"The End of an Era" Soaring magazine article

[Michael Fadden]

We all saw it coming but the closing and sale of Ridge Soaring still stings. Its kind of hard to believe that the mecca of ridge flying, a type of soaring "invented" Tom Knauff and KS, is no more. I know that you can still get a tow at Mifflin, Blairstown and other places along the Appalachian ridges but none will be able to match Ridge Soaring. As a mediocre ridge pilot at best, I got to hang around with some of the best in the world. And they did come from all over the world. The bunkhouse camaraderie and group dinners in and around State College were almost as much fun as the flying itself. Thanks, Tom and Doris for sharing your passion and keeping things going for as long as you did. (Oh, and for crewing for me when I landed out at Milesburg Gap after everyone else had gone home.) I already miss that place. Got a Ridge Soaring story? Share it!

Mike
CT & 1DB

P.S. Nice article Dave. If I'd known about the auction, I definitely would have been there.

[AS]

I am really saddened by the news that Ridge Soaring is no more. I read about the place as a teenage student pilot in Germany - little did I know then that I would have the opportunity to fly my H301 off of that field a decade later. That place had a certain mystique about it. When grandpa was visiting I took him for a nice ridge flight in one of the G103s, since he was a glider-pilot himself but had to give it up for health reasons. He was in awe about the Bald Eagle Ridge. He had flown in the German and Austrian Alps but nothing like this does exist in Europe anywhere. I am glad we were able to share that experience.
Besides some nice ridge flights, I also experienced my first wave flight over the Central PA plateau.
Good memories .....!

Uli
'AS'

[Tony]

Heartbreaking that nobody out there, not even family, could keep this treasure of a site going. Tom & Doris will be my heroes forever.

[Hank Nixon]

Sadly our sport is mostly populated by entitled "customers" and sparsely populated by "providers". For years the customers have been standing by waiting for new providers. Had some of these people banded together it may have been possible to allow things to continue. Now it will have to start all over almost from scratch.
UH

[youngbl...@gmail.com]

100% correct!! Old Bob, The Purist

[Nicholas Kennedy]

That is sad news about Ridge Soaring closing.

In the Southwest things are grim.

Telluride Soaring; Closed
Durango Val Air Soaring; Closed
Salida Colorado Soaring; Closed
Crawford Colorado Soaring; Closed
Aspen Soaring; Closed
Parowan Soaring; Closed
Turf Soaring; Closed
Ely Soaring; Closed
Sundance Soaring, New Mexico, closing this fall.

Thats 9 operations for those who are counting.

I was a co - owner in Telluride Soaring, Its tough in the trenches.
Low profit, high liability, High overhead; its a lot of work to give rides.
We had a hard time finding and keeping tow pilots.
Very expensive keeping the towplane in the air.

I have to travel great distances now to go soaring. And so it goes.

But it is still cheaper than therapy, you don't ever see a glider trailer parked in front of a psychiatrists office now do you?!
Nick
T

[Mark Mocho]

> But it is still cheaper than therapy, you don't ever see a glider trailer parked in front of a psychiatrists office now do you?!

You don't see hang gliders on vehicles parked in front of psychiatrists' offices either. People already assume we are crazy.

I used to tell the wuffos, "When dealing with crazy people, it is inadvisable to bring it to their attention."

[Dan Marotta]

With apologies to Ol' Bob the Purist, it's becoming time to think about
a self-launcher.

Dan
5J

[waltco...@aol.com]

I was curious if the facilities mentioned were all commercial operations?

Telluride Soaring; Closed
Durango Val Air Soaring; Closed
Salida Colorado Soaring; Closed
Crawford Colorado Soaring; Closed
Aspen Soaring; Closed
Parowan Soaring; Closed
Turf Soaring; Closed
Ely Soaring; Closed
Sundance Soaring, New Mexico, closing this fall.

Walt Connelly
Former Tow Pilot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot

[youngbl...@gmail.com]

Walt, there are many more that have closed through the years and club have also been victims of closings as well. I go back several years ago in Florida alone there was soaring operations in Naples, Miami, Okeechobee, North Palm, Arcadia, Labelle , Winter Haven, Pierson and probably a few more that escape my memory. We had a wonderful club in Miami, Thermal Research, it was the cream of the crop among glider pilots in Florida, it closed during the mid 90's. Eileen and I moved to Vero from Miami in 1988 and have flown here at my own strip until we started TCSC at New Hibiscus Airport.
The private group up at Leeward were active up until Scotty's death and then that activity curtailed and now a few still have gliders and activity has dropped off. My great friend Dave bought a self launch and is continuing the activity there which is great to see.
The common denominator in most cases for clubs has been the consumption of land for development purposes, we may see that ourselves as rapid growth in Florida means land consumption and expansion of communities. At this time I am actively looking to buy a piece of land a bit further west from our location and develop it as we did at FD25, which is currently where our home is located. Purchasing 100 acres and dividing it into 10 lots which complies with the comprehensive land use guidelines is the goal. Each investor would be equal owner in the development and TCSC would own its own location and erect a hangar for club use. This plan would provide for continued and uninterrupted operation for many years and would secure the future of soaring as a club operation in the best soaring area in the state.
The remaining lots would be available for hangar home construction sites, or hangar with an RV pad. Owners would be able to sell their properties at their own discretion.
I spent the past few days looking at location property and have discussed this plan with many club members, you may be surprised at how many individuals have shown interest.
Well, we would like to keep things rolling here on the beautiful coastline of South Florida, it would be sad to see more soaring clubs and commercial operators head into the sunset.
On another note I informed my friend Dave that there will be no more Christmas cards coming his way, a huge price to pay for buying a motorglider. Old Bob, The Purist

[Cindy Brickner]

On Monday, April 25, 2022 at 10:24:26 AM UTC-7, waltco...@aol.com wrote:
> I was curious if the facilities mentioned were all commercial operations?

snipped

> Sundance Soaring, New Mexico, closing this fall.
> Walt Connelly
> Former Tow Pilot
> Now Happy Helicopter Pilot

Walt:

Yes. They were/are.

