Crestline Soaring Society

The Hang Gliding & Paragliding Club for San Bernardino, CA, USA

The CSS is a non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) which exists to serve the foot-launched flying community in the San Bernardino Mountains - Crestline & Marshall Peak in particular - and Southern California and beyond in general.

Our club maintains launches in the San Bernardino National Forest and leases a landing zone, Andy Jackson Airpark, in the valley to ensure that our right to fly is not infringed. As a chapter of the United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (USHPA) we play a part in furthering HG & PG nationwide. The club also sponsors fun events a few times a year which attract pilots from far and wide.

I have it on good authority that Mike Z and Joel were the weed whacking party and that each worked for many, many hours to clear the site.
Give them a hand and a big THANK YOU next time you see them.


- Alan

CSS Volunteers rebuilt the stairs at Crestline launch today (6/21), and replaced the sign posts and a couple of timbers in the wall for good measure!

Big "Thank you"s to the work party crew: Rob (who also donated rides to Crestline), Rebar Dan (who also donated rebar :-), Kenny & Megret (who brought along tools, snacks and water, and little helpers), Dusty (more tools and a trusty new post), Mike B (who single-handedly cleared all the weeds from launch), Ken H, Tom S and Chris VV, and Mike Z (who did most of the organizing, preparing, rounding up materials and trucking for this event).

Wills Wing is going to be featured on The Discovery Channel's 'Factory Made' program with a segment showing how a Wills Wing T2C hang glider is made.

Factory Made - Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 8:30 pm The Discovery Channel

The video segment will show CAD design tools, the automated sail cutter in action, sewing, sawing, drilling - all the steps that go into making a hang glider. A highlight should be the stop-motion sequence of the final assembly of a glider from all of the component parts. The camera crew set up a camera in the shop and left it running while Peter Swanson did the final assembly.

Comparing the replacement anemometer/wind vane ($139) with the old one, it is obvious that ice got up inside the old unit (when the mast bent over) and damaged the bearings or whatever. The old vane and cups wiggle around like a hula dancer.

Sorry it took so long to replace.

The first Fly-In of the summer is scheduled for July 8, 2008, and we'd like to make t-shirts for it, since we haven't done a club shirt in a while.

None of the CSS Board members are artistically inclined, so we're counting on members or interested parties to come up with a design in time for us to get the shirts printed and ready for the fly-in.

So please brainstorm and draw using whatever tools you like and come up with something soon.

The CSS Spring 2008 General Meeting will be at the landing zone as the flying day ends, 12 April, 2008.

This is one of two General Meetings held each year by the Board, as directed by the club by-laws. Any member may raise any topic for discussion and vote at the general meeting.

It's the time of year to re-elect our CSS officers. For most CSS members it's something that just comes and goes and doesn't really affect them very much. And for those few that have volunteered to hold an office it's a time to wonder, why am I doing this?

Getting new blood into the CSS officer list is a good thing. The more we have members that have held an office and see the workings of how we perpetuate and grow the site the more strength the CSS has. But also, it is good to not make too many changes all at once. If we had all new officers in the same year, there would be a fair amount of reinventing the wheel as the new group tries to take hold of important items like keeping the site insurance up, having our tax returns done, paying our bills, processing new members dues and cards, etc.