Jim Rendon A lex Leisch sits on a gray fence at the Hollister Municipal Airport, his arms extended, feet dangling in the air. He looks over his shoulder at a glider sitting on the runway, the one he just climbed out of as he finished his third ride this year. Leisch is just one of dozens of children and teenagers who take to the skies in glider planes every month at the Hollister airport. Volunteers from the Bay Area Soaring Associates, a glider flying club, give free rides to children, hoping to spark an interest in flying and the science behind it. Soar Hollister, which takes paying customers into the sky every weekend, donates gliders and tow planes for the monthly event.
Every child is flown by an experienced pilot from the flying club.
On the small runway, glider planes are lined up on the grass alongside the tarmac. The sleek fiberglass bodies tilt to one side, the long thin wings touching the ground. Two single-engine planes are on hand to tow the gliders into the sky. MacDonald bends to push one of the gliders onto the runway for launch. As the plane fires up its engines, another volunteer attaches the yellow nylon rope to the front of the glider.