Hello all you BT folks,

I am checking in from Vermont. I am a long time (33 years) professional pilot and instructor with lots of time in the King Air series (90s, 200s and 350s), Barons (55s and 58s) plus multiple other aircraft including floatplanes, jets, tail-wheel and gliders. I have been very fortunate to have a varied career where I have flown all over the place in cool aircraft.

Currently I help run Sugarbush Soaring at the Warren-Sugarbush Airport (0B7), providing flight instruction and scenic rides in gliders as well as services for members. I fly the Piper Pawnee towplanes as well. My wife is an instructor here in both gliders and power. She and I own a share of a 1941 Taylorcraft – she loves to fly it so much.

At Sugarbush we provide initial and add-on ratings for qualified pilots and conduct enhanced pilot skills courses that sharpen skills and reinvigorate folks love of flying in a stunning environment. We specialize in the “true art of flying”. There are some distinct advantages to learning to fly in a glider. You learn true stick and rudder skills, energy management, critical thinking, situational awareness, judgment, discipline and awareness and understanding of winds and weather. We also teach safety mindset, crew resource management, teamwork and communication [Link]http://www.sugarbushsoaring.com[/Link]

I have been following the forum here and find it to be one of the better aviation forums around. There is a lot of good information and discussions here, Beech related or not.

I look forward to be part of this group!

Thanks, Tom

Too bad you are too far away or I would be begging for a ride in a glider. Love the t-craft!

Hi Tom and welcome to BT!

Hi Tom!

I’d like to also note that you guys put on a great camp for the kids. My daughter loved last year, and is super excited for the upcoming summer!

Erik

Welcome Tom!

Scott

Thanks all - I have lurked in a lots of online aviation forums but I have to say, this one is really filled with good topics, posts and really has a depth of resources/knowledge. Good discussions here. First forum I ever joined.....

Welcome aboard Tom....looks like you've flown everything under the sun.....very cool....

I really enjoy flying my 90.....

What was your favorite? Top 5 and go...

Thanks Conrad,

I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people on the planet - truly.

My wife is a CFI-II-G and loves taildraggers, gliders and instructing - we had our honeymoon camping under the wing of our Supercub at Sentimental Journey - how lucky is that? She teaches with me at Sugarbush and we own part of that Taylorcraft - it is really more her airplane than mine!

Top 5 are tough, with a lot to choose from for different reasons - big fan of mission specific flying. Not in any particular order and not even close to all inclusive:

1. I love King Airs, all of them. Flew E-90s on medevac missions in the southwest, off dirt, in the middle of nowhere, in intense weather - what a machine. The 90 series, 200, 350 - really fantastic aircraft built for the mission.

2. I love the Supercub, we got it and flew it in AK, it was set up for the bush. I was happy to fly it anytime.

3. The Beaver on straight floats - really a true pilots dream.

4. Of all the jets - the Hawker series was again a favorite, solid, sturdy, honest and fun.

5. C-47/DC-3 - flew them in cargo many years ago, truly a special and amazing.

6. Love the Cessna taildraggers and 206......

7. Our tow-planes are Piper Pawnees (235 hp) - talk about a purpose built machine, like a backhoe, purpose built, no frills, all work, great visibility, does the job very well. If you treat her well she will return the favor in spades.

I could keep going but most of you can catch a theme here - practical, rugged, honest, mission specific, not superficial.

I do love flying gliders - they are like sailing. One must be in concert to the glider, the weather, themselves, it is so much about the foundation and it is so real. As an instructor, it bares it all down to the basics and I love to teach true stick and rudder flying. Many pilots, power and glider, are seeking enhanced training to improve their flying skills and their ability to better respond to abnormal and emergency situations. I teach an Enhanced Skills Course for power pilots that want to be better pilots, we focus on energy management, rudder coordination, effects of wind, situational awareness, weather, mountain flying and stick and rudder. Skills that students learn are transferable to any type of flying they do in the future. Gliders are perfect for teaching these things and I enjoy watching the power pilot catch on and begin to extrapolate/integrate the learning to their everyday flying.

Happy to find this forum, really enjoying the mix of knowledge and subjects.

Tom

Tom,

Welcome to BT. It's been awhile but I did some glider training with you guys and loved it. My brother also trained with you guys along with our good friend who is a profesor in the aeronautics school at MIT. Y'all run a great facility.

I'm looking forward to meeting you at some point!

Awesome Kevin - we'd love to see you up here. We are getting another brand new PW-6 a two place, fiberglass ship this spring - really an awesome thing to fly. We bought a new one a few years ago and really like them.

We have a number of folks from your neck of the woods, I think I know the professor that you are speaking of.

Regards, Tom

Looks to me like I need a trip to Sugarbush. Looks like a great place to have some aviation and scenic fun.

I plan to bring the Twin Bonanza up next summer. When do you re-open?

The soaring operation has opening day scheduled for May 19 - its when the club assembles the ships and gets the operation up and running. 0B7 - the airport will be opening when the snow is clear and the grass (no available public paved taxiways) is not a mud pit. We always suggest calling the number in the AFd or on AirNav 802-496-2290 to check conditions before coming. We have a Cirrus come in last year while the airport was notamed closed and absolutely buried the plane in mud - 6" at least, missed the prop by a millimeter when he was turning off the runway onto the tiedown area. We spent 2.5 hours getting it out. Very nice guy, bought us dinner. We'd like to avoid that though. Mud season in VT is spectacular!

We can also like to help unfamiliar pilots by giving them a briefing over the phone prior to point out some of the critical local knowledge of this mountainous airport. It's great to be on top of ones short field skills.

Thanks Tom