Sky Sailing Gallery
Our Customer's Testimonials
I had a GRAND time flying today. I'll be back if I'm ever in the area again & I'll bring at least one friend to enjoy soaring with me. Everyone was REALLY nice & I even got to see your $250k airplane (dead batteries & all)... If any of my digital photos turn out especially nice I will send a copy to you for your perusal. -
Michael
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Monday's visit to Sky Sailing was a sincere treat for all of us. The students recaptured the day's events reviewing the video this morning. We'd like to flex our internet muscles by sending you an e-mail of our thanks. Personally, I had a great time. Flying with Brett was an unexpected treat. Tony thinks that Boyd's landing was better than mine, but we'll have to analyze the video further to settle that. We look forward to seeing you again on Saturday.... -
Scot Teacher from Warner School
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching me about how to use the simulator.
Sincerely, Blake age 7
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching me about flight. I really enjoyed it. Your gliders are awesome. It was the best.
Sincerely, Dustin age 9
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching me how airplanes work.
Sincerely, Cameron age10
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching me about flight.
Sincerely,
Bryce age 7
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching me about flight.
Sincerely,
Chris age 10
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching us about sky sailing.
Sincerely,
Brian age 9
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for teaching me about flight.
Sincerely,
Tony age 10
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Willat,
Thank you for all of your help in teaching our class the basics of flight. Some day I want to be a pilot. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Casey age 12
I wanted to thank you for an awesome flight this past weekend. I flew with Dante and had an awesome and informative flight. Thank you for your professionalism and at the same time light-heartedness that made for a great experience.
I am a pastor and I write weekly devotional messages for many of our people. I thought that you might find this past week's selection interesting because it includes my flight with you.
Thank you again.
Lord bless,
Pastor Bill
www.newwinecrestline.org
December 5, 2002
Dear Family and Friends,
Soaring high over the northern San Diego county mountains and valleys provided vistas that cannot be adequately expressed by words. My introductory trip in a sailplane was without a doubt one of the best birthday presents that I could ever have imagined.
I knew going in that part of the flight would be an opportunity to actually fly the plane. However, when I felt the instructor's hands on my shoulders and heard him say, "You're flying the plane," I wanted to turn around and calmly say, "Are you nuts????" I didn't. I was too afraid to take my eyes off of the sky in front of me and even more concerned about letting go of the stick in my hands.
Recognizing my nervousness, probably because the hair that was not already gray was changing color before his eyes; he said the one thing that I needed to hear most. "Don't worry," he said, "there is nothing that you can do that I can't fix before anything bad happens." Immediately, much of my anxiety dropped to a more manageable level. The color returned to my knuckles as I released the death grip I had on the controls and I began to actually fly the plane and enjoy it. When I made a mistake, I felt the instructor's pressure on the controls correcting my miscue and I heard his voice explaining what I did wrong and how to do it better next time. My flight was awesome.
In the Shepherd's Psalm, we read these words:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
Psalm 23:1-3
NIV
I did not fully appreciate the beauty and peacefulness that I was flying in at 5000 feet until I was able to relax and know that someone with more experience and knowledge than me had his hand on the controls. Until that point, the beauty I saw seemed more like danger and peace seemed only a promise awaiting me on landing. Yet when I became confident in my instructor's words even though I could not see him, I relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
The Lord is our shepherd and instructor. His hands are on the controls if we are listening and obeying. He is there in the background providing support and guidance and helping us to enjoy the ride. He can turn our fear into peace and instead of just flying, He can help us soar.
Father, help us to listen and to obey your slightest command. Help us to soar over and above our problems instead of being brought down by them. Give us the peace only You can give. Amen.
In His love and service,
- Pastor Bill
Mr. Bret Willat:
My name is Hector. I live in Yuma Az.
I have always imagined myself flying a sailplane.
I saw part of the show that you put up this past Saturday at the El Centro air show...
Fantastic...
There were a lot of good pilots there. And the Blue Angels were great.
But you were special, different, and artistic. It was definitively a ballet in the air.
I said I saw part of your flying due to my dad at the precise moment that you were braking away from your tow, bless his heart, he needed to go to the bathroom. (Rats.)
He is in a wheelchair and it got pretty difficult to try and push him while looking up at the beautiful show that you were putting up for the audience.
