Pittsburgh Soaring Club finds thrill in challenge of maneuvering gliders
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Erich Ochs, a member of the Pittsburgh Soaring Club, takes off with the help of a tow plane at Bandel Airport in North Bethlehem. -
Tony Smolder of Greensburg is greeted by his dog, Teddy, after flying for five hours around the Tri-State area. -
A view from inside a glider moments before being towed to takeoff. -
Pittsburgh Soaring Club members Chris Meskow of Bloomfield, Rick Ciesielski of New Kensington and Erich Ochs of Mt. Lebanon spend the afternoon discussing their flights. The club, founded in 1964, goes to Bandel Airport in North Bethlehem, Washington County, to fly every weekend from April to October. -
This page is from a 1952 Life magazine article about Betty Bennett, who became the youngest person to fly an airplane solo in 1952 at age 10. Her father, Al Bennett Sr., was an airplane salesman and flight instructor. Her brother, Al Bennett Jr., also flew solo, at age 11. -
This page is from a 1952 Life magazine article about Betty Bennett, who became the youngest person to fly an airplane solo in 1952 at age 10. Her father, Al Bennett Sr., was an airplane salesman and flight instructor. Her brother, Al Bennett Jr., also flew solo, at age 11. -
Al Bennett Sr. was an airplane salesman and encouraged his children and grandchildren to learn to fly at young ages, promoted their feats and had them entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.
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"Watch out for hawks," Al Bennett Jr. warned me as I glided for the first time in an instructional two-seater.
Hawks find thermals and ride the rising columns of hot air to incredible heights. When flying these slim, delicate planes without engines, that's what glider pilots must do, too.
In fact, Mr. Bennett, 72, of Castle Shannon looks a bit like a hawk: tall, with a prominent nose, and lean. "I eat very little," he told me.
He was the youngest person in the world to fly an airplane solo when he went up over Mexico in 1951 at 11 years old. The next year, his sister Betty beat him. She was 10 and flew in Cuba, and Life magazine covered the story. Her record stood in the Guinness Book of World Records until 1982, when Mr. Bennett's son, Ken, flew at the age of 9.
Guinness stopped listing the record a few years later, not wanting to encourage very young children to take the death-defying risks the Bennetts were used to. Mr. Bennett approved.
"I didn't much like the idea of Ken's doing it," he said, "but my dad was on him as soon as he turned 9."
For Mr. Bennett's late father, Al Bennett Sr., an airplane salesman, these feats were good publicity. He sponsored his children's flights and encouraged their radio and TV appearances like the cameo on Arthur Godfrey's show.
As he grew up, Mr. Bennett went on flying in one way or another, never quite making a career of it. In 1972, he learned to fly gliders, and in 2009, he joined the Pittsburgh Soaring Club, a group of men who fly gliders out at Bandel Airport in North Bethlehem, Washington County. He is now one of three flight instructors there.
The Pittsburgh Soaring Club was incorporated in March 1964 and is based at Bandel field, Airport Lane, North Bethlehem. It has roughly 35 active members and three flight instructors. Its soaring season stretches from April to October. New members are welcome.
You can find out more at www.pittsburghsoaringclub.com. For flying lessons or an introductory flight, contact Mark Wilson, club secretary, at 412-638-1131 or email: mwilson@opequon.com.
On summer weekends when the weather is good, that's where Mr. Bennett can be found. The men arrive at the field around 10 a.m. They take the gliders out of their long white cases and assemble them, locking in the wings, then retire to the shade of the hangar and wait for the air to heat.
By early afternoon, there are plenty of thermals.
In the morning, the men usually stick to "hangar flying," as club president Lyle Chamberlain calls it. They sit and tell stories of legendary flights. After all, when the sky is warm and the wind is right, as past president Les Dutka said: "The gliders are capable of phenomenal feats."
First Published August 21, 2011 12:00 am
