Soar spots: Glider pilots, enthusiasts explain the allure of flying

Tuesday, May 14, 2002 | 8:37 a.m.

When the glider pilot released the umbilical cord that connected the craft to the tow plane 6,000 feet above Jean, it sounded similar to a shot ringing through the cockpit.

It was a startling sound to someone unaccustomed to soaring like an eagle.

A moment before, the only sound had been the wind rushing over the canopy that and Jim Dingess instructing a novice glider aviator on the art of controlling a plane that has no engine.

Dingess is a pilot for United Airlines. Flying glider planes has been a passionate hobby for the 40-year-old Las Vegan since he was 14 and growing up in Hawaii.

Dingess is one of 35 members of the Las Vegas Valley Soaring Association, a nonprofit sport glider club that has been around since 1988. He's been a member for 11 years.

The club is made up of pilots, musicians, military men and an assortment of other flying enthusiasts bound by their love of sailing across the skies.

If you are going to pilot a glider for the first time, it's comforting to know the instructor in the front seat flies Boeing 757s or 767s for a living.

"You control the plane with the stick," Dingess said simply.

The two sticks on a glider plane jut from the floor between the knees of the pilot and the student. The stick controls the flaps on the 57-foot wings.

"You coordinate the stick with the rudder," Dingess said.

The rudder, at the tail of the plane, is controlled by foot pedals. In unison, the rudder and the stick dictate the direction of the motorless craft -- left, right, up, down.

Dingess expertly guided the plane through the air, trying to find the thermals (wind shafts) that would allow it to remain aloft for more than a few minutes.

None were to be found recently over the area of the desert floor west of Jean, and the plane began a slow descent. All the while Dingess continued guiding the plane in circles, seeking the updraft.

For a heart-stopping moment he turned the controls over to the student (this reporter) who tried to remember that glider planes are not like kites: If there is no wind, they don't drop to the ground. They glide to a landing.

The plane banked sharply to the left and there was the sensation that it was going to roll, but guided by Dingess' instructions the co-pilot righted the plane and soon began flying like an ace.

Well, maybe not an ace, but well enough for a compliment from a real pro.

After a few minutes of slow-but-steady descent, Dingess took back control of the plane and guided it to the ridges of a mountain near the Southern Nevada Correctional Center east of Jean, and found a thermal nearby.

The craft quickly rose 1,000 feet, leaving the student's stomach in a free fall. Wisely, Dingess decided it was time to return to earth.

Just for fun

Members of the Las Vegas Valley Soaring Association donate their time to help run the club, performing tasks ranging from maintaining equipment to giving glider instructions.

The club owns three gliders: a two-seat Schweizer 2-33A for basic training; a two-seat Grob 103 for sport flying and advanced training; and an LS-4 for advanced soaring. It also owns a Piper Pawnee tow plane, which once was a crop duster.

The planes are kept at an airstrip in Jean, far from the airports in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas so as not to interfere with engine-powered aircraft.

The club is supported by dues ($30 a month for the first year; $15 the second); tow fees ($20 for the first 2,000 feet); and glider rentals ($12 an hour).

Musician Chris Gordan, a veteran bass player on the Las Vegas entertainment scene, has been a member for three years.

"I knew about soaring from my hometown (Almira, N.Y.)," Gordan said. "It was something I had always wanted to do. When I came to Vegas I met some of the guys and joined the club."

He says he finds the activity exhilarating.

"It's an exquisite sport," Gordan, a licensed glider pilot, said. "It takes knowledge, understanding and practice. There is this big physical puzzle in the air that you constantly have to figure out. It's one of the few things I do that takes all of my attention and makes the rest of the world go away.

"There are times when you really have to think, and times when you can relax and take in all of the sites. It's addictive. The first time I did it was a very bumpy day, and I started getting sick."

That can happen to anyone, but eventually pilots get used to the various motions.

"I come out as often as I can," Gordan said. "Being a musician, sometimes I can't come down on weekends, but if I have enough of the afternoon off, I will be down here.

"It's really necessary. If I don't fly for several weeks at a time, I lose my edge. It's one thing to keep your license legally current with three takeoffs and landings in 90 days, but to be proficient all the time you need to go up a lot more often."

Dingess says there is an art to soaring.

"Especially in cross-country flying," he said. "The art part of it is in developing a feel for where to go to catch the thermals."

A thermal is similar to a dust devil -- a cone-shaped swirl of dust that rotates in one spot. But a thermal is invisible and may be thousands of feet high and hundreds of feet across at the top.

Thermals are created by the sun heating the ground, and the ground then heating the air close to the earth, and the warm air rising. Wind puts a spin to the air to create the thermal, which is what glider planes need to stay aloft -- sometimes for hours. (The distance record of a glider flying continuously is 1,486 miles.)

The speed of the plane is determined by the strength of the thermals. On a good day, the craft may average 100 miles per hour; 40 on a poor day.

For profit

Closely associated with the nonprofit glider club is the for-profit Las Vegas Soaring Center, owned by Jerry Marshall (who also is member of the Las Vegas Valley Soaring Association).

The heart of Marshall's business is taking customers up for rides. He has a staff of glider pilots (some of them also are members of the glider club) who fly the planes after he tows them into the air with his former crop duster, or with his vintage Stearman biplane.

Marshall owns six rental gliders. Rent is $139 for 30 minutes for one passenger and a pilot, and $199 for 30 minutes for two passengers and a pilot. Unless the customer is a licensed flier, he or she must be accompanied by a pilot. Licensed glider pilots may rent a plane for $30 an hour.

Before coming to Southern Nevada about four years ago to start his glider-rental business, Marshall owned a flight school in Oregon.

"I came here because there were no other commerical (glider) operators in the area," he said.

Marshall said glider planes are not as popular in this country as in Europe. There are about 25,000 glider pilots in the United States, compared to about 80,000 in Germany, for example.

"A lot of glider operations fail in this country because flying (planes with engines) is relatively inexpensive in the United States, compared to other places," he said.

Marshall said glider planes are exceptionally safe.

"We have a 100 percent safety record here," he said. "No one has ever been injured."

Marshall said Southern Nevada is one of the best places in the world for year-round soaring, because of the combination of heat and wind.

"And, gliding is a great way to get away from the noise of the slot machines," he said.

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