2016 Summer Soaring at Ely (self-launching only)

[PEGGY HALLERBERG ASKED ME TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ON HER BEHALF; PLEASE CIRCULATE IT TO ANYONE ELSE WHO YOU THINK MIGHT BE PLANNING TO COME TO ELY THIS SUMMER.]

Date: April 26, 2016

To: All Soaring Pilots

Subject: 2016 Summer Soaring at Ely (self-launching only)

As many of you know, my husband, Lee Hallerberg, passed away in February of this year. Lee purchased Ely Jet Center (a fuel operation), in Ely, Nevada, in 2005, in large part so that he could support Ely soaring for the foreseeable future. For health reasons, he had to stop soaring himself in his ASH-25, after the 2011 summer season, but got great pleasure continuing to support soaring (and meeting and greeting and spending time with the glider pilots on several trips to Ely from Las Vegas during the season). Lee wished, as do I, that soaring continue at Ely, and I have been working toward that goal this spring with Lee's nephew, D'Milo Hallerberg, who is now overseeing all EJC operations.

Those of you who have soared at Ely in recent years know how important James Adams has been to the operations there, making sure that the soaring operations run smoothly, as well as serving as chief tow pilot. More than a year ago, James and his wife, Lynne, moved to Nebraska after Lynne's retirement from the Ely school system, to be closer to their family. We were very pleased that James made arrangements to return to Ely last summer to run the soaring activities; however, he is unable to do this again this summer.

Without someone with James' experience to manage the soaring operations, and given the imminence of the 2016 soaring season, we have regrettably decided that we are able to run the soaring operation this year as a self-launching camp only, while we continue to make plans for the future to restore towing services for non-self-launching gliders.

I am very saddened by this decision, but there has simply not been enough time since Lee's death to make arrangements to run things as normal without James. I will continue to explore, with D'Milo and you glider pilots, whose input we would welcome, how to return to full soaring services and hope to be able to announce a return to normalcy for the summer of 2017.

If you are bringing a self-launching glider to Ely this summer and have questions, they should be directed to Tim Parish, who will be managing the Ely Jet Center during this summer's soaring season. Tim's contact information is (775) 293-3852 cellphone or .

We will keep you as up to date as possible about progress toward the 2017 soaring season and, in the meantime,

Safe soaring to all of you,

Sincerely,

Peggy Hallerberg