NCSA
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About & Contact

ABOUT US

The Northern California Soaring Association is a volunteer club run entirely by its members. The NCSA owns five gliders, a tow plane, and operates out of the Byron Airport in Byron, CA. 

We fly Saturdays and Sundays with entirely member run operations. In May through September we move some of our planes to the Lake Tahoe area for the world-class summer soaring over the sierras. Weekday instruction and flying is sometimes organized by members.

Email us at norcalsoaring@gmail.com

Contact Us

Drop us an email at ​norcalsoaring@gmail.com!
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
.
President - Bruce Roberts
bruce.c.roberts@gmail.com
Vice President - Brent Davidson
brentdavidson1@gmail.com
​Secretary - Brian Roach
​brian.l.roach1@gmail.com
​Treasurer - Ace Lewis
​​tabris@anarian.net
Director - Paul McDonald
pjmac@comcast.net
Director - Larry Suter
​ljsuter@gmail.com
Director - Ramy Yanetz
​ryanetz@yahoo.com
​Director - ​Michael Mayo
​echofive@sbcglobal.net
Director - John Randazzo
jsrandazzo@sbcglobal.net
INSTRUCTORS
.
Larry Suter
ljsuter@gmail.com
925-321-3972
-
-
John Boyce
jdbpilot@earthlink.net
408-257-8712 
​John Randazzo
jsrandazzo@sbcglobal.net
925-392-8708
​John Pericich​​​
​​johnpericich@gmail.com
​Marianne Guerin
​​​marianneguerin4@gmail.com
925-324-4343
CREW CHIEFS
.
70Z - Charlie Bellenie
charlesbellenie@gmail.com
​SS - ​Roy Moeller
roy.moeller.warwick@gmail.com
KP - ​Tom Anklam
anklam2@comcast.net
81C - Michael Demeyer
michael@demeyer.org
FB - ​Sergey Kataev
kataev@gmail.com
​972 - ​Van Henson
vanemdenhenson@gmail.com
​Parachutes - ​Brian Roach
brian.l.roach1@gmail.com ​408-340-0318
PowerFlarm - Ramy Yanetz
ryanetz@yahoo.com
Club House - ​John Jewell
herrjewell@aol.com
Golf Carts - John Jewell
​herrjewell@aol.com
Webmaster - Ramy Yanetz and Brent Davidson
ryanetz@yahoo.com brentdavidson1@gmail.com
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
.
Chief Tow Pilot - ​Paul McDonald
pjmac@comcast.net
Chief Instructor - Larry Suter
ljsuter@gmail.com
Safety Committee Chair - ​Bruce Roberts
bruce.c.roberts@gmail.com
SAFETY COMMITTEE
.
​Bruce Roberts (chair)
bruce.c.roberts@gmail.com
Larry Suter
​ljsuter@gmail.com
Paul McDonald
pjmac@comcast.net ​​​
Ramy Yanetz
ryanetz@yahoo.com
Michael Mayo
echofive@sbcglobal.net
TOW PILOTS
.
Paul McDonald
pjmac@comcast.net
-
-
​Dave Magaw
pittsflyers1s@yahoo.com
​
530-681-1030 cell
Ed Ott
eott75@gmail.com
Shamim Phliar Mohamed
​phliar@gmail.com
415 606 1557 ​​
Dean Hickman-Smith
hickmansmith_dean@yahoo.com
​John Pericich
​johnpericich@gmail.com
Charlie Bellenie
charlesbellenie@gmail.com

OUR MISSION

Picture
 The Northern California Soaring Association's mission is to share and promote glider flying. Our club focuses on training new and experienced pilots to become new soaring pilots, transition from powered flight (or paraglider/hang glider), or further their glider skills by pushing into cross country flying. 


Club History

The NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SOARING ASSOCIATION is the combination of the the Ames Soaring Club and the Northern California Soaring Association, the merger of the two clubs having taken place in January, 1994, after nearly 45 years of co-operative soaring in the San Francisco Bay Area. The merger took place to simplify the board member election process, make more tractable the problems of billing the members of the clubs and to ensure complete coverage of the several classes of members by SSA (Soaring Society of America) insurance.

The Ames Soaring Club was rounded in 1948 by employees of the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field. Its initial equipment included, naturally, war-surplus gliders, though these were soon supplemented by more recently designed and constructed aircraft. The ASC flew from various fields in the area of Fremont, including Warm Springs and Mowry Avenue.(Center Field). Pressure to convert the land to housing and business forced the club to move several times, finally to move from the area of Mission Ridge altogether.

A site was found in the eastern Livermore Valley - Hummingbird Haven. At this time, the NCSA joined forces with the ASC, to provide the lease of the site, construct hangers, and supply the tow plane and its pilots, not only to the ASC but to members of the NCSA who owned their own sailplanes.

This situation continued for nearly 35 years, until in 1989, the ASC/NCSA was forced to move , again due to land development pressure, and again eastward, to the Contra Costa County-operated airport at Byron, in the San Joaquin Valley.

The NCSA is the only club in the San Francisco Bay Area that offers its members basic flight instruction as well as encouraging crosscountry soaring flight. A student pilot who flies regularly may achieve his or her private license for half the cost of most commercial operators. The NCSA provides gliders for its members rental, as well as basic and advanced instruction. The NCSA has
several very experienced and well-qualified Federal Aviation Administration Certified Flying Instructors. (Only instructors who are members of the NCSA may give instruction in the club-owned aircraft, an insurance policy requirement.)

The NCSA, as noted above, operates out of Byron Airport. Some of the club's gliders may be moved in the summer months to the Sierra Nevada, to take advantage of the superb mountain flying, which is considered by many to be the best in the world. (Usually, depending upon the needs of student pilots and the stay-at-homes, a couple of aircraft remain at Byron through the summer.) The club operates, weather permitting, on the weekends, though weekday operations may be scheduled as demand and conditions warrant.

A more extensive history of the NCSA by Toodie Perl-Marshall can be found here

Schedule an Intro Flight!

Email us at norcalsoaring@gmail.com
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