On a busy Saturday in late Summer, we may launch 24 rides in a day, using 3 gliders and 3 towplanes. Mile High rides are scheduled to go an hour apart, the rest (Mountain, City, Acro) a half-hour apart. Each ride pilot may do 10 trips a day. We enjoy treating visiting tourists as well as locals, and often host clubs and school groups. We are a signature Boulder area attraction registered with the Colorado Tourism office, local Chambers of Commerce, and numerous visitor centers and guides.

Yearly totals

1,000

We have some 12 ride pilots on our staff, 2 full-time and the rest in rotation mostly weekends. All hold FAA Commercial Pilot Certificates, most are Flight Instructors as well. Experience ranges up to 35 years/12,000 hrs. A median is shown at right

Years Flying

Years at Boulder

Glider Hours

Glider Flights

15

5

1,000

2,000

We offer Aero-tows (only) and operate 3 towplanes: 2 260-HP Piper Pawnees, and 1 180-HP Piper SuperCub. All are radio equipped and monitor 122.725. The Pawnees feature multiblade props for low noise output, a technology we pioneered for the USA and market to other glider operations. At our high density altitude, expect climb rates of about 500fpm behind the Pawnees and 300fpm behind the Cub. A Mile High tow may mean a 20min. turn-around.

Yearly totals

4,000

We started with 4 Cloudbase gliders and now operate 8.
S: staff on board only. R: rides. A: Acro (staff only). W: Wave. X: X/C.

Advanced trainers

Medium trainers

Basic trainers

Single Seaters

Duo Discus SX

SGS 2-32 SRAW

SGS 2-33A

Grob G102 W

Grob G103 RAW

SGS 2-32 SRA

SGS 2-33A

Genesis 2 X

Our major activity is flight training open to all, and our trusty 2-33 trainers get the biggest workout every year enabling simple and affordable FAA pilot training and sport soaring instruction. Rated glider pilots from all over the world delight in visiting renowned Colorado where we are the only full-time rental outfitter. All of our passenger-carrying gliders get 100hr inspections as well as an annual inspection. Hours per category are at right.

Type

Yearly totals

Trainers

800

Tourers

1,000

Loners

150

We have 0 accidents year after year with 1,000s of flights. This does not mean that there is 0 future likelihood, which is why all our customers are required to file a liability waiver with us, a standard practice with "outdoor adventure" businesses. Moving at 60 mph 1,000 ft. up assumes a greater risk than sitting in a living room chair.

We offer training on a commercial, reservation basis (most often a 2-hr block in a 2-33). For frequent flyers, we have "Club" discount subscriptions. For out-of-towners, we have "5-day" packages. We happily employ air-minded teenagers on ground crew duty, offer youth flight scholarships, and work with Civil Air Patrol and the Soaring Club at CU.

Yearly totals

Solos

20

New Pilots

12

Add-on Ratings

12

Boulder is close enough (4 mi.) to a 3,000' ridge for occasional ridge soaring, and within easy reach of convergences and waves. Thermals go to18,000' MSL in the Summer, waves to 30,000' MSL in the Winter, we get lift all year. As our friends the eagles know, the air is unique here, this is a special place made for soaring.

Yearly days

Main Season

Thermal

250

Summer, Apr.-Oct.

Wave

60

Winter, Oct.-Mar.

Ridge

20

Spring, Mar.-Apr.

We offer dual, solo, and pilot-in-command rentals (front-seat only on PIC flights), basic and advanced training, ridge, wave and cross-country soaring. Dual aerobatic rides and training are available, but we do not allow solo or PIC acro in our sailplanes without a staff member on board.

Systematic glider flying began with the Lilienthal and Wright brothers at the turn of the 20th Century. In the space of a few years starting in1920, German experimenters developed refined sailplanes and learned to stay up for hours. The Soaring Society of America has steadily fostered glider activity in the USA since 1932, with membership reaching 16,000 in the 1980s. The Cloudbase, Inc. was established at Boulder in 1978 by Bruce Miller, who had been an Instructor at Wave Flights, Inc. near Colorado Springs, a "destination resort" for exploring mountain wave currents over Pike's Peak. Boulder had been known as an excellent soaring location since the 1930s and has consistently been home to a club since 1959. Mile High Gliding shares Boulder gliderport with two such clubs, it is the most active soaring site in Colorado. The company is owned by David Campbell, a Diamond badge glider pilot who started soaring in England in the 1970s.