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York Soaring Gliding Club gets green light to start summer operations

June 5, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The York Soaring Association will once again riding the currents of air and gliding around the clouds after launching from their airstrip just off Highway 9, near Arthur.

The season started late due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however the pilots are just glad to once again go airborne and enjoy their sport.

Opening day at the airfield was Saturday, May 30, however the no one got off the ground when the sunny days from earlier in the week turned into a cloudy and drizzly weekend.

Members were still on site getting the airstrip in working order and completing need maintenance around the aircraft hangers.

Even with the club opening, they are adapting to new rules for the summer to get in line with social distancing and maintaining a sanitized environment around the club house and the aircraft.

The two-seater gliders at the airstrip have been grounded to avoid having two people in an enclosed space.

Unfortunately, the public will not be able to take a flight this summer as the club is restricting flights to members only.

“We have three tow planes,” explained the club’s Chief Flight Instructor, Wayne Hewison. “We’re going to operate with only one tow plane this season because of restricted flying operation and we’re only flying with our single seaters. We’ve got four club single seaters and private members have their own gliders which they will be able to fly. The issue here is cleaning and keeping distance. We have a procedure were if you want to take club ship up, you have to book it ahead of time, then it’s yours for the day. We’re trying to restrict any potential chance of transmitting this thing.”

With reduced flights and the public not allowed to take part, the club will be taking a financial hit this year.

“A big part of our operation is flight training and it’s also a big part of our revenue,” Mr. Hewison explained. “This is a huge hit for us. We would have had a flight training program that would have been running right now. We have a power pilot conversion course that we have been doing for the past three or four years and it has been quite successful. That would have been running right now. At the end of June we have a program for college kids. For two weeks they come and we teach them how to fly.”

Many people visit the club during summer and want to take a flight just for the experience or see of they might be interested in taking lessons. That won’t be happening this summer.

“There will be no flight training and no introductory flights this year. It’s all solo flying. I don’t see that changed by the end of season – which is the end of September,” Mr. Hewison said.

Soaring is a fun sport where you experience powerless flight.

A typical flight lasts around 30 minutes but depending on experience, the style of glider, and flight conditions, and experienced pilot can stay aloft for longer periods of time.

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