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Welcome back, Chris

The world-renowned Chris Rollings has joined us again from England for about a month, and wasted no time getting his FAA credentials updated (thanks, Stephanie) and giving rides and basic instruction. Do not miss a chance to fly (even in a 2-33!) with this Master Instructor who wrote the book on many a topic.

Best wishes, Brian

After a pleasant and wonderfully productive 5 months, especially with our younger students, Brian Arnet has headed West to CA and back to school to see if he can rich other than as a pilot. He could come back part-time in the Summer, he says.

A gift for Nic!

Nic Morrey had been on hold on scoring a "Gunnar Blanke" progress grant because of lack of funds at MHYGA due to equipment holding expenses (tax-deductible donations welcome!). Lo and behold, arrives $500 from Rose Blanke herself, and all agreed it should go straight to Nic. Thanks, Rose! Thanks, Nic (now taking lessons in the Twin Grob)!

Glider Pilots Ground School

Captain Dave Seymour, who we enjoy having on staff when he is in town, runs the family business "Glider Pilots Ground School", a one-day guaranteed-pass prep. class for the FAA Glider Knowledge Tests. Started in the 1970s, it up to date with modern PowerPoint visuals and accompanying Test Prep. books, stocked at MHG, not to mention insight into the upcoming FAA Knowledge Test Revisions. A Denver area course is scheduled Nov. 14 at the Broomfield Aero Center. RSVP now to 1-877-FLY-GPGS!

Surf's up!

Fall ushers in the season for waves set off by the Arapahoe Peaks West of Boulder. After braving some rotor turbulence, one can be rewarded with successive waves of smoothly rising air stretching for miles parallel to the Continental divide, sometimes above 30,000'. The wave shown here was unusually wet for Colorado, showcasing spectacular lenticular clouds at the crests.

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More youth solos

It was Brian's and our great pleasure to send solo today two wonderful 16 year-olds, who have done line work most of the summer. Both Bry Kring and Nic Morrey earned a major part of their flight costs by running wings and such on weekends.

Hello Brian

With Sean's departure and, at the same time, some missed time by John Campbell, we are really fortunate to have acquired the full time talents of Brian Arnet, age 24. Although relatively new to glider instructing, Brian has quickly proven to be a wonderful, conservative teacher and very popular with students.

Goodbye Sean

After 4 years of top service from Sean Mackinder, we are all sorry to see him go back home to Hawaii, and we held a little BBQ party in his honor today. Sean, who flew in sandals (in all seasons!) was the customers' favorite ride pilot and a tremendously effective Flight Instructor as well. Look for him at Soar Hawaii and AcroFlightInternational at Dillingham Field, Mokuleia, HI.

Regional Championships

The Duo Discus went to the Region 9 (AZ, CO, NM, UT, WY) Sports Class contest in Parowan, UT, this year. Part owner David Russell and CFI Al Ossorio placed 3rd overall, behind two previous winners (Striedieck and Kennedy) and a little ahead of our own Bob Faris, who won in 2007. Congratulations, all!

Youth Must Fly

Each summer, we are pleased to work with teenagers and young adults on their first flying licenses after age 16 (minimum for passenger carrying) or age 14 (minimum for solo). 2009 is turning into a banner year with many participants in our work-to-fly line crew program. These include Hanna and Gabe, Tyler, DJ, Jacob, Nic and Jeremiah. In adition, 16-somethings Hannah and Gigi have amazingly ably run the office in trade for flight credit. Congratulations to a couple that have already gone solo. Congratulations also to Cody who earned a nod for a MHYGA grant (that awaits your donations or G102 rental hours to be paid out, alas).

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See 2001 and 1999 Daily Camera articles. See Scholarships

Duo on line, Baby Grob check-up

N125DD is back on line as scheduled and may be getting new covers soon. Meanwhile, N633BG is making a trip to Applebay Aircraft to spruce up some accumulated dings. If this absence makes you value more having a single-seater ready to fly at any time, please contact us about a leaseback!

Raptor protection

As they usually do from Feb 1 to Jul 1, the Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks office has closed hiking trails in the vicinity of the Flatirons and Bear Peak, near nesting areas for Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and other raptors. We do our part by flying West of or high above these areas. For details, see www.osmp.org. Meanwhile, these beautiful birds visit us at the airport to dine on prairie dogs (we think)!

