Monthly Soaring Magazine Articles for 2026

January - The Mystery behind 200 ft? by Richard Carlson - SSF Chairman

Last month this column discussed the many reasons why your aerotow may not have gone the way you initially planned. The main point was that the traditional 'Rope Break' training at 200 ft AGL does not prepare your students or pilots for an actual aerotow launch failure. Instead, a more realistic failure mode is a partial power loss on the part of the tow plane. That guidance also applies to self launches and to some extent ground (winch) launches. Launch failures, both practice and actual require thought and pre-planning to achieve a successful outcome. Read the full article.

February - Abnormal Occurrence Training by Richard Carlson - SSF Chairman

This is the 4th article in our launch failure series. To quickly recap: The 1st article described the problem where over the past 15 years 40% of the launch failure accidents resulted in fatal injuries to the pilot. The 2nd article described multiple ways that an aerotow launch could fail, with few of them being the traditional 'rope break'. The 3rd article discussed why simply using 200 ft AGL as the sole decision criteria was not an adequate method for developing your emergency plan. This article discusses why a plan is required and how to begin train pilots to deal with these Premature Termination of the Launch (PTL) events. Read the full article.

March - Increasing PTL success rates by Richard Carlson - SSF Chairman

This is the last in our Premature Termination of the Launch (PTL) series, looking at how to increase the number of successful abnormal occurrence practice events (i.e.; that dreaded x00 ft rope break). Read the full article.

April - 2025 Soaring Accident Summary by Soaring Safety Foundation Trustees

For the twelve-month period ending October 31, 2025 seventeen (17) gliders, four (4) motor-gliders, and one (1) towplane were involved in twenty-two (22) separate accidents that met the reporting requirements of NTSB, 49 CFR 830. This represents a 4.8% increase the number of accidents reported during the previous 12 month reporting period. The five-year average for the FY21 - FY25 reporting period is 21 accidents per year, representing no change in the average number of accidents from the previous five-year period. Read the full article.

May - Pilot Proficiency - Better than Currency by Richard Carlson - SSF Chairman

Spring has sprung, and more pilots are showing up at their local glider club or school looking to knock the rust off and get Current. That is great, but why strive for simple currency? Why not strive for Proficiency? Read the full article.

June - Misunderstandings and Omissions by Glider Flight Instructors by Burt Compton, Designated Pilot Examiner

These suggestions on training and safety are from my 59 years in soaring, watching the happy and tragic events on my family gliderport in Florida, including seeing a friend spin to his death trying to catch a thermal at pattern altitude. I've been fortunate to grow up on a gliderport, travel to fly at 104 soaring sites around the world and offered 77 different types of gliders to fly. So, if you don't agree with my suggestions just "ask me how I know." I'll respond to your e-mail to burtcompton@aol.com Read the full article.

July - Wash, Rinse, Repeat by Tom Johnson - SSF Trustee

Have you ever really looked at a bottle of shampoo? I have no idea what polyquaternium-39 is, but it is in there. The list of ingredients is long and mysterious. Read the full article.