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Membership
Drive (continued)
Indianapolis
Star Ad
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Learn
to Fly Sailplanes
Always want to fly, but felt it out of reach? Gave up or about
to give up due to cost? Worried about your next Class III Medical?
Looking for an add-on rating? Professional pilot looking for a way
to put the fun back in flying?
Look no further, the Central Indiana Soaring Society, Inc. is a
non-profit club operated by and for its members. We are a chartered
Chapter of the Soaring Society of America and have been in operation
for over forty years.
Come visit us at http://centralindianasoaringsociety.org, drive
or fly to Indianapolis- Terry Airport (TYQ) on SR 32, just 2mi.
East of US 421. Saturdays and Sundays thru October, between noon
and 3:00PM, weather permitting. Park near the new, large terminal
building and walk into the office. Ask for us and you will be picked
up. Meet the people - Watch the operation - Take an introductory
ride if you are interested For more Information, Call Jeff Melin,
Membership Chairman, Eves. (317) 848-5306, 8csoars@prodigy.net
JOIN NOW WHILE MEMBERSHIPS ARE STILL AVAILABLE!
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Here
is another example of what the SSA organizatoin could do to promote the
sport:
Glider makes unscheduled stop in Cumberland
Grad student puts aircraft down in hillside pasture
Sam Shawver Times-News Staffwriter
CUMBERLAND - Goetz Bromesfeld was winging his way home Wednesday afternoon
when he made an unsccheduled stop in Cumberland.
The 35-year-old grad student from Penn State had piloted his Cirrus glider
from State College, Pa., to Mountain Grove, Va., and was heading back
home when a downdraft forced him to land in a hillside pasture behind
the Duckworth Farm on Valley Road around 3 p.m.
"It was an outlanding (non-emergency landing), not a crash," the uninjured
Bromesfeld said. "I'd already intended to land in the field."
Shortly after the landing he met farm caretaker Gary Smith, who made sure
Bromesfeld was OK before summoning property owner Gary Duckworth.
Using
his pickup truck, Duckworth towed the 50-foot wingspan glider from its
hillside landing spot to a more level location near the barn.
"He had AAA-rated accommodations here," joked Duckworth.
An aerospace engineering student, Bromesfeld is a member of the Penn State
Soaring Club and often flies the ridges of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West
Virginia and Virginia. He said more than 10 gliders flew out of State
College Wednesday.
In addition to his aerospace studies, Bromesfeld teaches a class where
students design and build sailplanes.
"Spring and fall are the best ridge seasons," he said, explaining that
the gliders are piloted along mountain ridges to take advantage of updrafts
created when winds blowing against the mountain sides.
The planes may cruise as high as 7,000 feet and can travel up to 140 mph.
"I started soaring about 15 years ago, and that's when I first heard about
flying the Bald Eagle Ridge which runs from State College to Virginia,"
he said. "But there are a few gaps in the ridge line, and one of those
is in Cumberland."
On the return trip north, Bromesfeld attempted to circumvent the gap at
Cumberland by crossing to a parallel ridge, but that's where he caught
the downdraft and made a quick decision to land.
He'd spent six hours in the sky, huddled inside the plastic bubble-covered
6-foot cockpit.
"It was a beautiful day for soaring," he said.
A friend brought a trailer from State College and, after dismantling the
glider's wings, towed Bromesfeld and the Cirrus home to fly another day,
no doubt.
– Jeff Melin
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