Soaring is freedom for Ramona Family

Garret, Boyd, Karen and Bret Willat. Photo Courtesy of the Willat Family

By E.A. Barrera

Garret Willat made his first solo sail through the sky when he was fourteen. He wasn’t old enough to drive a car, but at that age he’d already been “soaring” for a year. This is how he depicts flying a glider, or “Sail Plane.” Garret describes the experience as a “pure sport” —similar to the difference between ferrying across a harbor to get from point A to point B, versus sailing a Corsair 450 on the ocean. Traveling the sky in a sail plane is for those who want to forget things like appointments and meeting times — preferring to feel free and peaceful in a world that literally exists between the heavens and earth.

“In a sailplane, you’re free as a bird. You can soar miles above the ground, and you can fly for hundreds of miles … you really let your heart soar,” notes Garret’s father Bret, who has operated Sky Sailing Incorporated out of Warner Springs for over 15 years.

The Willats have been a Ramona version of the Flying Wallendas since Bret met his future wife Karen while majoring in Aeronautics at San Jose State University. A former student at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Bret was forced to leave West Point due to an injury he suffered his sophomore year. But an avid flyer from his teen years, Bret was determined to make flying his life. When Karen came along and showed a mutual interest, their future was set in place. The couple was even married in the air.

“We were married in a glider in 1979,” laughed Bret. “We had five gliders in formation. My best man was in the glider next to mine. A friend of ours was a minister and he went up with us and married us.”

Their children certainly caught the flying bug. In addition to Garrett, the Willats’ youngest son Boyd has also become an experienced solo flyer, setting a new record for solo flying in a glider in his age range.

During the weekend of October 14-16 at the annual Miramar Naval Air Show, the Willat family will participate in a demonstration of sky sailing, performing acrobatic routines in his Sensa Sailplane Magic Grob G-103 acrobatic sailplane. He describes the plane as a great audience pleaser since it contrasts with the loud and fast maneuvers of most air show acts.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase sail planes and the difference between soaring and other types of flying. The trouble with soaring is that it’s usually not a great spectator sport. The sailplane takes off, flies away, and you don’t see it again for a couple of hours,” said Willat. “Since most people have not had much exposure to soaring, they have misconceptions about what a sailplane is and what it can do.

According to Carle Conway in his 1988 book “The Joy Of Soaring”, most gliders consist of three basic components: the wing, the fuselage, and the tail surfaces. The wing supports the glider, and the ailerons and tail surfaces provide stability and control. The fuselage performs the dual function of holding the wing and tail in proper relationship to each other and of providing cockpit space for the pilot.

“The wing works invisibly in an atmosphere that yields before the passage of the glider. But the air has substance and offers resistance, supporting the wing even as it gives way to it. What the wing does is to drive a mass of air downward, producing an equal and opposite upward reaction upon itself in accord with Newton’s 3rd law of motion.” wrote Conway.

He noted that the upward reaction on the glider is made up of two force factors: lift, which acts upward at right angles to the direction of motion; and drag, which acts rearward, or parallel to the direction of motion. The values of these two forces, expressed as a ratio, describe the glide performance of the craft at a given time.

“If lift is twenty times as great as drag … the glider will move forward twenty feet for each foot of altitude lost. In soaring, lift is the hero and drag is the villain,” noted Conway.

The ability of a given wing to generate lift is in proportion to the density of the air, to speed, and to the angle at which the wing strikes the air. Conway points out that denser air produces more lift because the wing has firmer substance to push against, so the reaction upon itself is greater. Another factor in the effectiveness of a wing is the angle at which it strikes the air. Described by pilots as the “angle of attack”, this process allows the pilot to control the plane, since it directly effects the wing’s lift and drag (angle of descent), as well as the glider’s airspeed.

“More speed gives more lift because the wing can deflect more air downward in a given time,” said Conway.

Willat and his sons Garret and Boyd will perform stunts and tricks during the Miramar Air show to allow people the chance to see what a sail plane can do when flown by experts. But he said an average excursion can be for the fun of the ride and the peace of flying in a relatively noiseless environment.

“Some people come up here and want the stunts. I recently took a 90 year-old World War II veteran up for his birthday. He specifically wanted some acrobatics and later said he had the time of his life. The funniest thing is when occasionally we’ll get a couple — where the guy is a typical, big, brawny, outdoorsman type and his wife or girlfriend is small and petite. There’s something about being up in the sky at 20,000 feet that can be a great equalizer. The lady will want all the stunts and thrills, while the man will be a little more nervous,” chuckled Willat.

For more information on the Willat’s company, contact them at www.skysailing.com or call at 760-782-0404. For more information on the Miramar Air Show, go to www.miramarairshow.com or call at 1-888-4 FLY SHOW (1-888-435-9746).