Bill Burner opens this issue with a hair-raising tale from roughly fifty years ago at Albuquerque Soaring Club: a 2-33 glider drifting wide behind a 180-hp Super Cub, a rudder stall that left the glider pilot straining at max controls, and a retired Air Force test pilot who saved the day with a quarter snap roll—ending with the two aircraft wing-tip to wing-tip, the tow rope arcing between them. Burner uses the story to make a serious safety point about rudder stalls and the positive-feedback danger of a glider getting wide in a tow turn. The issue also looks back thirty-two years to the club's first flight on November 23, 1991, with the Pawnee and ASK-21, and to the social Saturdays of the old Warrenton Soaring Center, where the crew would grill, drink, and brag about their flying. Ralph Vawter's 'Musings' column urges members to push for an SSA Cross Country Camp at Skyline and to make sure their solo, extended-flight, and badge achievements are properly recognized. The full roster of officers and 'Meisters'—from the PW-5 to the Gator to the towline—rounds out a solid January issue from the Front Royal-Warren County field.
February's issue is headlined by Piet Barber's announcement of a fully functional FAA Wave Window over Petersburg, Virginia, scheduled for late February through early March, with the possibility of a second tow plane donated by Mid-Atlantic Soaring to ease the queue of pilots chasing the wave. The club also celebrates the launch of the Central Pennsylvania Soaring Association at Centre Airpark, where Skyline members—including Chris Groshel, who provided his personal SGS 2-33—helped found the new club among its original 33 members. Scott Bradley contributes a vivid first-person account of his 6.5-year, $90,000 Glastar kit build, complete with basement riveting, a wife who doubles as an unlicensed FAA inspector, and a six-car parade to get the finished airplane out of the garage. The Board of Directors summary covers a new Discus CS donated by Fred Winter (insured at $50,000), the sale of the aging Sprite to CPA Soaring for $5,000, a switch to Truist banking with Zelle payments, a $127-per-month hangar lease increase, and Jim Kellett's pointed call for the club to actively search for an alternative airport rather than risk another forced departure. Board elections for two seats are set for March, and the mandatory Safety Meeting and Annual Membership Meet are scheduled for March 9 at the firehouse next to Front Royal–Warren County Airport.
In a remarkable crossover between the world of glider pilots and the Manhattan Project, Skyline Soaring Club member Dan Ernst recounts the story of Barb Dresner, wife of 1-26 glider pilot Al Dresner, who served as a stenographer to Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer in the weeks following the Trinity test. Barb, who passed in 2020 at age 95, left behind steno pads of her shorthand notes and gave an oral history to Historic Chevy Chase in 2012, describing ten days of dictation in an empty building on 16th Street in Washington, D.C. The issue also features Jim Kellett's nostalgic tour of the Replogle, Winter, and Peravia barographs that once recorded badge-claim flights, Jim Perlmutter's review of Donald L. Miller's *Masters of the Air* (and its Apple TV+ adaptation), and George Hazelrigg's gripping 1968 account of a total engine failure at 9,500 feet over the Laguna Mountains, traced to a fuel-line vapor lock that Cessna would later redesign. Rounding out the issue is the club's full 2024 contest calendar, a shout-out to webmaster Piet Barber's site overhaul, and the annual safety meeting scheduled for March 9 at the Front Royal firehouse.
