(1932-2016) SSA President; Vice President; National Records; Handicap System; X-C Seminars; SOARING Columnist
Eaton Trophy 1984; Exceptional Service Award 1974, 1988; Exceptional Achievement Award 1990, 1999; Silver #812 1964; Gold #207 1964; Diamond #40 (Int #399) 1964; 1000 K Diploma #25 (Int #60) 1985; Symons Two Lennie #20
We doubt there is anyone who has been more active in soaring, served the sport in so many numerous ways or been so willing to help and encourage others than Carl Herold. As of 2002, Carl had flown 45 glider types and 13 different motorgliders, logged over 5,965 hours of sailplane time including 194,000 cross-country miles (not all at once!) which is about eight times around the Earth. He also had flown 25 types of powered aircraft including 3,500 glider tows with a total of over 3,000 single-engine-land hours in airplanes.
Carl strongly supported the Sports Class and developed the first handicap system (CH Sports Class). He was the SSA Governor for Northern California in the 1960s during which time he participated in founding PASCO with an associated newsletter - West Wind. He was first PASCO President in 1966 and wrote regularly for the publication. He wrote a monthly column (Herold's Hearsay) in Soaring magazine for over ten years. He was an SSA Director over a sixteen year time period serving during that time as SSA Vice President and SSA President.
He worked with others to bring the FAA Instructor Revalidation Clinic to SSA and served as an instructor in the program for many years. He supported the SSA Government Liaison Committee on Air Space issues, helped bring the World Soaring Championships to the USA in 1983 and 1991 and the SSA Convention to Reno in 1995. He founded the annual PASCO Minden wave camp in 1967 and ran the camp for 29 years. He was a Trustee of Air Sailing, which runs the Air Sailing gliderport near Reno and served as President for ten years plus other managerial positions. As an FBO, he provided towing service. For many years he provided a barograph calibration service for record and badge validation. He was involved in initial planning for Project Perlan.
Carl has had many articles in Soaring magazine and has worked with others on booklets covering land-out locations and the contest speed task (POST). He helped develop the SSA World Distance award.
Before our gratitude for all of Carl's contributions takes us too far afield, we must tell you how it all began. He was born in 1932, the same year the SSA was founded. He started life near the Cleveland Air races which started in 1936. He graduated from the Case Institute of Applied Science in 1955, initially working for North American in Columbus, OH. It was during this time that he saw the first glider. He continued racing stock cars, homebuilt speed boats until he replaced these activities with soaring at Batavia, NY.
In 1957 he started work at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories in Buffalo, NY. He moved to the San Francisco area in 1959 and eventually wound up at the Stanford Research Institute where he worked until he retired in 1998.
He was active in competition having flown 14 national contests and several Sports Class contests, winning two in the early years of that class of competition. He also set many soaring records.
Carl's ideas, enthusiasm and encouragement inspired many advances in soaring. More importantly, they inspired many of us to go on to greater accomplishments in the sport he loved and inspired us to love.
As he is quoted, "Soaring is an activity in which nature has been active for billions of years."
There is still much to do, much to enjoy, much to accomplish, much to contribute and we can all do so by following Carl's example, enthusiasm and our own quest for advancement and the joy of soaring.
Carl's awards include the Eaton Trophy in 1984, Exceptional Service in 1974, 1988 and Exceptional Achievement in 1990 and 1999. He earned Silver #812 (1964), Gold #207 (1964), Diamond #40 (Intl #399, 1964), 1000 K Diploma #25 (Intl #60, 1985) and Symons Two Lennie #20.