Years ago, many many years ago .....
I asked a soaring operation if they wished to transfer responsibility
to me, as a new "owner". Transferring operational responsibility immediately,
and ownership over a short term. That operation promptly presumed that
MANY people would be interested in "outbidding" me, and created an RFP
which was passed about at a long-ago Convention.
I laughed privately, at the time.

This resulted in them having many calls of curiosity, all tire kickers.
It netted many calls to me asking if I would like to move out of state to --

Ridge Soaring - Tom & Doris
Southwest Soaring at Caddo Mills - AC and Mary Williams
A couple sites in Colorado
A site in FL, A site in the NorthEast,
A site in AZ, and perhaps others I don't recall. I was astounded at the number
of folks looking to bow out, even then.

And of those offers, Tom & Doris held on the longest. I wish them nothing but happiness,
delight in each other's company and with friends, and a huge relief from the
grind of continuing to keep everything together. It is a testament to the
love of soaring that ANY human ties themselves to running a glider FBO.

If anyone on a glider field has anything to say to the "Staff" other than
THANK YOU.... for giving me a place to play..... or
How can I help Your Day go easier? --
they should be excused from the playground.

"Staff" includes club officers and club daily service organizers.
I wore the FBO hat for two decades. A thank-you goes a long way.

Tom & Doris -- Thank You.
I was blessed with a chance to fly with Doris there,
while I was still in my first logbook.

Cindy B

[waltco...@aol.com]

Bob, obviously encroachment of civilization and need to land for housing is a big factor. Still sad to see airports fall by the way side. My college playground, Silver Springs airport is now an RV park. Breaks my heart, that place kept me sane when I came home from Nam. Being a purist is fine but as Pawnees fall by the wayside and as old pilots capable lf handling a taildragger with someone on a leash behind them diminish in number, self launchers will be the thing, like it or not. Yes, you can tow with a 182 but they are not cheap at all.

Walt

[waltco...@aol.com]

Cindy B, I could not agree MORE. The staff, either volunteer or paid deserves more respect than you see them receive. I was a line boy in my youth and after Vietnam while in college. Some people in aviation think you are their gopher, their slave. As a youngster I put up with it just to be around airplanes with the chance for a ride or a lesson. I learned a lot just by exposure, hangar flying it was called and some of what I learned kept me alive later in life. When I was in college I was working for flying lessons but had gotten to the point where I would not take the crap some people wanted to dish out, especially those little entitled s--ts who were showing up, taking a lesson and leaving. Daddy was paying but I wasn't there to kiss their entitled butts, I was there to provide a basic service, that was all.

When I found SLGP totally by accident I showed up for my lesson or two or three and hung around hooking up, chasing rope, being helpful in general. I wasn't being paid, it was my nature and something I enjoyed doing. I didn't see more than a handful of others doing the same thing. MOST glider pilots were extremely nice, recognizing those who jumped in and helped out and would thank you at some point. Then there was the GLASSHOLES who would complain if you hung them with a new rope. Fortunately they were in the minority but annoying all the same. I had to tell more than one that I was just being helpful and if they couldn't be a bit more receptive to my efforts I could walk away next time they were on the line. Speak nicely to me, I'm usually in control but I can go off and get rather unpleasant at times. I remember one who was very angry at one of the Japanese students who stopped everything during the Seniors to help launch. The Japanese were too polite to talk back to the guy, I did it for them. Some people are just petulant and truculent and to be honest I enjoy both, I find them amusing.

All this being said, I don't believe the average commercial operation is being operated anywhere near peak efficiency. I could go into details but they would just fall and deaf ears. I'll stick with helicopters from here on in with the occasional foray into a seaplane.

[Branko Stojkovic]

So true Nick!

Branko XYU

[Bruce Cynamon]

Bob

Not to hijack this thread but I spoke to Dave a couple of days ago. Since Dave does not subscribe to this list I was asked to let you know that Dave now identifies 100% as a self-launcher has further requested that he and the motorglider be referred to with the pronouns they/them rather than he/him.

Bruce
Weirsdale Glider Club

[youngbl...@gmail.com]

Bruce, thanks for the relay regarding the request, I think the pronoun they/them will not really describe Dave as I have known him for 45 years. Maybe the correct pronoun would be she/him, I understand that he was in Ocala looking for a new wardrobe to wear while flying her. I suggested that he buy a pink dress to wear along with some hot red high heels, he should have the lipstick ready to apply before taking her off! What would Scotty say about this? Old Bob, The Purist

[Tony]

On Monday, April 25, 2022 at 8:46:00 PM UTC-4, youngbl...@gmail.com wrote:

Count me in for a quarter-acre🤷

[youngbl...@gmail.com]

Last of the big spenders, only ten or none. I have ten people already verbally committed, I will let you pitch a tent and use the porta potty. Old Bob, The Purist

[Tony]

Thanks, Bob. One of the things that's keeping people out of soaring is the perceived cost. Sorry I can't fund 10 acres or an $80k ship with a ClearNav so guess I should move on. Or, rock on with Libelle and tent.

[youngbl...@gmail.com]

Don't worry about the tent, I will have an apartment in the hangar for use anytime you desire to fly with us. Now about that Libelle, us Purist is what is keeping this sport alive, our participation in clubs, and catching a tow from a commercial operator keeps this sport active. We have big plans for the future here on the Treasure Coast, you will not be dissapointed. Old Bob, The Purist