Discovery Flights:

Club Members

How to sign up to participate in flying at the FRS.

Flint River Soaring is a volunteer-run club. When members fly, they are expected to contribute time and effort to support operations and help the club grow. Shared responsibility is essential to keeping the club running safely and successfully.

The main sign-up form has a message from Google suggesting that you Sign-in to Google to save your progress.  There is no need to sign-in to Google as the manner in which we are using these forms does not require that you sign-in. We may require sign-ins at a later date if there is abuse of the forms.

Use the role-specific check boxes to indicate the role(s) you are qualified to perform on the day(s) you are available. If you are interested in a role but not yet qualified, training is available for all club positions.

If you make an incorrect entry, go to the bottom right-hand corner of that form and click on the “Clear form” button.  That will reset any selections that you made on the form.

Once you have made all update(s), click on the “Submit” button in the bottom left-hand portion of that day’s form.

Under the sign-up form a spreadsheet shows all sign ups for that day that existed when the page was loaded.  If you want to see any updates that you made, click on the browser refresh icon in the top left portion of the browser tab.

You can use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars on each of the sign-up spreadsheets to see everyone who has signed up to fly when the page was loaded.  You can also hover your cursor over the top left-hand corner of the spreadsheet to reveal a gray box with an arrow inside of it.  Clicking on that box will open up a new browser tab with more of the spreadsheet visible.  When you finish viewing the expanded spreadsheet, click on the “X” in the newly-opened tab to close it.

Support Role Definitions

Tow Pilot — Self-explanatory. If you hold a tail-wheel endorsement or are interested in adding one to your ratings, please let us know.

Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) — Self-explanatory. If you hold a CFI rating or are interested in becoming a CFI, please let us know.

Record Keeper - Responsible for logging flights, collecting payment at the end of each flying day, and delivering flight logs and payments to their storage location.

Scheduler - Responsible for identifying the person(s) and aircraft that will be next to launch.  Responsible for notifying the pilot of each aircraft that they are making the last flight of the day for that aircraft so they can land on an appropriate area of the airport.  Responsible for alerting the tow pilot of the last tow of the day.  Responsible for communicating with Glider Recovery where to position each glider in the launch area (on the runway for the next flight or at a safe distance from the runway if another glider is next to launch).  Responsible for coordinating fueling of the tow plane with the tow pilot and ground personnel.

Student / ReCert - Select if you are a student pilot or you need to a Re-Cert.

Glider Launch - [If you are new you will need to take the Wing Runner Course and then shadow a club member before your can be released to be a Wing Runner]

Responsible for helping to position gliders on the runway, help pilots and passengers get into the aircraft.  Also responsible for hooking the tow ring to the glider (including displaying the Tost or Schweitzer ring to the pilot).  Also responsible for a visual scan of the pattern for other traffic prior to launching the glider.

Glider Recovery - Responsible for driving the ground tow vehicle to each glider after landing and towing that glider back to the launch end of the runway.  Responsible for ensuring that the ground tow line is detached from gliders when the driver gets out of the ground tow vehicle.

Equipment Rollout - Responsible for arriving at the airport at the agreed-upon time to move gliders to the launch area.  Responsible for briefing all personnel involved in moving gliders from the hangar how to safely move each aircraft across the culvert on the ramp.  Responsible for ensuring that club glider tires and ground tow vehicle tires are properly inflated.  Responsible for inspecting tow rope(s) prior to each day’s flying.  Responsible for ensuring that a Tost adapter is available at the launch area.  Responsible for placing orange cones on the field as directed by the flight instructor.  Responsible for moving the “Wendy Wagon” to its area for the day’s flying.

Equipment Return - Responsible for retrieving the tow rope and orange cones at the end of the flying day.  Responsible for returning each aircraft to its hangar.  Responsible for briefing all personnel how each aircraft will be towed over the culvert on the ramp in front of the hangar.  Responsible for closing and locking the hangar.