This January 2025 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter is anchored by a stirring biographical tribute to Bela Gogos, a founding member whose life read like a thriller. A Hungarian Air Force pilot who flew ME-109s and Ju-87s on the Eastern Front in World War II, Gogos was arrested by the postwar Hungarian government in 1948 for anti-communist activities, handed to Soviet authorities, and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. After three years in solitary confinement in Moscow's Lubianka prison and stints in Arctic labor camps at Inta and Vorkuta, he fled Hungary during the 1956 uprising and eventually settled in the United States, where he went on to earn a PhD in Electrical Engineering, hold five international patents, and work at IBM. He also earned the FAI Diamond badge in 1995, flew an ASW-20 with Skyline until his retirement from flying, and endowed a $50,000 scholarship fund through the Collegiate Soaring Association before his passing in 2007. The issue also carries the President's season-closing thank-you to volunteers, a detailed board report covering the club's roughly $110,000–$120,000 bank balance, a peak membership of 112, and 34 active students, plus updates on the planned six-week runway closure at Front Royal–Warren County Airport, a new FAR 61.57 currency discussion affecting the instructor cadre, the awarding of Good Service membership to tow pilot Richard, and the launch of a winter Strategic Planning meeting led by Marcelo Morichi. Board elections with two open seats are set for early 2025.
The February 2025 issue of SKYLINES leads with a charming throwback to September 12, 1988, when Skyline member Tom Brice gave his bride Linda the ultimate wedding-day entrance: an aerotow in the club's ASK-21 from 8W2, a release, several orbits around a hot-air balloon, and a textbook pattern landing on Runway 05 at Sky Bryce, rolling to a stop directly beside the reception tent to applause. The story, recounted by the 'Guy-in-Back' instructor Joe Parrish, details the months of planning, practice patterns, and the tight fit of a 100-pound bride in the rear seat. Also in this issue: editor Jim Kellett announces his retirement to Emeritus status while pledging to keep the newsletter going until a successor steps forward; a thank-you to Keith Hilton for delivering the 341KS to Gehrlein and repairing the rear-seat vario in the 321K; and a new set of detailed ADO helper checklists—arrival, during-the-day, and closing—authored by Carlos Troncoso to standardize field operations for new and veteran volunteers alike.
The March 2025 issue of Skylines leads with a practical gift for every member who will one day hold the clipboard at the ramp: a complete set of Duty Officer checklists covering arrival, in-day operations, and closing procedures, from hoisting the Skyline flag and laying out tow ropes in the correct color order to uploading the log sheet and writing the operations report within 24 hours. On the achievement front, Soaring Magazine reported that Benaiah Lichti, Ben Maitre, and Nick Meeder each earned their 'A' badges, a milestone the club celebrated alongside a general congratulations to Ralph Vawter. The issue also carries the full roster of club officers and meisters for the Front Royal-Warren County, Virginia, home field, reminding readers that the club remains a 501(c)(7) affiliate of the Soaring Society of America.
The April 2025 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter opens with a lyrical ode to summer soaring and moves into highlights from the club's annual membership meeting, where Erik von Weezendonk was honored with the Gogos Award. The issue welcomes six new members for 2025, including SSEF scholarship recipients and a former US Army Armor officer turned Raytheon executive whose family aviation lineage stretches back to a US Air Force fighter pilot. A standout interview features Mike Osmers, a retired United Airlines captain with 54 years of glider experience who learned to fly at the Schweizer Soaring School in Elmira, New York, and is now building a Bushby Mustang 2 in his garage. The issue's most practically significant piece, penned by Piet Barber, walks through how a lapsed airplane pilot can legally re-enter aviation through glider training by satisfying the 14 CFR §61.56 flight review requirement via the FAA WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program—eliminating the need to dust off a headset and climb into a Cessna. The article positions Skyline's curriculum as a structured, pace-friendly on-ramp for former pilots drawn back to the sky by a silent glider overhead.
The May 2025 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter opens with congratulations to Anand Mohan on earning SSA Bronze Badge #2578 and to Cindy Lawyer for stepping up as Merchandising Meister, then turns to the big news: the 2025 1-26 Championships, a national soaring event, is coming to Amelia County, Virginia, May 7–14, hosted by the Merlin Soaring Association. The longest feature is Ron Wagner's vivid first-person account of racing to a commercial add-on glider rating at Seminole Lake Gliderport near Orlando, where he logged 24 flights in a single day, flew a Blanik L23, and passed his practical test in just four days—a stark contrast to the slower, walk-heavy training at Front Royal. On a lighter note, Jim Perlmutter recounts a police helicopter dropping onto the field with rotors still spinning, a timely reminder of the club's helicopter-downwash safety review. Treasurer Ralph Vawter delivers a candid financial report: hull insurance jumped 27% (about $9,000), the Pawnee tow plane's annual inspection ran nearly $25,000 against a four-year average of $6,800, and a canopy installation on glider 341KS is estimated at $8,000. His prescription is characteristically upbeat—fly more, chase badges, and let participation offset the costs before the Board has to raise dues or tow fees.
