If you want to get technical, a glider is an unpowered aircraft that glides to earth without enough glide ratio to ever gain altitude even in swiftly rising air.  Gliders were used in WW11 to deliver troops and equipment across the English Channel to Europe.  To give you an idea of their low performance, they had a glide ratio of about 9:1, so that for every foot they descended they traveled 9 feet.  Sailplanes, on the other hand are gliders that have been streamlined and efficiently designed so that they have a much larger glide ratio.  Our ships are sailplanes.  But everybody calls them gliders.  We operate two types of sailplanes:

The Schweitzer 2-33 is a classic tandem seat two-place ship which we use to provide rides for single passengers.  It has a glide ratio of 22:1.  The passenger sits in the front and the pilot in the back.  The 2-33 may look funky, but it is often able to out climb the 2-32 in a thermal and its single passenger has the best seat in the house up front.  The passenger also has a set of controls, making it possible to get some stick time during the ride.

The Schweitzer 2-32 is a three-place high performance ship with a glide ratio of 34:1 which we use to take two passengers at a time.  Sorry, we can’t take three… we have to leave room for the pilot.  The passengers sit behind the pilot.  It can be a snug fit (that can be a good thing) and we have to limit the combined weight of both passengers to 350 pounds.  It’s a high-performance ship with a proud history of setting records and even being used in thunderstorm penetration test flights. 

Sunriver Soaring
at the Sunriver Airport
57200 River Road
Sunriver, Oregon 97707