Soaring Safety Foundation

The Soaring Safety Foundation (SSF) is the Training and Safety arm of the Soaring Society of America (SSA). Our mission is to provide instructors and pilots with the tools needed to teach/learn both the stick & rudder skills and the Aeronautical Decision Making skills needed to safely fly a glider. We also provide information and analysis of incident and accident trends in order to develop better training tools.

Data collected from Open Glider Network (OGN) as of Sunday May 10, 2026

Duration	Gliders	Flights	Hours
Year to Date	1059	10305	8703.83
Last 7 Days	240	637	717

This table shows the number of individual gliders that recorded a flight in the OGN tracking system and the number of flights/hours those gliders flew.

Flight Training
Videos , CFI Webinars , and Scenario Database

These videos are introductory in nature and are geared to learning to soar, or a new soaring skill.

Flight Safety
Videos and Incident Database

These videos are safety oriented and appropriate for glider pilots of any skill level.

Visit the Soaring Safety Foundation's Youtube Channel
The SSA's YouTube Video Playlist

The Soaring Incident Database is now available to help pilots, safety officers, clubs, and commercial operators develop new programs that can help prevent incidents from becoming major accidents. See more incidents by searching the database or register a new incident.

Region	Pilot Certificate	Pilot Injuries	Passenger Injuries	Type of Flight	Launch Method	Type of Aircraft
East	CFI	None	None	Instructional	Aero Tow	Pilatus B4
Incident Activity	Damage to Aircraft	Damage to Canopy	Incident Date	Incident Time	Weather	SSA Member
Preflight	None		2017-09-03	1400-1600	Clear	Yes
Incident Description	As CFI, I performed an incomplete, inadequate, pre-launch aircraft checkout for a newly rated private pilot. The pilot had previously flown several 2-place Grobs and a modern single-place glider when he asked to be checked out in the clubs single place Pilatus. The pilot was told to take a high tow (4,000 ft AGL) and get used to the gliders handling characteristics. After landing the pilot reported that he did an intentional straight ahead stall shortly after release, but one wing dropped and the glider entered a spin. The glider lost 2,000 ft before the pilot finally recovered and returned for a landing.
Other Comments	A better, more through, pre-launch checkout highlighting the different stall/spin characteristics of the Pilatus as compared to the gliders he had previous flown, with an emphasis on stall recovery techniques, would have prepared the pilot to handle this situation.