12 Dec 2008

Medical worker thrills

As evidence that we fly all year, consider our latest group session: 20 members of a medical billing office on "City" flights. Most of the flights were female "doubles" and some co-workers were on a dare, so there was some squealing! Thanks to pilots Charlie, John, and Nate.

Long time coming

Thanks to Don Johnson for his great illustrated article on training with us, featured in the 'Milestones' section of the November issue of Soaring. After a taste at the old Black Forest Gliderport, and then a lapse of just under 35 years, he made it to Private Pilot and beyond!

Magazine coverage

A crew from the new magazine PilotMag came out to fly and interview us. An article, "The Art of Soaring", by Gates Scott, appears in the Sept./Oct. issue and features pictures of John, Bob, Tracy, 93H , and good historical and inspirational insight.

Mountain Climber

Bob Faris performed amazing feats this year with his LS-3 out of Boulder, Salida, and even Aspen. He claims to have rounded all of the Colorado "Fourteener" mountains on a challenge mounted by SSB's Colin Barry. Some of his literally thousands of miles of Cross-Country soaring can be viewed starting at the OLC results page (USA 2008 p. 2, pilot #57).

New "Gunnar Blanke" Deck

Our favorite customer, Bobby Johnson, invited all to the dedication today, of the "Gunnar Blanke Memorial Deck" which he just built on the W end of the MHG lean-to. We had a fine barbeque and champagne toast. Thanks to the Fred Johnson foundation and to Pete and Joe for construction help. Those two were recent recipients, along with Karl Parsons, of new "Gunnar Blanke" grants from MHYGA, made possible by generous donations following the May ceremony.

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Gunnar Blanke, RIP

Everyone's best glider friend in Boulder, Gunnar Blanke, passed away today at work. Gunnar had helped MHG film PR pieces and was a Director of the MHYGA youth gliding program, one of 2 organizations (with Boulder Community Sailing) suggested by the family for memorial gifts. He may have had more time in the wave than anyone and he was a great Colorado SSA Governor in the 1990s. A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, May 9, 10AM, at the airport Terminal building.

TV News feature

We starred on Channel 9's "Wild Rides" feature with reporter Gregg Moss. This sparked numerous inquiries, particularly about our youth scholarships. Thank you 9News! See our top CFI Sean Mackinder (accent on 1st syllable) and owner Dave Campbell (Seymour?) in this video clip.

Finis Genesis

N221SR has been taken offline today and will be moving to Texas with its owner, Steve Davis. Many pilots are grateful to Steve for wonderful flights in this amazing sailplane over 7 years, and Steve has 2 more like it (S/N 23, 25) with zero time beyond test flight, potentially for sale. Would-be private owners at Boulder should contact MHG about leaseback options on a similar high end ship.

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Get your rating here

Thanks in large part to Bob Faris, who brought a backlog of students with him (often hang-glider or airplane friends), we did record business this year in FAA licensing. We validated 1 new CFI, 9 CML, 16 PVT, and 10 STD Certificates, with 22 solos half overlapping higher grades, and half from accelerated ("5-day") programs. Thanks also to our fine Examiners -- Bob, Al, Stephanie, Chris!

Cable TV coverage

The Weather Channel visited us in March and just aired the fruits of some filming done just as the sleet approached, augmented by some of our archival footage. Look for John, Sean, Pat... The 2 minute clip about the Boulder wave, "Riding waves in the sky" takes a litle digging to uncover on the TWC website, but follow links like Watch Online >... Weather Ventures.

It pays to be young

Each summer, we are pleased to work with teenagers and young adults on their first flying licenses after age 16 (minimum for passenger carrying) or age 14 (minimum for solo). For 2007, we especially congratulate new PVT pilot Karl Parsons (17) and new solo Mark Beaty (14), who both worked the line very nicely. Also new PVT was Jacob Leblanc (18), and new solos Eric Henry (18) and Thomas Matthew (15) ... most recipients of MHYGA and Sylvia grants!

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See 2001 and 1999 Daily Camera articles. See Scholarship

Regional Champion

Congratulations to Bob Faris, who took his LS-3 to the Region 9 Championships in Parowan, UT, and won Sports Class with 3 1000 point days out of 7! He had stiff competition from famous pilots flying two up in Duos, like the legendary Karl Striedieck and New Zealand's Gavin Wills. The contest featured long flights in strong weather over beautifully stark terrain, which you can sample via IGC files at SSA.

Video coverage

The Daily Camera, our local Boulder newspaper, and Boulder Public Access TV Channel 54, enjoy the video products of Ryan Van Duzer, an enthusiastic and humorous young Outdoors reporter known as the "Out There Guy". Ryan and his brother Ethan joined us on a Double Mile High ride, filmed from within and without! Check out the short video clip condensed from the TV program.

Twin solos

Our intrepid line crew from last summer has fully joined the ranks of solo pilots. Still age 14, Pete Scherer got signed off by Bob Faris today, catching up with his twin Joe who went solo Dec 3. The two Boulder kids came to us from Civil Air Patrol and have easily earned a number of scholarships with us with their hard work and passion for flying. They are recipients of MHYGA awards, Sylvia Bond grants, and family gifts in memory of Heather and Dave. They will be ushering at the Colorado Soaring Pilots Seminar and Dinner, 2/24 at Centennial Airport.

Television coverage

One of our resellers, Cloud9living.com, brought out a customer to be filmed by local News on a Mile High Glider ride. Shaun Boyd of Channel 4 (who featured us once on "Colorado Getaways") was here to capture the briefing with Bob Carl, takeoff, and landing. May this spark holiday Gift Certificate sales! See the Channel 4 video clip.

Renew with SSA individually

With a goal of cutting costs a year ago, the Directors of the Soaring Society of America eliminated long-standing rebates for group renewal through SSA Chapters like the "Mile High Gliding Club". With no financial incentive for MHG to do the processing, we have elected not to. As a result, those of you in SSA through MHG Club should get individual renewal requests from SSA. We encourage you to renew, the price is as before, it will not be redundant. SSA, now 75 years old, welcomes your support, and we wish you the many member benefits.

22 Oct 2006

USAFA Cadets join us

Mile High Gliding has become the favorite place for USAFA Cadets to come fly gliders civilian-style and obtain their FAA ratings. It is a bit of a drive from the Springs, but they like our service-oriented FBO nature. Bill Daniels was very impressed with the flight skills of cadet Instructor Pilot leaders Joe Samek and Nick Hainsfurther and led them to CFI-G ratings. While Joe has gone on to USAF glider programs at Edwards AFB, Nick has joined our staff and regularly brings up PVT candidates.

4 and 5 Aug 2006

Celebration of Life

Two wonderful gatherings were held in Boulder to celebrate the lives of Heather McRoberts (19) and David Para (30), who died in the crash of a rented airplane up on Rollins Pass. Heather and Dave, two Boulder natives, were our full-time summer towpilots, and we will miss their exuberance and amazingly ever-present smiles. Dave's memorial at Scott Carpenter Park featured the release of dozens of balloons, floating messages up to the Flatirons, Heather's the freeing of a pair of doves. At both ceremonies, all 3 MHG towplanes did a slow fly by (thanks, John, Jerad, Nathan), joined at Heather's by Antique Airplane Association biplanes and Heather's own Luscombe (thanks, Pat). See our 2001 story on Heather's first glider solo with us.

Television coverage

David Wright, "Doctor D" of the NASA childrens' show "NASA Sci-Files", filmed a gliding segment with the "treehouse detectives" attempting to solve "the case of the Energy Crunch". Our G103, our beautiful site, and our sport of mining the air for energy were featured about half-way through the show aired this month on NASA TV and viewable online from http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/.

18 Sep 2005

Legal Eagles

Our latest tour group visit was from lawyers in Denver for a legal office IT conference. 20 of them came out by bus for our "Mountain" ride to the ridge and back. Thanks to 8 pilots and aircraft, including our 2-33s, court was ajourned after only 3 hours.

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30 Jul 2005

Celebration of Life

A gathering of friends was held today in Wheat Ridge to celebrate the life of Sylvia Bond, mother of MHG owner David "DC" Campbell. She passed away unexpectedly last week at age 81. DC has established a new set of youth glider flight scholarships in her name.

For immediate questions and to schedule Rides, Lessons, or Rentals, please call (303)527-1122 9-5 MT. Read About Us. Or, come visit us at 5534 Independence Rd., Boulder, CO 80301. For orders only: online form. Email (long-term): .

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