Pilot Stories
Fall 2024 - Sydney Smail
On October 13, 2024, Sydney Smail celebrated his 14th birthday by completing his first and second solo flight. Sydney's first O-Ride was in February 2024, and he was fully committed to preparing for his solo. He spent time on the glider simulator, had discussions with many of the experienced pilots, studied the appropriate flight theories, flew with most of our instructors, spent many days on the flight line supporting the glider operations, and finally, focused all of his energy to prepare for his first solo. From the Squadron 41 perspective, many of the members supported his efforts by coming out on an alternate flying day (Thursday) prior to his birthday to get him ready for his birthday flight. Additionally, there was an outreach to the FAA to make sure his student pilot certificate was emailed for that Sunday. With all these stars aligned, Sydney successfully completed his first two solo flights.
Congratulations, Sydney!
Fall 2021 - Tom Rooney
On October 24 2021Tom Rooney had a flight of 32 minutes at Los Alamitos Army Air Field, using a winch launch. Usually, flights are only around 6 minutes duration because there is not much lift to be found. On this day on this flight, he got lucky and found an unusual amount of lift that took him from 1300 feet to 1900 feet. There were wispy clouds in the area and the temperature was fairly low, it’s speculated that there was a convergence that occurred, and he was in the right place at the right time. He also had a flight of 20 minutes on Oct 26, 2021.
Fall 2020 - Caleb Nguyen
Caleb Nguyen is an aspiring glider pilot who soloed on 10-12-2020, and his current goal is to become a doctor.
