Greetings from Tábor, Czechia, where the US Team is attending the 39th World Gliding Championship. A total of 115 pilots are competing in three classes here: Club, Standard and 15-Meter.

Our team consists of four pilots: In Club class, Tony Condon and Sylvia Grandstaff are both flying LS-4 gliders. In 15-Meter class, Jared Granzow is flying a JS-3 and Mike Sorenson has a Ventus 2. We have no pilot in Standard class: Thomas Greenhill, who finished second in the 2023 Junior WGC (in Poland), was interested in competing, but could not arrange the necessary time away from work (three weeks being about the minimum required).

Tábor (roughly "TAH-bur") is a small city of around 34,000 in south-central Czechia (the country name now seemingly preferred to "Czech Republic"), situated about 80 km south of Prague. The closest part of Germany is 90 km southwest, and northwestern Austria is only 47 km south-southeast. Given good weather, we expect tasks will have pilots regularly flying over these two neighboring countries.

If you mentally separate Scandinavia from the rest of Europe, Tabor [I plan henceforth to omit diacritics] is pretty close to the center of what remains. It's a bit surprising to note just how far north we are: in terms of latitude, we're around 430 km north of Montreal, and less than 200 km south of Hudson Bay. In early June this means sunrise before 5am, and over 16 hours of daylight.

Tabor is far above average in the support it offers to folks at a glider contest. Within a couple of kilometers of the field are stores sufficient to meet almost all our needs (I'll discuss laundry and ice cream in a later report). The restaurant situation is highly commendable. On my first day here, I corralled a local pilot who offered five suggestions; the four we've thus far visited have each earned the coveted "Must return" rating. Value for money is conspicuously good.

The principal feature of the Tabor airfield is an enormous grass runway. It's labelled Runway 11/29 (true orientation is 117/297 degrees); it measures 580 x 4370 ft. The width allows a grid five gliders wide, an adjacent lane for towplane landings, plus another for glider "relight" landings, plus a track for vehicles to use driving to and from the grid – all with room to spare. This is luxury compare to most glider contest sites. The fact that (with supervision by a marshal) cars can safely move between the trailer area and the grid while launches are in progress is unusual – and much appreciated.

There is also a substantial NW/SE grass runway, now given over to parking 115 gliders and their trailers. These don't come close to filling it up – I estimate that another 40 or so could easily fit. If normal levels of WGC crowding were deemed acceptable here, I think 200 might be manageable.

Weather during the practice period has not been the best. When the sun shines here it seems to quickly produce decent lift to useful altitudes. But sunny days have been the exception – we've had plenty of low cloud and rain (mostly light; occasionally heavy), and some thunderstorm threats. The official practice period allowed just one day (Jun 6) on which a substantial number of pilots seriously attempted the task. Best distances were something over 200 km; there were more than a few outlandings.

Today's event was the Opening Ceremony, held in Tabor's historic – and notably attractive – town square. No flying is allowed on this day, which tends to mean weather is great and pilots spend much of the ceremony looking skyward wistfully. But not today: we again had low cloud with enough rain and mist to make umbrellas valuable. One feature was an excellent – and LOUD – brass band. The speeches were for the most part commendably brief. The event ended with Rick Sheppe – our International Jury President, and the senior FAI official here – declaring our competition officially open.

– John Good

The AAIB is the British equivalent of the U.S.'s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), tasked with investigating British glider accidents to determine their circumstances and causes, aiming to prevent future occurrences. Republished with permission.

During a gliding competition flight, both gliders entered a thermal just to the south of Melton Mowbray at a similar height. Although the gliders were initially on opposite sides of the thermal, changes in the angle of bank of both gliders brought their flight paths into conflict and they collided. The pilot of G-CLXG was able to land his glider safely and was uninjured but the tail of G-KADS was severed in the collision and the glider descended out of control. The pilot was fatally injured.

The British Gliding Association (BGA) took action to raise awareness regarding the increased risk of midair collisions in gliding competitions.

Both gliders were taking part in a competition being held at Husbands Bosworth gliding centre. The competition took the form of a multi-day event with a different route and task set daily for the participants. Both the pilot of G-CLXG and the pilot of G-KADS had significant experience in gliding and fixed wing flying. Both had flown numerous competitions before and had operated in many different environments.

