marty Schneiderman.

For twenty years (1979 to 1999) I was a very active glider pilot. I got my pilot's license (with a glider rating) shortly after soloing at the Ithaca Soaring Club in the summer of 1979. Four years later, I got my instructors rating. From 1990 to 1999 I was chief flight instructor at the Central Jersey Soaring Club.

Here are some pics of my sailplane, Three Yankee (3Y). It is an LS-4a made by Rolladen-Schneider, a small company near Frankfurt Germany (see https://www.sailplanedirectory.com/ls.htm). I actually owned only half of 3Y. The other half was owned by my partner, Keith Ashfield.

Here are some more pictures of me in 3-Y taken at Solberg Airport in NJ.

BTW, Solberg Airport hosts the annual NJ Festival of Ballooning:

Soaring at Van Sant Airport (Aug. 2, 2015)

Click on image for more pics and a few videos

For a few high resolution videos, click here


Here's the article in the Cornell Daily Sun that sparked my interest in soaring:

Brad Donahue, shown above pushing the tow-plane, taught me to fly.
Sadly, he was killed in an accident off Martha's Vineyard in 1987.
Click here to read his obituary in the Cornell Alumni News.

My Two Favorite Hobbies Depicted on the Cover of SSA's Soaring Magazine

Here's an excellent video showing what soaring in the French Alps is like:

Here's a picture of an LS3 in flight taken by Chris Caselli:

Here's a picture of multiple-world-record holder Steve Fossett in his beautiful Schleicher ASH-25 Mi:

And a video:

Finally, here's some specifics about 3Y: