On Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 12:22:54 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Hi,

I am interested in getting a glider rating at Seminole Lake. I drove up last week to see the place and fell in love. When searching on the internet, I came across post on here saying that the owner bought the place with stolen money and is now getting deported back to Europe. The article said he was facing life in prison! Wow!

I'm told that this is (or maybe was) the place to get a rating, but I'm hesitant to spend several thousands of dollars if the place is on the verge of collapse.

I also searched on google for "fugitive assets frozen" and it appears since this was such a high profile case that this airports assets will be frozen before too long and sold off to repay the money to whom the owner stole from.

I read on this forum from the management that they have a plan, but if they don't state the exact details of the plan to it doesn't sound like they actually have a plan.

Can anyone recommend another gliderport in Florida? Or is it worth driving up to Chilhowee Tennessee?

Thanks

I just came from a 3 week stay and it was alive and well even though the owner was not there. I went there over Chilhowee due to that is the first place I ever flew in a glider, know some of the people there, and the weather was warmer. I plan to fly Chilhowee this summer even though I have never been. My 5th flight ever in a single place glider was over 4hrs there, and was only limited by my launch time of 1 o'clock. I could have easily stayed up over 5hrs if I had launched earlier.

Check the SSA.org site for the closes operation to you: http://www.ssa.org/WhereToFlyMap.asp

I think any operation today would not be in business if they were not good at what they do. Different operations have different facilities, gliders, and hours of operation. Many operations help each other out with tow planes when a contest is being organized.