Ladies and Gentlemen, I know this might come as a surprise but I come to this site everyday to see if our other soaring operations have some good ideas on how to manage the hand we have been dealt. At Seminole-Lake, both of our instructors have received the Covid vaccine. Our local pilots who are competing in the Seniors have at least gotten their first shot. I will get my second shot on February 6th. The flight training operation with its Covid mitigation procedures, have not had any other Covid cases than our one flight instructor who safely recovered from the virus. I want to send a shout out to Miami Gliders who have thankfully offered to tow during the Seniors. In recent weeks we have lost access to a couple of tow planes due to maintenance issues. Clubs are working hard to restore the aircraft to flyable condition but the Seniors is only 6 weeks away. We are looking for 2 more tow planes as a back up in case these clubs are unsuccessful to return their ships to airworthy condition. Please contact me at 407-325-6500 cell or 407-249-4945 home. Leave a message on my home line since we do screen calls like most folks.

I know many of you though contest flying, the SSA and commercial soaring operations. Our enemies on this site are sink, rain, rotor, cold weather at altitude, hypoxia, improper checklist use, getting distracted while flying/assembly, and bad decisions to name a few. There is no need to attack each other. Take a breath, set a personal goal to improve your proficiency in soaring. Go to a school and show off our sport to the next generation. Go to your club, look around and work on those projects everyone has been talking about. Come to Florida today and fly with us. Need to expand your list of ratings, we are ready to support you! In 6 weeks 60 gliders will show up to compete in a competition that has operated for 31 years. We have plans in place to mitigate the risk of Covid during the contest. It will be a lot of fun, just ask any of the pilots who have made the trip.

Sincerely,
Rich Owen
Contest Manager
Senior Soaring Championship