Soaring the sky a glider pilot‘s Podcast

Born on an Island in south east Alaska Michael Reid made his living as a pilot for 41 years, and retired from Alaska Airlines five years ago. After retirement, Michael decided to purchase a Stemme S12 motor glider, which he now flies out of Anchorage, Alaska. He will be sharing his aviation journey with us and will put us in the cockpit of his Stemme S12 as we soar among the highest peaks in North America. Michael has given us some great links for you below to checkout after you hear his story. Join us now as we go north to Alaska on episode 137 of Soaring The Sky.  Michael Read [email protected] Assembling a Stemme from a Cobra trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vtn-32cvY8 A short clip from a full length documentary made by an Alaska Airlines pilot about the 737-200 Combi airplanes before they were retired in 2007.  That’s me complaining about the early departure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu1x-uskA0w Soaring Safety Foundation Incident Reporting Database: http://soaringsafety.org/forms/incident.html   How Michael gets a lot of his weather briefing: https://weathercams.faa.gov/map/-162.13732,58.75623,-137.7257,65.19178 Alaska has more than 200 weather cam locations throughout the state at airports, in mountain passes, etc. The FAA is starting to spread the program to the other states. Alaska Mountain Soaring Association, a fledgling glider club in South Central Alaska: http://www.akmtnsoaring.com/    

Today we will be soaring over the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona with our friend Eric Redweik from the The Tucson Soaring club. Cross-country soaring in this area frequently offers conditions conducive to flights in excess of 500 km while reaching altitudes over 14,000 feet. With a field elevation of only 2,100 feet MSL it is common for pilots to reach altitudes of over 10,000 AGL in the vicinity of the airfield. A soaring playground for sure! Eric has been flying gliders since he was 13 and has a lot of soaring adventures to share with us as well as some saftey tips to help us all be safer and better pilots. Sergio The Soaring Master joins us after our interview with another informative segment and this one is titled, Extended Glides.  Tucson Soaring Club- www.tucsonsoaring.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/106408483308/ Instagram: @tucsonsoaringclub   Region 9- www.members.ssa.org or https://tucsonsoaring.org/2023-region-9-contest Region 9 Contest Email: [email protected]   Freedom's Wings Arizona- https://freedomswingsaz.org/      

The island of Tasmania can be found south of Australia seperated by a 240 kilometer stretch of water called the Bass Strait. We know Australia has many soaring clubs throughout the country and we have spoke to some of those pilots here on the podcast but I was curious if Tasmania had any active soaring clubs? We found one, in fact its the only one on the island and their we found our new friend and fellow aviator Robert Kennedy. Robert got the aviation bug from His Father who was a World War II Pilot. As a young boy he enjoyed flying RC aircraft but later he discovered sailplanes. Robert has been soaring for nearly 50 years. He Started his gliding training flying the K-13 then the Libelle. He said he also did lots of towing because tow pilots fly for free.  Robert has has enjoyed many differnt typs of aviation jobs throughout his life and spent 10 years of it as an Air Traffic controller, working in the morning allowed for flying time in the afternoon. He spent some of his time as a Civil Aviation inspector, ran a helicopter school and has flown everything from light sport aircraft, war birds, 737's and so much more. Robert has so many stories to share with us.  We will also get into saftey with him so we all can learn from his experiences and be better and safer pilots. Sergio is back with us today with another  Soaring Master Segment and this one is titled Smoke & Fires. If you like what you hear today please hit the subscribe button and leave us a review. I hope you enjoy this episode!  Happy Soaring & Fly Safe https://www.soaringtasmania.org.au/ www.soaringthesky.com www.patreon.com/soaringthesky  

