Flying

Utilizing naturally occurring lift, your glider silently climbs through the sky. After climbing several thousand feet, you begin a straight glide towards your destination many miles ahead. You will not have to thermal again for 15 miles. When you start to lose altitude, you begin yet another climb followed by another long glide. This is the sport of cross country soaring. Read on for more details.

The current world record for absolute altitude is over 50,000 feet and free distance flights of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) have been achieved. Local pilots routinely fly tasks of 300-500 kilometers and flights of 750 km, 1,000 km and even 1,250 km have been flown from Ridge Soaring Gliderport, located just 10 miles north of University Park Campus.

Currently, our club operates two Blanik L-13 training gliders and a Standard Cirrus glider. The Blaniks are all-metal, flush riveted sailplanes with fabric covered control surfaces. They have good soaring capabilities and are FAA certified for acrobatics. The Club has flown these sailplanes at several regional soaring competitions. The standard Cirrus is the newest addition to the fleet. This fiberglass, high performance single seater is a great aircraft for licensed members to fly.

The Blaniks and Standard Cirrus are easy to fly, rugged sailplanes. They come equipped with trailers and are easily assembled and disassembled. Thus, for those occasions in which a cross country mission cannot be completed and the sailplanes land at alternate locations, retrieves can be done by automobile.

Costs

Fall 2006

The Penn State Soaring Club provides a low cost solution for learning to fly. The club provides free flight instruction and free club aircraft rentals. This is made possible by club members working at Penn State Bookstore merchandise booths at home football games.

New members pay a one time due rate of $30 plus $15 for each flight they take up to 8 flights. After 8 flights, new members fly without a fee until the next semester, where the regular rate of $150 will need to be paid. The 8 Flights can be carried over several semesters without paying extra.

Members are also required to pay yearly dues to the Soaring Society of America. This is required of all flying members so that they are covered on our insurance policy. These memberships include a subscription to Soaring Magazine. When applying, please use the SSA Form (in Portable Document Format - pdf ) provided, with our club information included.

Student Member: Available to persons age 22 and less$36
Full member:   Receives full SSA membership privileges$64

What will it cost to solo?

Fall 2006

The cost for a tow at Ridge Soaring Gliderport is $35 for a 2,000' tow. Most flights are made to this altitude however some are higher depending on weather conditions. The information below is based on the following assumptions, which is provided as an estimate only. The number of flights it takes to solo depends very much on each person, and their attitude and desire to learn.** The numbers shown here are based on the flight training syllabus in Glider Basics by Knauff. This figure does not include club dues per semester.

22 x 2,000 ft. tows@ $35 per tow
3 x simulated rope breaks@ $26 per tow
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25 Flights Total$848

**As with any skill, learning to fly takes practice. Fewer flights are required to learn to fly if flights are made closer together instead of spread out over a few semesters.