By Eric Tellmann

On April 23, 2025, the skies over Florida witnessed something truly special. Brothers Steven and Jaxon Tellmann launched from Tampa Bay Soaring Society (TBSS) with a mission to not just fly — but to make history. Flying an ASW-20 (USA) and a classic SGS 1-36 (17E), both set their sights on state records — and succeeded

What makes this story remarkable is not just the soaring skill on display, but the spirit behind it. At just 14 years old, Jaxon, a student pilot, charted his course with a mix of youthful determination and tactical brilliance. The night before the flight, he studied weather forecasts with his older brother and mentor, Steven, and realized conditions were ideal for his first Bronze Badge flight. While researching Florida state records, Jaxon noticed the Youth Category and Sports Class triangle distance were wide open, sparking an idea.

Understanding the importance of staying within safe gliding distance, Jaxon designed a creative triangle route that allowed him to remain within reach of the airfield. At 12:33 PM, he released from tow at 2,000 feet and began his journey. After catching his first thermal at 1,700 feet, he waited for the right moment. His route took him 6 miles north, 6 miles southeast toward the Green Swamp, 8 miles south of Zephyrhills, and back to the original waypoint, completing a 22.5-mile task. His flight marked not just a personal milestone but a historic submission for state records in the Youth category.

Meanwhile, Steven, an accomplished pilot and 2024 Junior World Gliding Championship competitor, was chasing his own records. With several state record submissions pending, Steven continues to be a leader in the soaring community, representing Lakeland Aero Club and TBSS. Both brothers submitted for state records on the same day.

The Tellmanns' story is one of brotherhood, mentorship, and the future of soaring. Jaxon has trained under Steven, a Certified Flight Instructor-Glider (CFI-G) and SSA Master Cross-Country Instructor. Their achievements stand as a testament to the power of passion, preparation, and support.

This is more than a story about records—it's about legacy in the making. The soaring community couldn't be prouder.

By Region 5 Director Hartley Falbaum

Although spring weather brought a slow start to the season, there is still much to celebrate throughout Region 5. Sarah is winding up a well-attended Ridge Camp at Sequatchie. Dave Stevenson has posted several notably long flights in a K6 on the ridge. The Seniors Contest concluded successfully, and the Grand Prix event is wrapping up on a high note. Preparations are well underway for upcoming contests in Perry and Cordele, including the Region 5 Sports and FAI Combined, as well as the 18-Meter Nationals.

I write this while attending Sarah and Jason's ridge camp operating from the Marion County Airport in Jasper, Tennessee. Four members from Memphis Soaring and at least one from the Eagleville club are in attendance, flying the club ASK-21B. Conversations among us continue to revolve around the regular club concerns such as club finances, new members, member retention, member participation and tow plane issues for the Pawnee. On a positive note, Memphis Soaring has benefited from an increase in youth as they learn to fly gliders before transitioning to power training. Memphis Soaring is also planning increased cross-country work with interested members. Sarah has installed a set of loaner wings on their Pawnee and have ordered a new replacement spar.

The winter season was relatively ok, though some activity slowed due to wet runways. The North Carolina Soaring Association remains the most active in the region and has been working on a runway widening project. This should help a lot. Harrier Soaring is currently awaiting maintenance on their Blanik, while Piedmont Soaring continues operations and is somewhat active despite wet and cold conditions.

Reverse Sierra Wave (rSw) occurs when winds blow from the northeast over California, setting up standing atmospheric waves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is the opposite of the classic Sierra wave, which sets up along the eastern escarpment of the Sierras in westerly winds. Kempton Izuno, of Lompoc, CA, wrote a 2-part article Soaring article about soaring easterlies, "Wave Cross-Country in Coastal California," which ran in January and March, 2022. Here he braves the winter easterlies in the Sierra Nevada, rather than the Coastal Ranges.
— Editor

The frequency of winter cutoff lows has been increasing, creating more rSw soaring days; this article captures details from my recent flights to help us enjoy these conditions to their fullest, and avoid repeating mistakes.

