Radio Control Soaring — Lee Estingoy
Spotlight on Gordy Stahl
Hi. My name is Lee and I’m a soaring addict. Welcome to the support group.
Today we have a special guest participating in our group. He’s long been an active part of, or perhaps the cause of, many joining such soaring support groups. Let’s welcome Gordy Stahl to our—wait a minute. Sit back down. This will be interesting, I promise.
Gordy seems to pop up everywhere. With his posts on the RC Soaring Exchange (RCSE) and his column in RC Soaring Digest, he has done a great job of chronicling the evolution of the hobby while trying to keep the focus on the people involved.
Many didn’t get that from the posts and columns at the time, and there is certainly a segment out there that would like to shoot him for some of the things he’s said. They wouldn’t be the first to take a shot at him. Perhaps learning a bit more of the back story will help us “get” him.
LE: You’ve been an advocate for soaring for as long as I can remember. How long have you been participating in RC soaring? What got you started? Where?
GS: I started RC in Milwaukee, but my dad got me started in model airplanes (U-control and later RC) when I was about 10 years old. I didn’t really get started into sailplanes until I moved from Milwaukee to Louisville.
The power guys were getting too touchy about noise and “safety”; there were fewer and fewer builders and more and more ARF fliers, so I had less and less in common with the new breed of RC power pilots.
It was the Louisville Area Soaring Society and specifically their President-for-Life, Ed Wilson, who got me hooked completely into sailplanes and soaring. Their club was very active and very focused on the hobby. Ed was the only LSF5 (League of Silent Flight Level V) in the state and very active in LSF.
LE: You pop up at a number of events; you are the “Whac-A-Mole” of the soaring segment. How do you manage to break free of the job, family, and pets?
GS: I’ve been married 40 years now, and I’m lucky to have a wife who took care of finances and family. Right from the start I developed a dual life: one being work and hobbies, the other family.
I figured out that most guys spend 110% of their lives devoted to work—definitely not my thing. If I could get my work done fast and well, I’d have plenty of time for soaring with friends.
My jobs always entailed a lot of time on the road, so I created GordySoar as a way to meet up with other sailplane pilots. It sure beat sitting in motel rooms in strange locations. Everyone quickly learned that sooner or later GordySoar was going to show up in their town with his sailplanes, so it turned a lonely life into one of real adventure.
LE: Most fliers are competitive, but you are a special case. Are you competitive in everything you do?
GS: Actually I am not very competitive! I’m often mistaken for that trait, but in fact I’m more into participation than competition.
Don’t get me wrong—I love claiming the prizes as much as the next person—but seriously, it was always about having something else to do than sit in motels. Many who fly with me or have timed for me will tell you that I compete with myself. I love to fly a perfect round with a perfect landing, but other than when I needed those three wins for my LSF5 tasks, I’m more about helping the other guys do well. The social aspect—hanging with the guys while I’m away from home—is why I have made so many contests around the world.
LE: How many soaring events do you attend a year? Which are your favorites and why?
GS: At my peak, I attended maybe 30 contests in one year around the world! But as I began to focus on my LSF tasks, I slowed down some. Last year I flew about 12.
My favorites include:
- MidSouth
- Lexington Mid America Champs
- Texas TNT
- Orlando Tangerine
- Visalia
- Southwest Classic
- The Masters
Thinking about it, I have to include many of the Eastern Soaring League events and, of course, anything in Denver or California.
LE: I understand that you stop in to fly with pilots/clubs even without a contest. What is the most impressive club you’ve encountered and what makes it special? Can the magic be bottled?
GS: First, the Soaring League of Northern Texas. From the time I stumbled across their flying site on a business trip right through to today, they have treated me like a clubmate and best friend.
What makes them magic is that they were bred and born as RC modelers—guys who built and flew sailplanes—a lot! Plus it’s a club whose members have consistently contributed to the hobby and set a standard of excellence in modeling while maintaining a great attitude.
My second club-away-from-home is the Orlando Buzzards, for virtually the same reasons. Guys like Rick Eckles and Gordon Buckland keep the spirit alive—and both clubs have members who work hard at ensuring they continue to hold contests and maintain excellent newsletters.
Yes, the magic can be bottled. If there are two things that seem to make soaring clubs exceptional, it’s:
- contests, and
- communication.
Those clubs around the country that hold monthly contests are the healthiest. They not only gain new members but tend to attract visitors—like myself. I guess in order to create gravity you have to have motion!
LE: Many conversations at events start out with something along the lines of, “Did you see what Gordy posted the other day?” You often choose to be a bit polarizing in your missives. Most of us know you aren’t always doing it to be a jerk. What’s your motivation to buck the trends and the “in crowd” online?
GS: There is often the misunderstanding that GordySoar is going to show up at a flying field, but it’s always only me! GordySoar’s goal is to keep RC soaring alive and well so that I can have guys to fly with, contests to participate in, and someone with like interests to share a beer and soaring conversations with on rainy days.
I made it my goal to only post positive, informative, and interesting things. The evening I found the RCSE I’d been driving a lot of miles and had a particularly terrible day. Turning into the RCSE brightened my motel room!
My contacts with so many skilled, experienced leaders and innovators of our hobby gave me a bigger view of the hobby, where it was heading, and perhaps the ability to help keep it on a good track.
The fact that I was often tired, got to the motel late, and had to be up early forced my writing style to be very direct, which often led some readers to interpret my posts without paying attention to all the smiley faces in the text!
I was careful to never reply to flames, because it was never aimed at “me” and the RCSE was too valuable to waste on anything other than building and flying RC sailplanes with friends.
LE: What’s your Rosebud airplane? Why?
GS: The Legionaire Shuttle was clearly one of the ugliest designs ever created, designed by famed Texas designer and competitor Cecil Haga. I’d purchased all three of his versions at a swap meet in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Sometimes referred to as the “flying shovel,” the fuselage was about 2 inches wide at the front (picture a horizontal line as the nose), tapering upwards to the rudder to a depth of about 4 inches high and 1/4 inch wide. Very strange looking for sure. Seventy-eight, 112, and 134 inches, I think, were their spans.
It became my Rosebud because I hooked my first thermal with that big one. It was a speck, but I’d not charged it beforehand, and being a power guy I’d never kept a sailplane in the air long enough for the battery to die! It ultimately came down but was smashed on asphalt.
I have both enjoyed and regretted that day for the rest of my soaring days. As you know, we all got hooked into the hobby for life because of that first thermal.
LE: What’s your favorite airplane to fly for fun (whether at a contest or elsewhere) these days? Why?
GS: Tough one for sure—it's a tie between two models. My first love is the HKM High End. No other sailplane gets my anticipation going like that one. I doubt there is another airplane that is as beautiful or that challenges and rewards me as much.
A very close tie is the Kennedy Composites Supra. The Supra is the definition of elegant in its simplicity. Literally three aircraft in one, designed to be flown in three specific and separate modes, it led us all into the clarity of learning to use Speed, Cruise, and Thermal settings as preset settings versus sliders. Just when you think you have it figured out, it teaches you that there’s more to learn.
LE: If you were king for a day, what would you do for the soaring community to help it prosper?
GS: Well, a king can’t grant youth to us all, and that would be the most helpful thing, but I’d provide incentives to clubs that host club contests—Thermal Duration, Discus-Launch Glider, and Slope events every month.
I’ve seen the effect that incentives have on our hobby via Horizon Hobby’s sponsorship of the Ohio Valley Soaring Series and the Masters. It really helps.
Sources
- League of Silent Flight
- www.silentflight.org
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