There I was walking backwards and looking up, a miracle that I did not wipe out... hehehe.
Finally against all my wishes I had to turnaround and finish the mission that Dad had chosen for me and of course the emergency of the situation...
Needles to say he made it to the bath room and I missed some of your flying. (Rats again)
I just wanted to thank and congratulate you in the beautiful show that you put up for us...
About 5 years ago we went to Warner Springs to see the sailplanes and to get info. on the cost for flying...
With the renew feeling of free flight after seeing you at the air show I will within the next few months be back up to Warner Springs but this time to fly.
I have flown in small private aircraft to fighter aircraft (F-4 Phantom).
Sailplane flying has always been my deepest wishes. And I have told my wife that before I die, that is one of the things that I want to do.
Sorry that I could not meet you personally at the airshow, but hopefully I'll meet you at Warner Springs. And if you are available maybe you can take me up on my first flight...
Thank you again
- Hector
Hi Ryan,
I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you how much I enjoyed my ride and instruction. You are a great instructor, you made me feel confident and comfortable on my first ride and I wanted to let you know.
If you want to see the results in pictures, go to our web site: homepage.mac.com/theyates/ and click on "Warner Hot Springs April '04"
See you next time,
- Art
I had a great first experience gliding with Sky Sailing. Johnathan was a terrific instructor, and gave me a lot of time at the controls. I created plots of my flight from data I captured with my GPS, and some
satellite photographs. Thanks again,
- Phil
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the great flying experience at Warner Springs - the 'Silent Wings' program was shown again recently (which I have now recorded) - lots of familiar places and faces! I hope to be back in your area again before too long - I'm planning to go back to the Canadian Rockies in 2006, with a few days in the Seattle area. After that I'll see how things go - I'll let you know when I'll be back.
I've been a Bob Ross style painter since July 2002 - I've enclosed a photo of my latest, done from photo taken from a walk on Boxing Day. More of paintings plus some of my photos from my USA trip, including the Stemme flight, can be found on http://community.webshots.com/user/iceeagle.
Happy New Year,
- Orn
We had a wonderful time yesterday - thank you for taking such good care of us and ensuring that this was a memorable experience!!!
The pictures have been uploaded at http://www.xanathesia.com/~general/Gliding-Warner%20Springs_CA/. The site also contains some of the videos we took. If you'd like the full-size copy of any of the images, please let me know - you can also download the same from the pages at the link above.
Thank you once again, we will never forget our first gliding experience!!
Warm regards,
- Fiona & Peter
You have changed my life...thanks to the whole crew of skysailing
- George
Bret,
I want to thank you and your family for helping to make my father's 80th birthday a very special one! He had wanted to go skydiving again, but after he broke his ankle the last time (at age 65), we didn't think this was such a great idea! We originally noticed your business on our way home from a camping trip in Anza Borrego and that gave me the idea to purchase a gift certificate for my husband's birthday (this was several years ago). Since he had not yet used his certificate, we decided to bring the rest of our family members along to give sky sailing a try! All 10 of us LOVED our experience (on Saturday, June 2nd)...from my 3 year old niece to my 80 year old father!
THANK YOU! (By the way, our pilot, Ted, was awesome...as was our female pilot, but I don't know her name (Polly))!
- Lisa
To Polly and the Sky Sailing Team:
I would just like to say thank you for a memorable experience you guys gave my girlfriend and I last Saturday. There couldn't possibly have been a better surprise birthday present for her than soaring like a bird! I have truly begun to appreciate the art of sky sailing and plan a return visit in the near future.
Thanks again,
- Matthew
Hello,
My two girl's Kaitlin and Jenna took sky sailing rides with you on Christmas Eve afternoon. I am a photographer in CT (we visit CA once or twice a year), I was the one with the camera with the very long white lens.
I said I would send you pictures of our girl's Christmas Eve afternoon flights, feel free to right click on any of the pictures to save if you like.
http://picasaweb.google.com/heartprintphotography/AirportJennaSkySailingInWarnerSpringsChristmasEve?authkey=pD12rr4oFTQ
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/heartprintphotography/AirportKaitlinSkySailingChristmasEveCalifornia?authkey=fDIHKZ07ybA
Best Regards,
- Jill
editors note: Thanks Jill we have added a few above, and they are FANTASTIC
