But along the Front Range, we experience two additional types of lift-ridge and wave-that can develop at any time of year thanks to our unique mountains-meet-the-plains topography. Typically, June, July, and August are peak gliding months because thermals primarily exist in the summertime, when warmer ground air rises up to meet cooler air above, creating lift, the force that opposes the weight of the plane and holds it aloft. In fact, the Front Range is known as a mecca of sorts for glider pilots because unlike in many other places, soaring is a year-round pursuit here. A nonprofit, volunteer organization dedicated to furthering the pastime, the SSB-and other clubs like it in the area-takes advantage of a phenomenon most residents of the Denver metro area never even notice: thermals, or rising currents of air. The Soaring Society of America, the umbrella organization for the sport here, held its first meeting in 1932.īut it wasn’t until 27 years later, in 1959, that seven pilots living along Colorado’s Front Range formed the Soaring Society of Boulder (SSB). (Civilian power planes were limited as well.) Soaring gained traction in the United States in 1930 when pilot Frank Hawks flew a glider cross-country from San Diego to New York. Not surprisingly, Germany became the world leader in sailplaning because of the ban prohibiting the country from constructing, or even flying, military power planes after World War I. Besides offering rides to the public ($95 for about 30 minutes), CSA also offers classes for newcomers interested in learning to fly.Īeronautical engineers have been experimenting with gliders since the late 1800s, but it wasn’t until shortly thereafter that people began using them for sport. In the summer, you’ll find this group flying every weekend. Air Force Academy and the Front Range.Ĭolorado Soaring Association owns Owl Canyon Gliderport about 20 miles north of Fort Collins. The flights offer a bird’s-eye view of the U.S. While SSB is a members-only club and doesn’t provide commercial flights, Mile High Gliding-which operates out of the same airport-offers introductory rides starting at $99.īlack Forest Soaring Society, located at Kelly Airpark in Elbert, provides glider rides starting at $95 for 15 minutes. Soaring Society of Boulder launches gliders every weekend in the spring, summer, and fall at Boulder Municipal Airport. Three sailplaning clubs are located within a 75-minute drive of Denver. That is, until I remember I’ve willingly traded twin engines capable of propelling a plane to Mach 2 for a motorless aircraft and an emergency parachute backpack. For a moment, I feel like Maverick in Top Gun. Ossorio shuts the clear plexiglass canopy and settles into the seat behind me. I lower myself in and squirm to fit my legs around the instrument panel. “Climb in like you’re getting into the bathtub,” Ossorio says. It’s so tiny, in fact, that there’s no room for a real door instead, the roof of the plane pops open like a hatch. The snug, dual-control cockpit where Ossorio and I will sit, one behind the other, looks claustrophobically small. But it wasn’t until feeling the pressure to do something epic for my 40th birthday that I booked a flight. During 17 years of living along the Front Range, I’d often admired the sleek vessels that silently soar over the Flatirons. You keep a glider up in the air by using your smarts to read the sky it’s like playing chess with Mother Nature.”Īfter we watch a pilot-in-training touch down in front of us, Ossorio introduces me to the glider-a glossy white carbon-fiber and fiberglass ship with a 66-foot wingspan-I’ll be flying in today. “Piloting a glider is the toughest flying challenge I’ve ever had,” Ossorio says. He tells me that before he fell in love with planes without engines-sometimes called sailplanes, sometimes called gliders-he used to fly commercial jets and helicopters for a Fortune 100 company. The 55-year-old doesn’t look like an atmospheric scientist or an aerospace engineer or any of the other science and technology professionals who tend to gravitate toward sailplaning for its brainy aspects. Dressed in an Army green expedition shirt and khakis, Ossorio has a sturdy build and a thick shock of graying hair. In a grassy field at the north end of Boulder Municipal Airport, I find Alfonso Ossorio sitting atop a picnic table, watching with childlike wonder as motorless glider planes land on the runway. The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado.
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