The Civil Air Patrol promises the cadets that they can each have 5 glider flights, but we have been unable to fulfil that promise because we had no pilots and no gliders. This past year the WV Wing got a surplus glider from the Air Force Academy, but it got assembled improperly and on its first flight the left wing folded up before it got off the ground. It has since been replaced and the glider is ready to fly, but still no pilots. I went to Julien PA (just outside of State College) last August and took training. I soloed twice, but the week was just not enough time to get my glider license. I have since joined the Cumberland (MD) Soaring Group to complete my training, but I can go there only when I am not on call which is alternate weekends, but if the weather is not good I am out of luck. I am making slow progress toward my rating because there is not much lift in the winter, but my landings are getting better. At first, following the tow plane was scary. My reactions were slow and soon I was swinging from side to side like a horizontal pendulum trying my best to track the tail of the plane ahead. The instructor in the back said to match his bank angle, but in a glider, because there is no motor up front, the pilot is seated in the nose of the airplane, well ahead of the wings. I was concentrating so much on the tow plane that I could not look back and see the wings. It has since gotten much better; I am able to relax and follow the tow plane, making small but quick corrections, and can even stay coordinated most of the time. I also am learning to fly the tow plane, so as soon as my friend, Dennis gets his glider rating and I have my tow plane rating the WV Wing will have a glider program.

In this photo I am in a DuoDiscus high-performance glider looking west toward the Appalachian Plateau in central Pennsylvania.