On this episode Keith Eyler joins us and shares his aviation journey and adventures. When Keith is not fighting fires in the Air Tanker with Cal Fire, he loves intorducing and sharing soaring with others. He has over 10,000 glider tows as a tow pilot and has many hours logged in gliders as well. Keith began hanging out at airports at a very young age doing whatever he could to pay for his aviation training.  He stacked up lots of ratings and would even end up eventually flying for the airlines. We will hear stories from his time flying in afghanistan, interesting land outs, flying over violent fires in the mountains and and much more. Below you will find some links to check out that he talks about during the episode. After our chat we will hear a brand new segment from Sergio, The Soaring Master about badge flying. All that right now on episode 134 of Soaring The Sky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-XMaLKl4c4 https://wingsandwheels.com/blog/post/transferable-skill-of-soaring www.soaringthesky.com      

On this episode we will be soaring below sea level! In order to do that we will be heading to Isreal where we meet Natan Elsberg. He will be sharing his amazing soaring adventures over the Dead Sea and many other places! Natan has hundreds of hours logged in gliders and has also done alot of towing in Cesna 180s, Piper super cubs, Pawneees and more but, he enjoys flying gliders the most. He currently flies a Janus CM. Natan has visited and flown over 20 glider operations around the world but has been gliding in Israel since 2009. Imedieatly following our chat with Natan, (01:02:35) Sergio The Soaring Master joins us to talk about our soaring goals for the new year and some great ways we can accomplish them.  [email protected] www.soaringthesky.com www.patreon.com/soaringthesky https://www.facebook.com/100001242346488/videos/2050919814959410/ https://www.facebook.com/1560441998/videos/pcb.10216748897345706/10216748892825593 https://www.instagram.com/natan_elsberg Natan Elsberg Aviation Bio Age: 53 (Born 1969) Hours: 1500 total, 700 Glider Power: SEL, MEL, Instrument Airplane Glider: FAA Commercial, Israel CFIG Towed: Cessna 180, Piper Super Cub, Pawnee, *Eurofox Owned a DA40 in a syndicate  Currently Own a Janus CM in a syndicate Started flying at age 12, Soloed 172 at age 16 Started Gliders after 250 power hours at Penn State at age 20 (which changed the course of my life) Visited/Flew at over 20 glider operations around the world Gliding in Israel since 2009 Instructor since 2014  

Your votes are in! What was the most downloaded podcast episode for 2022? Barbora, The Gliding Junkie joins Chuck to countdown and talk about the best of and most liked episodes on social media. They will also be playing some of the best moments of the past year.  www.soaringthesky.com https://www.instagram.com/glidingjunkie/    

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Adriana Barragan grew her passion for life, beauty, science and freedom. During her childhood and teens, she was exposed to disciplined arts and sports that would let her develop her spirit and realize the power of the mind. Raised near the International Airport of Guadalajara, airplanes made her wonder. She had a revelation while learning basic aerodynamics on the internet. She was filled with pure passion and excitement. This was the most amazing applied physics she had ever read and represented the greatness of invention. Her learning and joy for flight only grew from that day. At age 15, Adriana confirmed her vocation for aviation while feeling reflected in the book “Running from Safety: an Adventure of the Spirit” by Richard Bach. Soon she realized that Flight Testing combined everything she loved, defining her pursuit to become an Experimental Test Pilot. After making her vocation public, her family could only show concern.  Regardless, she took the steps to become proficient in English and applied to MIT, ERAU, and Wichita State University. After receiving letters of admission, she camped on her roof during a clear night where she made her affirmation. This journey promised her everything – adventure, growth, romance, achievement, freedom, joy – and so her family understood this “bug”. Six months before coming to the US, her family supported her to get a private pilot’s license in Guadalajara. Later, she graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University in December of 2014. She worked as a research engineer at the Computational Mechanics Laboratory of the National Institute for Aviation Research for 3.5 years, 3 years as an Experimental Flight Test Engineer at Gulfstream Aerospace, and 2 years as a Maneuver Loads Engineer at Gulfstream Aerospace. Adriana has been flying since 2010, besides her Private Pilot Certificate, she paid for her Instrument rating, Commercial Pilot Certificate, Flight Instructor Certificate, Glider rating, and a bunch of aviation specialty courses including tailwheel, aerobatics, soaring events, and sea planes. After almost 10 years working as an engineer, Adriana “retired” the corporate world to start ORKA. She currently helps people obtain Private and Commercial Pilot Certificates, Tailwheel endorsements, and supports many students through her remote Online Course. Her vision is to lead those with a burning aviation desire to the finest flight instructors/coaches/teachers and aviation specialty courses. Because in her aviation journey, aiming for elite training and education, she found most training institutions were leaving gaps of knowledge and experience. ORKA will be the trusted platform to find effective, high quality training and vocation to teach. ORKA shall connect people, specially those new to aviation, to the richness of the aviation community. A network of humble, caring, available and talented individuals with deep knowledge and sharp skills. ORKA shall bring together educators, flyers, engineers, competition pilots, recreational pilots, etc, who have something to teach and want to teach. Like the flight test of an airplane, Adriana found developing skill and knowledge in a pilot benefits from the disciplined approach we use in Flight Test to expand the envelope. But this time, she was to dedicate her career to develop ”ability” to fly an aircraft to its full capabilities. Sometimes you are so focused on what you want that you forget what you need. https://www.facebook.com/flyorka https://www.instagram.com/fly.orka https://www.flyorka.com/ www.soaringthesky.com   

