Northern California Soaring Association

05/31/2026

5/30 2026 was a good valley day.
NCSA members flew from multiple locations, including Williams, Hollister and even a self launch out of Byron.

Great flights were had by all.

A large contingent of 35+ paragliders launched from Mount Vaca and intermingled with the Sailplanes on the west side of the valley.

NCSA members were two out of the top three flights in California on weglide!!!

Congratulations to Andre in TY for topping the list!!!!

https://www.weglide.org/flight/1104941

05/26/2026

The high mountains are calling so time to pack up the gliders. After bit of maintenance the Memorial Day crew disassembled the gliders for the roadtrip to Air Sailing and Truckee Tahoe Soaring Association. Second G-103 (81C) will stay behind for continued Byron instruction.

05/23/2026

NCSA had pilots flying from many locations yesterday. Some were at the contest in Avenal, some were flying from ASI in Nevada, and there was a group who flew from Williams. Of the Williams contingent, the most notable flight came from Ramy Yanetz!!!! (again)

Ramy does not, however, earn the coveted magnum of Cabernet that is awarded to the first landout of the year. After the last two years of this prize being won by Andre Sosinski... in 2026 the first landout was accomplished by Bruce Roberts!

The awards committee is considering an honorary landout award for Ramy considering...... well he almost landed out in Canada.

Congrats Ramy on a spectacular flight!

Ramy Yanetz scored 847.34 points in 9h 15min in a JS3 RES 18m.

04/29/2026

Yesterday, 4/28, was a beautiful California spring day with puffy clouds, mild temperatures and little wind. The kind of day that has soaring enthusiasts drooling, missing meetings and losing sleep.
It’s no surprise, then, that a handful of NCSA pilots were not where their friends(or bosses) expected them to be….. they were high above!

Here is the proof!

Andre
https://www.weglide.org/flight/1059908
Stan
https://www.weglide.org/flight/1059905
Ramy
https://www.weglide.org/flight/1059906

At least one other pilot flew, Bruce(need to get him on weglide)

Our hats are off to those who flew and also to our tow pilots who make it possible, Greg on Monday and Nigel on Tuesday!

Andre Sosinski scored 633.94 points in 6h 29min in a ASW 24 B.

04/20/2026

Great weekend of instructional Ops and private owners practicing in blue thermal conditions.
The most notable was Stan Osterlund taking the Cirrus (3WH) for a return to service flight. The glider was donated to the club by Roy Moeller.
Weekend crew:
Instructors: Larry, JDB, and Andre
Tow Pilots: Stanley and Ed
FMs: Paul, Peter, Marianne, and Radhesh (trainee)
Pilots: Ramy, Bruce, Andre, Alex, Andreas, John, Radhesh, Austin, Greg, Jeets, Stan, April, Ali, Rohit, and Tung.
*Corrie was doing annual in the background.

04/18/2026

55 minutes Grob-103C (KP) disassembly in 55 seconds.

02/24/2026

Great "winter" weekend of soaring and instructional flights out of Byron (C83), our NCSA home base.
We also welcomed Nigel to our tow pilot cadre.
Love the smell of Spring around the corner!

02/08/2026

FM Report:
1/7/2026

It was a calm, pleasant day at Byron with a normal amount of power traffic to share the pattern with.

All five on John R's schedule got at least two flights in 81C, and Dane and Bruce flew their own gliders. We totaled 16 tows for the day, including 2 simulated rope breaks.

Thanks to Deep and John R for accommodating the long training day, and to John S for sticking around after his flights to help with ground ops the whole day!
_._,_._,_

02/02/2026

Wonderful annual NCSA Banquet and Awards dinner at Page Mill Winery hosted by our President Dane Stark.🍷🎉🎊🥳🥂
💪 ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
-Glider Ratings: Stan Osterlund and Magnus Skoglund
-Commercial and CFI-G Ratings: Andre Sosinski
🏆AWARDS:
-Longest flight from Byron Intermediate Class: Magnus Skoglund (35 km)
-Longest flight from Byron Advanced Class: Ramy Yanetz (569 km)
-Longest distance flight Intermediate Class: Magnus Skoglund (455 km)
-Longest distance flight Advanced Class: Ramy Yanetz (1210 km)
-Longest flight in Club Ship: Dan Colton (247 km)
-Longest Dual Flight: Andre Sosinski and Dan Colton (521 km)
-Fastest OLC flight Intermediate Class: Ernst Van Nierop & Magnus Skoglund (Tied at 104 kph)
-Fastest OLC flight Advanced Class: Ramy Yanetz (150 kph)
-Flight of the Year : Stanislav Osterlund (324 km) or (1640 points for glider handicap and Sawyer Pilot Factor multipliers)
-NCSA Cross Country Perpetual Trophy: Stanislav Osterlund (2634 km)
-Most Improved Pilot: Stanislav Osterlund
-Instructor of the Year: Larry Suter
-Tow Pilot of the Year: Brian Roach
-Presidential Award: Roy Moeller and John Randazzo
'XC from Byron' Presentation: Dan Colton and Andre Sosinski
SPECIAL TRIBUTE: CFI-G Monique Weil who passed away in December, 2024 at the age of 96
☑️ Election Results: No changes to the Board of Directors for 2026!

01/28/2026

On Tuesday, 1/27/26, NCSA member Andre Sosinski took his gliding career to a new high. He has spent many hours bumping up against Class A airspace but on this occasion he soared to a remarkable height, achieving his CFI-G.

Andre, a long time paraglider instructor, enthusiast, competition pilot and paragliding business owner made the transition to Sailplanes in 2022.

Andre, vice president of NCSA, has showed us he is focused on progressing in this sport by achieving his Private License in 2023, his commercial license in 2025 and now his CFI-G.

The test was taken at Byron Airport, C83, and included 6.5 hours of oral exam, 6 flights with multiple rope break maneuvers, and even a Ramp Check by an FAA inspector!!

All of the gliding community, and especially the members of Northern California Soaring Association, extend our congratulations to Andre on this amazing achievement!

After the fact Andre said he was
-grateful for "all the support from club members, instructors, and the SSA-NCSA scholarship"
-hardest part was "finding all the FAR's and waiting for the fog to clear" (see satellite photo of fog cover)
-and the most fun thing was "the 200 foot tow rope breaks"