Since our first reverse Sierra wave flight of Feb 12, 2023, my goal has been proving out this wave by going as far south as possible out of Williams, CA. On that first flight we turned around too early in S Yosemite. In 2024 I only flew one rSw setup, and we got stuck east of Lake Oroville; Ramy Yanetz did well on that flight. With a 50:50 win rate, I was keen to fly more rSw setups in 2025.

The early January 2025 rSw forecasts showed the wave extending to at least Mt. Whitney, if not further. The setups first appeared in late Dec for mid-Jan, so I kept my schedule open while working on the many ASH 30 projects at Williams Soaring Center (WSC). The first setup window was January 7-8. The seventh looked better, so I committed to flying with Michael Demeyer. The NNE wind was not optimal, yet the forecast showed plenty of wave (Figures 1 and 2). However, the forecast wave gaps and 500mb (18,000 ft) winds of over 90 kt made for very high risk if I missed a transition. In hindsight, this was not really a pure rSw setup, rather a mix of rSw and spot wave from the ridges running west off the Sierra.

We towed to a hotspot east of Lake Oroville, but could not get far going north. This is the third time I tried to go north from the Oroville start point, never getting more than a few miles. Now confirming over 80 kt winds, we abandoned that plan, left the lee of the Sierras at 17,900 ft to cross west over the Sacramento Valley with a quartering tailwind. We arrived at the Goat wave at 10,400 ft, climbed, tagged St. Helena and returned to Williams (Figure 3).

While not a distance success, we did confi rm the glider's big new oxygen system worked, and that SeeYou Navigator did indeed cache Skysight weather data outside of cell coverage.

The January 8 forecast had more rSw, but with an almost straight northerly fl ow. Gordon Boettger considered joining us in his Arcus J from Minden for a straight-out mission south to San Diego. Gordo, a 777 FedEx captain, was fired up about the possibilities, but also circumspect due to POTUS TFRs in Los Angeles. After landing on January 7, we learned of the LA fi res, fanned by the same setup we planned to fl y, so we nixed the plan for the eighth.

The January 13 rSw setup was already on my radar, so I wasn't disappointed with missing the January 8 setup.

To read the rest of the story, SSA members may log in from their desktop computer to SSA's Soaring Magazine website and click on the May issue.

Once again Spring has arrived and thoughts of long soaring flights fill your head as you open the trailer and pull the fuselage out for that first assembly of the year. You have done everything possible to get ready for the flight. The FLARM firmware is updated, logbook checked to see that the annual/conditional inspection is current, and reviewed the flight manual to make sure you know the assembly steps and checks. You completed the club's spring checkout in the 2-place and reviewed your logbook to make sure you are current and have a valid Flight Review.

What did you forget?

What about the repack date on your parachute?

FAR 91.307 requires that parachutes made with synthetic fibers, like all modern emergency parachutes we use, must be repacked every 180 days. Not every 6 months, a maximum of 180 days is what the regulations require. Checking you find the last repack was in May 2024, you think, "No problem. I'll just use it as a seat cushion, and get it repacked after this flight."

Sorry, that's not legal! FAR 91.307 (a) specifically says "No pilot of a civil aircraft may allow a parachute that is available for emergency use to be carried in that aircraft unless it is an approved type and has been packed by a certificated and appropriately rated parachute rigger." It then goes on to say what the repack dates are.

Just like you wouldn't ignore the 61.56 Flight Review or 61.57 Currency regulations, nor your clubs annual check-out rules, you can't ignore the parachute repacking regulations. Put the glider back in the trailer and make arrangements with the rigger to get it repacked soon. Then enjoy those long soaring flights for the next 180 days.

In our quest in continuously looking at ways to help you, our members, we decided to pause the FAST program. We had received numerous complaints about the cost of the program and decided to take a look at what else we could offer, that would be beneficial to chapters and commercial operators. A committee is looking a possible gift certificate program or helping chapters and commercial operators set up their own program with assistance from SSA. We hope to have a new viable program in place for you within the next 60 days and it will be announced here as well as circulated to all chapters and commercial operators.

If you have suggestions concerning a new program, please contact Denise Layton, Executive Director, dlayton@ssa.org.