Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 10,000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.

Bill is a retired international airline captain/ instructor pilot who's been teaching flying since 1978 and in gliders at Sky Sailing since 2019. He's earned his Diamond badge with 750 Diplome and holds a Master Cross Country Instructor designation from the SSA. Bill was awarded the FAA's Wright Brother's Master Pilot award for over 50 years of accident free flying, and has was the most active instructor in the SSA's ABC Badge program for Southern California in 2022 and 2023.

He flies his own ASG-29 and loves to fly wave and cross country. He wrote the book "Understanding Air France 447" about a 2009 Airbus Α330 accident and has written articles for Soaring Magazine and produces instrucional and soaring adventure videos on his youtube channel.
Youtube channel youtube.com/billpalmer
Website: TheSoaringPage.com

My first glider ride was an Intro flight at Sky Sailing as a gift from my wife on my 40th birthday (way back in 2001). Since then, I went on to get my PPL (Private Pilot's License) for Gliders, then added on power SEL (Single-Engine Land), followed by my Glider Commercial and Glider CFI ratings.

I have been competing and flying cross-county for fun for the last 23+ years. Currently at around 2000 hours in gliders and I own an 18-meter DG-800S, and a share of a 26.5-meter Nimbus-4D (two seater), and am building an RV-8 at home. I have all my SSA badges, from the ABC's up to all 3 Diamonds. SSA Master Cross County Instructor.

While I have countless memorable flight experiences, my three favorites are: -- being the first pilot to do a 1000k out and return from Warner Springs (#2 landed shortly after me) -- being the first (and so far only) pilot to fly from Warner Springs to Mt. Whitney and back -- getting to winch launch at Torrey Pines in 2009, and passing 65 different things of a dozen different types in the air during a single pass. Everything from gliders, to hang gliders, to paramotors, to parasails, to RC gliders, to kites, and even someone working with a Falcon.
Youtube channel youtube.com/cdeerinck

Tom started his aviation journey in 2022 at Montgomery Field in San Diego, working toward his Private Pilot Airplane certificate. After earning this just over a year later, he came to Sky Sailing to *really* learn to fly, earning his glider rating in January of 2024. After an awesome summer of recreational soaring, he earned his Flight Instructor rating so that he can teach others to soar while expanding his skillset into the world of cross country soaring and working on his other powered ratings. Tom currently holds a Private Pilot Airplane rating with Tailwheel endorsement, as well as Commercial Glider with CFI-G.

Zach began flying gliders recreationally while studying Aerospace Engineering at Cal Poly SLO. He became obsessed with cross country soaring and glider racing shortly after. Over the last 7 years and ~1300 glider hours, Zach has competed in both regional and National level competitions in both the US and South Africa, finishing first in the 2023 South African National Soaring Championship. In addition to racing, he spends the soaring season chasing the best weather and has flown 11 flights in excess of 1000 km (621 miles) with a personal best distance of 1250 km (776 miles) in his Nimbus 4. He currently works full time as a skydive pilot, but often spends his free days at Sky Sailing.

Scott started flying in 1986 with the US Navy as a helicopter pilot, then seeing the light and picking up his Glider ticket in 2012. He holds a Glider and Helo CFI with over 3000 flight hours in glider, helicopter and fixed wing aircraft

Jonathan first earned his SEL in 1986, as there was no glider training in Boise. Then he traveled to Minden for a 3-day weekend to get his glider add on. His emphasis has always been on cross country soaring. Through the years Jon has owned and flown everything from standard class to self launching motor glider, to open class, to pressurized twin, to helicopter. With hundreds of glider flights of over 800 km. In addition to being a CFI-G, Jon holds a commercial rotorcraft instrument, and multi-engine instrument airplane. With over 6,300 hours between, helicopters, gliders and airplanes Jon brings a variety of aeronautical experiences to his lessons. Jon is an SSA Master Cross-Country instructor

I have been passionate about flying from age 16 when I started to fly gliders as a father/son project. I progressed to single engine planes and earned my private, commercial, and instrument ratings. After a career in the aerospace industry working on all kinds of aircraft from Tomahawks to F-16s and Gulfstreams, I returned to my original passion for soaring, earning the Commercial Glider and CFIG ratings. With soaring experience spanning Europe, California, New York, Georgia, I came "home" to Warner Springs 5 years ago. I enjoy the challenge of pursuing lift in very different geographies and weather patterns and am eager to share my love of flight with new students and seasoned aviators alike.

Instructor

Instructor

Instructor

Quinn started his career as crew/cameraman for his Father in the 2021 1-26 championships. It was this experience that ignited his interest in aviation. Quinn went on to obtain a Private Glider License in 2022. After those initial flights he knew it was all over for him. He was hooked. 2 years and 300+ flight hours later, Quinn now holds a Commercial Single Engine, Commercial Multi-engine, Commercial Glider, Instrument, Flight Instructor Airplane, and Flight Instructor Glider ratings.

Dmitry holds Commercial glider and Skydiving C licenses, and is passionate about aerial sports. He has a PhD in Geophysics and a Master's in Computer Science. On weekends, he enjoys providing glider rides at Warner Springs airport. During the week, he works at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego, maintaining supercomputers and large compute clusters.

Ride Pilot

Bio Pending

Ride Pilot

Ride Pilot