Information for Potential New Junior Members

Those interested in becoming a Harris Hill Junior Member will need to contact either the Junior President or Vice President/Chairman of the membership committee. They can answer any questions and will arrrange a date and time for a new member meeting. Usually a new member meeting coincides with the monthly junior member meeting. The applicent will need to bring a parent and the application fee of $75. This covers the cost of a glider pilot logbook, a copy of the Joy of Soaring (The standard textbook for begining glider pilots.), and one year's membership to the National Soaring Museum and the Soaring Society of America. NSM members recieve the NSM newsletter and NSM historical journal, and free admission to the museum. SSA members receive the excellent magazine Soaring once a month. At the meeting, new members will have the opportunity to meet experienced junior members and learn about club operations.

Expenses

Below is a summery of the expected costs of making your first solo flight.

Initial Fee (Includes logbook, Joy of Soaring, NSM and SSA)	$75
Instructional Flights (40 flights @ $3)	$120
Monthly Dues (6 months @ $3)	$18
Total	$213

Why spend your money on video games when you could fly instead? Instructional flights are priced at $3 each, regardless of the duration of the flight, until the student solos, usually after about 40 flights. After soloing, the student pays $6 an hour for rental, and $3 for every 1000 feet of altitude from the towplane. Soloed students may fly solo with permission from an instructor, and must fly with an instructor at least once every 90 days. Earning a Private Glider Certificate, which allows unlimited solo flying and passenger carrying, usually requires an additional 100 flights, or $800. Other expenses include continued monthly dues (Provides funds for Junior Member trips, equipment, etc.) additional books, the $70 computerized knowledge test, and around $150 for the the flight test.

Total estimated cost for the Private Glider Certificate: $1400

At most airplane flight schools, this would barely get you soloed! Just remember, this is far from a free ride. Members must work a four hour shift once a month to be part of HHSC, and for each flight, work an additional two to four hours. A typical day starts at 10:00, when the hangars are opened, and the gliders pushed out to the flight line. As a junior, you will often be requested to wash a glider or two before the flying starts, and possibly help assemble a privately owned sailplane. For the rest the day, you will hook gliders up to the towplanes, run the wingtips during takeoff, and push them back to the takeoff area after landing. Work hard, and you might make 2-4 short flights during the day. And of course, at the end of the day, everything has to be put away!

Besides the affordability of being an HHSC Junior, your training will be top notch. You will fly with some of the best sailplane pilots in the northeast, and since the training is drawn out over several months, you will learn much more than if you took a two week course at a commercial school. Plus you'll have a great tan by the end of the summer!

HHSC – Information for potential New Members

Philosophy and Purpose:

·         The primary reason for becoming a Junior member is to learn how to fly.  Harris Hill Soaring Center is operated by the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation, a non-profit organization whose purpose it to advance the art, science and sport of motor less flight through a complete program of demonstration, education, training, and competition.  The Corporation requires each of its members to dedicate part of his or her efforts to the furtherance of some facet of the program.

History:

·         Soaring started in Elmira in 1930 when Dr. Wolfgang Klemperer recommended that Jack O’Meara try soaring on the local ridges as part of the site selection for the national soaring contest. To help manage the contests which grew in size over the following years, the Elmira Area Soaring Corporation was formed in August, 1937.  During WWII the EASC carried out demonstration flights for the military and operated a military glider school.  In the fifties, the EASC was able to expand flying and training within the corporation after the purchase of a used TG-3A sailplane and a L-5 tow plane.  The EASC could offer demonstration rides to the public, which helped to promote soaring in the area, as well as develop income to expand equipment and programs.  In 1967 the Board decided to change the organization’s name to Harris Hill Soaring Corporation.  A new, leveled field with paved runways was dedicated at the start of the 1968 nationals.  The current Flight Center was dedicated in 1987, the fiftieth anniversary of the organization.  Today HHSC continues to offer sailplane demonstration flights to the public and to promote this area as the Soaring Capital of America.

Club Owned Fleet:

© 2004 Ryan Smith