26 Soarings!UGUSTsWWWSSAORG

Originally published at Lucia
( luciajournal.com)

I

grew up at airports. Small ones –
the municipal kind with no ter-
minals, no TSA. Just a bunch of
rusted birds and crusty old pilots itch-
ing to scrape the sky.
My dad is one of them.

Throughout my childhood, we trav-

eled the countryside in search of the

perfect wave. My dad is a sailplane

pilot, you see, which requires a very

particular set of conditions with which

to fly.

Sailplanes don’t have motors. Towed

up by a fixed-wing plane, launched via

winch, or rolled off a cliff (seriously),

gliders are a rare breed. Glider pilots

rely on warming air and terrain fea-

tures to gain altitude, after which they

Fabrication

› Wing Tie Down

Cuffs

› Custom Wing

Wheels

› Tow Bars

› Custom

Orders

› WingRigger™

Assembly Aids

› Eccentric

& Tapered

Assembly Pins

› Mountain High

E&S Oxygen

Systems

Custom

Sailplane

Accessories

Mark Mocho 505-249-0161

[email protected]

Landing Out

Learning to Fly in Life and Business

Karly Siroky Landout above the Wenatchee Valley.

(Photos by Vitek Siroky.)

Climbing out.