The April 2024 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter is anchored by Allison Diaz's detailed 2023 Glider Accident Analysis, originally prepared for the club's Safety Meeting. The presentation examines two particularly instructive incidents—a PIK 20D that struck Tennessee ridge terrain after its pilot followed circling birds into a turn toward the slope, and a Williams, California landing in which a highly experienced ATP with 1,800 glider hours ran out of altitude in a rice paddy after encountering unexpected sink on base—before distilling hard-won advice on ridge-soaring turns, approach discipline, and the cognitive biases that can lull even veteran pilots into complacency. The issue also carries a touching
This May 2024 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter opens with a full 2024 event calendar spanning the Merlin Cross-Country Soaring Camp through the OSTIV Congress in Uvalde, Texas. The standout feature is Jim Kellea's nostalgic 'Back in the Day' column, recounting the club's 1992–1999 tenure at New Market airport (8W2), where member and surveyor Kevin Fleet had the inspired idea of laying out the club's name in oversized letters across the adjacent grass strip, then feeding the letters with lime and fertilizer until the healthy growth made the wordmark visible from altitude. The issue also announces the club's first-ever Family Fly-Away Day at Burner Field in Woodstock, Virginia (May 11), complete with a new right-hand traffic pattern for Runway 03 and driving directions through the Shenandoah countryside. President Stephanie Zilora issues a heartfelt call for volunteers to fill the trailer meister, merchandising meister, and secretary roles, while Jim Perlmutter shares a vivid account of a day spent exploring the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, from its pre-war art-deco halls and interwar gliders to a walk-through 747, a towering A380, and two Concorde jets nose-to-tail.
In this June 2024 issue, club member and newsletter editor Jim Perlmutter contributes a feature titled "Gliders Go to War," exploring the military heritage of the glider aircraft that share their lineage with the sport soaring community. The article is accompanied by a photograph of a memorial brick at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, which Perlmutter calls "a very interesting place to visit." The issue also carries the standard Skyline Soaring Club officer and director roster for the club, based at the Front Royal–Warren County, Virginia Airport and affiliated with the Soaring Society of America, listing Stephanie Zilora as President, Ron Wagner as Safety Officer, and the full slate of directors, tow pilots, and duty officers who keep the club's operations running.
Skyline Soaring Club celebrates a milestone month, reporting its largest membership ever at 108 pilots, 31 active students, and a 35-name wait list, while the Board approves an extra half-day for the June Week of Training to accommodate the surge. The issue's centerpiece is a long, reflective essay by CFI-G George Hazelrigg, who draws on two decades of instruction and a background in aerospace engineering to argue that soaring is an art that cannot be taught, only experienced—offering hard-won lessons on control, coordination, knowing when to do nothing, and always keeping a Plan B, each mapped to a broader principle for living. Two young Skyliners, Mia Anderson and Caleb Smith, are profiled as they step out of high school and into aviation careers, with Smith already holding two licenses and Silver and Gold badge distance legs in the club's Sparrowhawk. Board Secretary Keith Hilton's notes cover the Costello–Heffernan insurance merger, a $350 emergency canopy repair on N341KS, fleet maintenance on the twin Discus and the new FW Discus at Gehrlein, and the Board's decision to hold steady on Discus checkout and wind-limit policies. Classifieds call for volunteer Trailer and Merchandising Meisters, and the SSA Wing Runner online safety course is promoted to all members.
The August 2024 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter captures a season of growth and community at the Front Royal–Warren County Airport. New pilot Andrew McGowan recounts his July 6 practical test with DPE Piet Barber, including a memorable simulated rope break at 800 feet and a fumbled 'modified pattern' call that sent him onto a left downwind for Runway 28. The club celebrates a string of badge achievements reported in Soaring Magazine—A, B, C, and Bronze badges earned by Marcelo Morichi, Andrew McGowan, Mark Moran, and Hugh McElrath—along with completed PPL flight reviews. A detailed recap of the July 11 Warren County Airport Commission safety seminar covers coordination among SkyDive Front Royal, helicopter operators, tow pilots, and glider crews. Hugh McElrath profiles Rudy and his son, new A&P mechanics at the field who performed a composite tailwheel repair on his Pipistrel, offering a local alternative to the long trip to Gherlein, Pennsylvania. The issue also lists open club positions including K Meister Trainee, Trailer Meister, and Merchandising Meister, and directs members to SSA's online Wing Runner safety course.
