Beltzville Airport, near Beltzville State Park in northeastern Pennsylvania is home to the Flying Beltz family—three generations that fly various planes from jet aircraft to gliders, from loops around Beltzville Lake to commercial airline flights across the Atlantic.

But most of all, they like to race gliders on the national circuit. Two members of the family compete in Soaring Society of America point-to-point races and have won national championships.

The family patriarch, David Beltz, at 87 years old, still flies several times a week from the Beltzville Airport that he founded on his family’s farm on Rt. 209, between Lehighton and Brodheadsville.

His older son, Ritchie, just retired from U.S. Airways after approaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. David plans to turn the airport over to Ritchie so that he can free up time to work in the shop and fly.

David’s younger son, Tom, is a six-time national champion in glider competition. He flies for U.S. Airways between Philadelphia and Europe.

David’s daughter also flies but was not available for the interview. Brother Tom explained saying, “She works.” Her son, Chris Saunders, is the current national champion in the 18-meter class in glider soaring.

Tom’s wife Carole, formerly a flight attendant with US Air—that’s how she met Tom, is Tom’s crew. She enjoys flying in large planes—but would rather be on the ground when it comes to small aircraft.

Tom and Carole have two sons. One has foregone aircraft for the equally challenging sport of motocross racing. Carole also serves on his motocross ground crew.

Their 20-year-old son, Tom Jr., carries on the family tradition. He is single, has his private pilot’s license, can’t remember not flying, and soloed on a glider at the age of 14.

“Gliding is amazing,” said Tom Jr. “You can’t get that feeling from anything else. You are just being taken by the natural currents of the air. There’s nothing else that can do that for you. Its very quiet and peaceful.”

Tom Jr. usually glides with his dad and Chris. Although the glider has no power of its own, “You can go where you want to go as long as there is lift in the glider. You can even bank and loop.” If he has kids, he replied, “I would have them flying.”

Excepting for his dad, there may be no one better to follow than his cousin, Chris. In 2006, he won the national championship in the 18-meter wing span class in glider soaring across Hobbs New Mexico. His 18-meter glider is ultra fast—with a near 60-foot wingspan and flaps that allow adjustment in the camber of the wing to provide increased efficiency.

Although the 18-meter glider is an expensive and rare aircraft, the contest managed to draw 40 contestants. Chris completed the 400-mile point-to-point glider race in 5-1/2 hours, beating the second plane finisher by five minutes. The spread was five minutes to the next plane.

“The object is to go as fast as you can,” Chris explained. “Speed is really about reading the weather, especially in New Mexico—where there are no ridges to create an updraft. It’s about reading the clouds, reading the ground, and predicting what is going to happen 30 miles down the road.”

“In New Mexico, I flew at 14,000 feet, that’s about 10,000 feet above the land’s elevation of 4,000-ft.,” Chris explained. “At Beltzville we try to fly at about 8,000-ft above a baseline of 1,000-ft. New Mexico has a strong reliable lift and usually little rain.”