Mike Robison, of State College, will make his third appearance in the FAI World Gliding Championships scheduled for July and August in the Czech Republic.
Robison’s interest in sailplanes began in elementary school, when a member of the State College Radio Control Club gave his class a presentation on flying radio-controlled gliders. Robison became fascinated and soon began flying RC planes as a member of the club. In 1997, at age 18, Robison graduated to the real thing by taking glider flying lessons at Ridge Soaring Gliderport in Julian and attaining his glider pilot’s license.
He began competition soaring in 1999 in Penn State Soaring Club’s Blanik L-13 sailplane. In 2001, he competed in the Club Class at the Junior World Gliding Championships in Issodun, France. He placed second in the U.S. Open Class Nationals in 2012 and 2014. He also competed in the 2015 Open Class Nationals, flying an Arcus M with fellow pilot and friend Larry Timpson.
In 2016, Robison qualified for a position on the U.S. Soaring Team, based on his scores in previous competitions, and competed in the 20-meter Two-Seater Class at the World Gliding Championships in Pociunai, Lithuania, with Timpson.
In 2017, Robison was just short of qualifying for the team, but a team member backed out at the last minute, giving Robison a berth on the team and a trip to Australia to compete.
In late July, Robison will pack his bags and his glider for his third international competition, this time in the Czech Republic, competing with world class pilots from about 20 countries.
The Arcus M glider Robison flies has a significant advantage over most sailplanes, which have to be towed aloft by a powered plane. The Arcus has a 70-horsepower engine on board driving a 5-foot propeller which can be extended and retracted into the plane’s fuselage at the flip of a switch, thus making the sailplane self-launching and providing a margin of safety if the glider loses lift far from the airport. Robison said the motorized gliders compete in the same class as the unpowered planes. They climb to a given altitude, then the engines must be shut off and may not be restarted for the duration of the competition flight.
Robison said the gliders used in world-class competitions are the highest-performing gliders in the world, with very efficient slender wings, sometimes spanning about 90 feet, and smooth fiberglass and carbon fiber construction for low drag. Their glide ratios (feet traveled forward per foot of sink) are about 50 to 1.
Robison said the competitions are enjoyable, but grueling, with hours-long flights for 10 consecutive days.
“Most of it is pure racing, which is interesting and is a challenge,” he said.
The race courses are often a triangular route totaling between 200 and 300 kilometers (125 to 185 miles). The challenge is finding rising warm air currents, called thermals, to keep the gliders airborne for the entire course.
Robison said the weather is the biggest variable in the competitions. Factors such as temperature, wind and cloud cover can make drastic differences in flights from day to day.
“We may know the topography and geography of a local area, but we don’t know exactly what the weather is going to be each day,” he said. “So, no matter what, we never have the same race course.”
Robison said that with sometimes more than 100 gliders in the air simultaneously, safety is a prime concern, and all glider competitors are required to wear parachutes.
“In Australia, we had two mid-airs (collisions). In one, they came back and landed just fine, but in the other one, they were broken up and had to parachute down,” he said. “That was a little frightening — it’s one of my chief concerns.”
Robison is an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, and teaches FAA airframe and power plant mechanic courses. He lives in State College with his wife, Becky, and children, Lucas and Eva.