On Today's episode we head to Belgium to chat with Wim DeCrooK, a competition paraglider pilot with over 1000 hours. Before finding his sweet spot in the cockpit of a sailplane, Wim competed alot! He was ranked 2nd in the Serial class at the British open in Spain in 2019 and 3rd overall at the Mossella Open in France also in that same year. His best soaring season in a paraglider he flew more than 140 hours. These are just some of his accomplishments. Wim will share some of his adventures & experiences, like the time he ended up being stuck between two thunderstorms and some how managing to escape and land unharmed! Another time he found himself landing in a swamp and soon after standing in his underwear pulling off leeches from his body. Wim has learned alot about soaring and talks about his transition into a glider and what we all can learn from this amazing journey!  www.soaringthesky.com   

For this edition of the podcast Scott Manley joins us to talk about how we can use simulation as a powerful tool to learn and also have some fun while we are on the ground. Scott has been an educator and flight instructor for years but recentlry he has been teaching students online all over the globe using condor the soaring simulator. He has so much to share about how we can get the most out of our simulators and have fun while doing it. We also reached out to you the soaring community to find out how you use Condor. Some of you left your coments on social media and some of you recorded your responses on our website and we will be sharing those with you today as well. Sergio the Soaring Master has a new & interesting segment for us also today and this one is titled "The Days Script". As always we would be greatful if you hit the subsribe button and tell your friends what they are missing!  We greatly apriciate you sharing the podcast and growing the soaring community. Enjoy The Show! Virtualsoaring.eu CondorSoaring.com/sceneries/  SoaringTools.org   Cumulus-Soaring.com  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zboY_f3TzEw soaringthesky.com patreon.com/soaringthesky      

Today we will be hearing from two guest pilots! first we will head over to the soaring capital of America, Harris Hill In New York state and chat with our first guest pilot David McMaster! David comes from a large family with lots of aviation history that he will tell us about and share some of those soaring stories at Harris Hill and other parts of the World. David Also competed at the Junior Worlds in the Czech Republic this past summer so he has a lot to share with us!  Later on this episode we will chat with last years OLC Rookie of the year, Laura Stern, she flies out of the Offenburg Gliderport located on the western edge of the Black Forest in Germany. I really enjoyed hearing her stories and I know you will as well. Stick around after our guest pilots for another super informative segment from our friend Sergio The Soaring Master. Sergio's segment this time is titled "Deviation" Join us now for another episode packed full of great soaring content here on Soaring The Sky!   [email protected]  https://www.instagram.com/mcmaster_99/ www.soaringthesky.com