June's issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter is a celebration of members pushing their limits. Erik von Weezendonk delivers a gripping first-person account of a cross-country ridge-and-wave flight along the Blue Ridge in his 1968 Cirrus, from a bumpy launch behind a Pawnee tow to a nerve-wracking landout at Burner Field and an aerial retrieve by Robb Hohmann. The club also heaves a collective sigh of pride over Mia Anderson's 2nd Place Overall finish in the Sportsman Division at the Estrella Classic Glider Aerobatic Competition in Maricopa, Arizona; Chris Wuerker's SSA Gold Distance award; and a pair of young aviators, Benaiah Lichti and Jonathan Faux, collecting flight-training scholarships from the SSA and CAP. Ben Bierstine graduated With Distinction from the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force by his father, SSC tow pilot Jim Bierstine. Rounding out the issue are treasurer Ralph Vawter's call to members to fly and help close the budget gap, a $2,000 SSA grant toward 2025 Week of Training fuel costs, and a lighthearted nod to the old Grey Poupon limousine commercial.
Treasurer Ralph Vawter's revenue-and-expense breakdown puts a stark number on the club's mid-year finances: as of June 25, 2025, Skyline Soaring is running roughly $22,000 behind, with the Board warning that corrective action may be needed if the gap isn't closed by year's end. The call to action is simple—get out to the Front Royal-Warren County airport and fly. On the brighter side, the issue celebrates a string of firsts: Jonathan Faux earned his initial solo and the coveted "A" badge under CFI Rufus Decker, Hugh McElrath banked Silver and Gold Distance awards on a five-hour, fourteen-minute cross-country in a FW glider, and young Cliff Storey was named a Ray Aviation Scholarship recipient from the Experimental Aircraft Association, pocketing $12,000 toward his private pilot training with his Skyline Soaring membership and a reference from Joel Hough cited by the selection committee. The newsletter also rounds out its usual fare with a July birthday list and the full roster of club officers, from President Stephanie Zilora to Webmaster Piet Barber.
This August issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter leads with a pointed technical article by George Hazelrigg explaining how a variometer can display a dramatic energy loss during a final approach simply because a headwind dropped ten knots at 300 feet—the air mass accelerated, the inertial-frame assumption broke, and the instrument told the pilot a lie. The piece extends the discussion to the phantom lift pilots often “see” on a downwind leg, attributing it to a reducing tailwind rather than genuine thermal activity. Joel Hough's book recommendation for Dennis Pagen's *Understanding the Sky* broadens the theme into a vivid tour of atmospheric hazards: wave rotors that inverted a 450-pound motor glider with no other traffic in sight, dust devils responsible for over 170 NTSB-investigated accidents, and the BOAC Flight 911 disaster near Mount Fuji. The issue also welcomes five new July members—including commercial ASEL/AMEL pilot Chad Ohl-Trlica and Week of Training student Haile Cano—lists August birthdays, and presents a year-to-date revenue-versus-expenses chart showing the club narrowing its seasonal deficit to −$13,267 by July, a result Treasurer Ralph Vawter credits to strong participation and a well-run July 4th Ad Hoc day.
A tense July afternoon at the field—lightning strikes closing from 14 miles to 12 while a pilot debated launching a PW-5—anchors this issue's most gripping story, followed by a deep dive into why satellite lightning mappers can miss the very flashes that matter most. The newsletter also celebrates a wave of new certifications, including Cli Storey's Private Pilot Glider certificate and Nick Meeder's practical test, as he immediately took his wife Kate up for her first ride. Five new members joined in August, ranging from a 14-year-old CAP cadet to an aerospace engineer chasing his pilot's certificate. Fritz Treyz, a pilot returning after decades away, pens a vivid account of Week of Training 2025 in Petersburg, West Virginia, capturing the volunteer teamwork and camaraderie that define the club. And the financial chart tells a quiet triumph: after months in the red, July and August flying have pushed Skyline Soaring toward a positive year-to-date balance.
Nicolas Meeder's vividly told check-ride account dominates this issue: his examiner Piet Barber, being colorblind, mistook the grey PTT ball for the yellow one and yanked it at 1,000 feet, forcing Meeder to execute his emergency plan and land on runway 10. The second flight ended in a rain-soaked landing with a tailwind, and the anticlimactic reveal that he'd passed came only after he'd already walked back to the FBO and told his wife. Also in this issue: Andrew McGowan recounts a multi-hour ridge flight with Piet Barber along the North Fork Shenandoah, calling it the best learning flight of 2025; the Skyline Soaring Education Foundation reports three scholarships awarded in 2025, including the $2,500 Ryan Trexel Memorial award; and the October birthday list celebrates Jim Kellett turning 90.
The November 2025 issue of the Skyline Soaring Club newsletter is dominated by the triumphant return of Mia Anderson from the 2025 IAC U.S. National Aerobatic Championships in Salina, Kansas, where she claimed the Sportsman Glider National Championship and made history as the first woman ever to compete in both the Powered and Glider divisions at the U.S. Nationals, finishing fifth in the Primary Powered category in an Extreme Decathlon. The issue also carries a lyrical poem, "Wings of a Season," by William Brian Wark, a meditation on summer soaring and the approaching stillness of winter. Club Treasurer Ralph Vawter reports that Skyline Soaring has finally tipped into positive net revenue for the 2025 season, a milestone the club attributes to the collective effort of its members. The issue closes with a list of November birthdays and the full roster of club officers and aircraft "Meisters."