'Up there with the buzzards'

Soaring society glides on winds over Sylacauga

PHOTOS by JAN-MICHAEL STUMP
STORY by LEIGH ANNE MONITOR
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD

It can challenge the eyes to watch it. And, it can challenge the hearts of those who love to fly.

Sylacauga Soaring Society member Bob Hey flies over Sylacauga on April 17. The group meets on weekends when the weather is good to fly gliders.

A bright yellow cord extends from the plane to a second plane, both just above the runway taking off from the Sylacauga airport.

This second plane is as long, sleek and lean as the crop duster is short and stubby.

This second plane is a glider with a 55-foot wingspan. It has no engine, but it flies on its own once the crop duster tugs it off the ground.

It is glider lift-off time for enthusiasts in the Sylacauga Soaring Society, which formed in 2004.

"I just want to get a good flight in ... looking for some lift," said student Bill Belcher, 46, of Centreville, strapped in moments before takeoff on a recent Saturday. He had just spent time at a table inside the airport learning about flight patterns and paths with two other students, Bob Wallace, 64, of Southside and Paul Golden, 55, of Childersburg. Bryan Doxey, 45, a certified flight instructor for gliders, instructed them and flew with Belcher.

One of the two gliders owned by the Sylacauga Soaring Society flies overhead shortly after takeoff.

Belcher had a challenge beyond guiding the plane. The instructors placed yellow sticky notes over the controls so Belcher could not see them.

"What we teach them is to fly by the attitude of the airplane," Doxey explained.

"Birds have no gauges," said Bob Hey, 54, of Calera, the governor of the Alabama club.

This teaching method breaks dependency on instruments, which have been known to fail, trained pilots explained.

"You're up there with the buzzards and the hawks," Hey said.

J.C. Culp, left, of Sylacauga, with his dog Lady and Paul Golden, of Childersburg, watch gliders overhead. The goup flies out of the infield of Sylacauga's Merkel Field.

Most of these 24 club members hailed from the Birmingham Soaring Society. The group is a charter member club of the Soaring Society of America, based in Hobbs, N.M. If the club recruits enough new members, its officers can buy a third glider for the club based on more revenue, Hey and others explained.

For about $500 a year and about 70 hours of training, just about anyone can fly a glider at 2,000 feet or higher.

The glider looks not unlike a bird floating slowly in the air, wings flat, long and extended, moving just below cumulus clouds.

"There is a challenge to it every time you go off," said club president Tim Lockert, 50.

Steve Wallace, left, of Oak Mountain, lines up the glider for takeoff using the glider's towline. Passenger Kenny Miller, of Helena, waits in the front seat.

A glider weighs between 600 and 700 pounds, with a cockpit not unlike a jet plane, with a curved plexiglas window that fastens over a glider pilot and a co-pilot strapped into the plane. Gears and controls are not unlike those on a motor-powered airplane, explaining the need for a pilot's license.

A glider relies on the heat that rises from the ground to lift the plane once airborne. Its pilot will seek fluffy clouds to fly beneath, which gives the plane more lift, known as a thermal, a pocket of rising heat. The glider can float to another cloud with ease, seeking another thermal. This can go on for hundreds of miles.

Kenny Miller, left, reviews last-minute instructions with Sylacauga Soaring Society member Steve Wallace, right, as pilot rick Phillips, back, waits.

Most of the glider pilots also fly planes with engines. The glider flying makes for better pilots, teaching by experience about thermals, wind shear and winds aloft — things motors just push their way through, Hey said.

The planes can stay up for from four to six hours on good days, flying from Sylacauga to La Grange, Ga. One man recently flew more than 1,000 miles through the Smoky Mountains to land in Selma, Hey explained.

The club's glider sessions are open for public viewing. For more information, visit www.sylacaugasoaring.com or call 807-0666.