June 23rd, Hobbs NM – in the afternoon of the first practice day for the Region 9 Sports class contest a caravan of five gliders is arriving in a quite impressive set up – it is the US Air Force Academy (US AFA) soaring team – 16 pilots – cadets and instructors with two Duo Disci and three Discus 2bs.

As most of us know each other, going to contests is usually about getting together, not meeting new people, so this was rather exciting. I asked around and found out that they were going to fly the regional and that they will rotate for the flying days, so that all of the cadets will get a contest experience in.

The next day I met coach Mark Matticola, who was very nice to answer my questions and also allow me to speak with the cadets. Mark trains the soaring teams (XC and aerobatics) for the AFA and from what I’ve seen he is very loved and respected by his students. :) 

The AFA has a soaring program that is optional, and the students who are pursuing a pilot career usually join the program. As they make progress with their flying, they get to train the new-comers and also fly some contests, usually in areas closer to the AFA location.

In the following days I got to talk to Sarah Sill, one of the cadets that is ready to begin instructing for the AFA soaring program. She started flying gliders at 13 and soloed at 14. Her first instructional flight was with another Sarah, in Chilhowee, and she got her license at BHSS with Frank Reid. So we seemed like not knowing each other, but in the end in the soaring world everybody knows everybody. Sarah is from SC and we really hope to have her as a guest next year in Perry.

During the contest, as AFA pilots would switch from day to day, the ones remaining on the ground would watch the ones in the air on the tracker and see how they were doing. I was truly impressed to see how well organized these young men and women were, from the grid time until landings or land out retrieves – very safe and knowledgeable – it was wonderful to have them at the contest and see new people coming to soaring.

I just hope to see them again in more and more contests, maybe even outside the AFA and wish there were more colleges/ universities/ academies that would include soaring in their programs, as in Japan, for example. This would give a totally different perspective to the sport, introduce new young people to it and also offer an amazing alternative for life long hobbies. And for those pursuing a pilot career, making them better pilots.

MD