Soaring Safety Foundation

The Soaring Safety Foundation (SSF) is the Training and Safety arm of the Soaring Society of America (SSA). Our mission is to provide instructors and pilots with the tools needed to teach/learn both the stick & rudder skills and the Aeronautical Decision Making skills needed to safely fly a glider. We also provide information and analysis of incident and accident trends in order to develop better training tools.

Data collected from Open Glider Network (OGN) as of Wednesday December 31, 2025

Duration	Gliders	Flights	Hours
Year to Date	3716	53239	58520.22
Last 7 Days	73	221	125

This table shows the number of individual gliders that recorded a flight in the OGN tracking system and the number of flights/hours those gliders flew.

Flight Training
Videos , CFI Webinars , and Scenario Database

These videos are introductory in nature and are geared to learning to soar, or a new soaring skill.

Flight Safety
Videos and Incident Database

These videos are safety oriented and appropriate for glider pilots of any skill level.

Visit the Soaring Safety Foundation's Youtube Channel
The SSA's YouTube Video Playlist

The Soaring Incident Database is now available to help pilots, safety officers, clubs, and commercial operators develop new programs that can help prevent incidents from becoming major accidents. See more incidents by searching the database or register a new incident.

Region	Pilot Certificate	Pilot Injuries	Passenger Injuries	Type of Flight	Launch Method	Type of Aircraft
East	CFI	None	None	Local	Aero Tow	Cirrus
Incident Activity	Damage to Aircraft	Damage to Canopy	Incident Date	Incident Time	Weather	SSA Member
Flight	None		2005-06-01	1000-1200	Clear	Yes
Incident Description	Asymmetric left spoiler deployment on takeoff, discovered just after liftoff. Was able to continue aerotow but with VERY low climb rate (ca. 50 fpm) and unable to turn on tow. At ca. 100' AGL, released and, with no landable area ahead, turned right back to field and landed at ca. 45 degree angle across the departure threshold.
Other Comments	Left spoiler either disconnected or was not connected. (Aircraft had been assembled, but not flown, the week before and stored in the hangar.) Clearly, a positive control check would have prevented this.