The September 2024 Skyline Soaring Club newsletter is headlined by D. Marcelo Morichi's gripping account of an unplanned landout: after getting disoriented over the rocks and losing radio contact with the field, he descended to a rectangular grass field where a bull and several cows watched his approach with bovine indifference. Keith Hilton's quick drive out with a trailer and a farmer's help made the recovery smooth, but the debrief with John Noss and Joel Hough turned the scare into a masterclass in situational awareness. The issue also celebrates a remarkable family milestone—Chris Baughman earning his Commercial Pilot–Glider add-on on the very day his sixteen-year-old son Ryan received his Private Pilot–Glider rating, capping a journey that began when the family lived under the sonic-boom corridor at Edwards AFB. Andrew Neilson contributes a thorough essay on radio discipline and the often-overlooked 'listen' half of 'Aviate, Navigate, and Communicate,' illustrated by a near-miss between a C-172 and a glider on final at Front Royal. Joel Hough's Burner Day weather tutorial breaks down thunderstorm radar colors and the hazards of flying beneath anvil clouds, while the club congratulates new Silver badge holder Caleb and first-solo pilot Cindy Lawyer, and notes a Luscombe tail dragger that ended up in the corn after a quartering tail wind during landing.
Robb Hohmann's birthday collided with the rain-delayed Burner Day make-up flight, turning a family reunion at the Shenandoah Valley's premier soaring site into a multi-generational glider outing. His mother Lori, whose only prior experience in an engineless airplane was a 30-plus-year-old incident involving "unplanned aerobatics," was gently coaxed into a 14-minute flight she declared she'd happily extend all day. Sister Melinda (and new beau Jed) and nephew Rhett also got airborne, and the day closed with cupcakes and what Hohmann calls "an overwhelming sense of gratefulness and pride." Elsewhere, the club celebrates Ron Wagner's second SSA recognition as the most active flight instructor in Region IV — and the second most active in the nation. The issue also carries a slate of classified ads recruiting a Trailer Meister, a Merchandising Meister, and new Assistant Duty Officers, alongside a call for members to submit masthead photos for the 2025 newsletter.
A packed November issue celebrates a remarkable stretch of Skyline Soaring Club achievements. Mia Anderson captured the IAC National Aerobatic Championship in the Glider Primary Division at Salina, Kansas, piloting an MDM1 Fox, while a wave of A, B, C, Bronze, and Silver badges from Soaring magazine recognized the flying progress of David Wacker, Larry Ayers, Andy McGowan, the Baughman brothers, Caleb Smith, Ron Wagner, and Matt Vosika. The club also welcomed new Safety Officer Christopher Wuerker, a former MedSTAR helicopter pilot who ran one of the nation's largest medical evacuation programs before returning to the cockpit and the club. Young Benahi Lichti logged his first solo under CFI Brian Clark, the Tetley sisters hauled in a string of Virginia 4-H state shooting titles alongside their glider work, and a lighthearted safety column reminded long-duration pilots to check the AWOS before committing to a landing. New member Nick Meeder was thanked for a set of sturdy folding chairs to replace the hangar's rickety old set.
The December 2024 issue centers on a detailed post-incident analysis of an October 6 PIO (pilot-induced oscillation) that damaged the club's ASK-21 during landing, with Safety Officer Chris Wuerker walking through the mechanics of the bounce cycle, the critical differences in landing attitude between the ASK-21 and PW-5, and concrete steps pilots can take to prevent a repeat. Chief Flight Instructor John Noss points members to Chapter 8 of the Glider Flying Handbook for further study. President Stephanie Zilhora issues a strong call to action: with the club temporarily down to a single two-seat glider while repairs are completed, post-solo members are urged to get into the single-seat PW-5s and the two newly assembled Disci gliders, keeping the fleet flying and the skills sharp. A brief safety reminder on the classic 'Aviate, Navigate, Communicate' priority sequence rounds out the issue.