February 15, 2025 |
Annual Dinner Banquet Emmett's Ale House, 5200 Main Street, Downers Grove 1800 Cocktails, 1900 Dinner Mark your calendar, details to follow via email |
April 12, 2025 |
Spring Safety Seminar and Annual Meeting We'll start with the Safety Seminar at 0900 and have the Annual Meeting at 1300 after lunch |
The following flight manuals are pdf files that you can download and print:
Schleicher ASK-21 (N621CG)
Schleicher ASK-21B (N521CG)
Schempp-Hirth Duo Discus (N57CG)
Schempp-Hirth Discus CS (N511TW)
Christen Husky (N2881P)
Piper Pawnee (N8519L)
Instruments
Paying your bill is easy... The Club is set up to accept ZELLE payments at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
CGC Annual meeting and Safety Seminar will be held on Saturday April 12, 2025 starting at 0900. The Safety Seminar will be held in the morning and the Annual meeting will be held in the afternoon starting at about 1300. More details to follow. |
Effective May 1, 2024 | ||
Initiation Fee | ||
Applicants younger than 35 years of age
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$600 | |
Applicants 35 years of age or older
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$1,200 | |
Membership Dues | ||
Regular member dues | $552.00 per year | |
Retired member dues | $276.00 per year | |
Life Member | $0.00 per year | |
Aircraft Rental Rates | ||
Sailplane rental > 75 hours* | $36.00 per hour | |
Sailplane rental < 75 hours* | $40.00 per hour | |
* No charge for additional flight time over two hours | ||
Christen Husky | $125.00 per tach hour | |
Aerotow Rates | ||
Hook Up Fee | $17.00 per tow | |
Plus Each Hundred Feet of Tow(Minimum Tow 2000') | $1.30 per 100 feet | |
Aerotow Retrieve
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Field Use | ||
Fee to base private aircraft at Chicago Glider Club | $216 per year |
The Chicago Glider Club address is:
Chicago Glider Club
26045 W Airport Road,
Minooka, IL 60447
The clubhouse telephone is: 815-467-9861.
Please note that the telephone is unattended when no members are present at the clubhouse, and messages cannot be recorded.
The webmaster can be contacted at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The best way to make contact with the club is by email to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. See the Board of Directors page for additional contacts.
Individual members' contact information is not publicly available on this website, however club members can find this information by logging on and then selecting the Member List menu command.
For maps and directions, see the Directions page.
Using ZELLE to pay your bill directly from your bank account is preferred at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pay your CGC bill using either a PayPal or Credit Card Account here:
2022 Annual Safety Meeting
2021 Annual Safety Meeting
2020 Annual Safety Meeting
Tow Pilot Briefing
Instructor Briefing
Other
CLGC Soaring Weather and Data Analysis
Presentation to CLGC by Greg Chisholm, December 2000 (pdf 3.3MB)
Chicago Soaring Forecasts courtesy of CGC and NOAA-FSL
The following SkewT/LogP diagrams provide both actual and forecast soundings. The forecast soundings are derived from the actual soundings via computer simulations:
- TI's and SkewT/LogP diagrams: Locate the dry adiabat line for the daily forcast high (CGC is approximately 1000mb's MSL). The dry adiabat angles from lower right to upper left - colored blue, numbered in degrees F.
- Follow the dry adiabat up to the intersection with the sounding. The sounding is the squiggly line depicting temperature as a function of altitude - colored red. This intersection is the top of the thermal for today, given no complications, like clamp.
- At any altitude, the TI is the difference between the sounding temperature for that altitude and the dry adiabat temperature for that altitude.
- One rule of thumb is that a glider could expect to top out at TI=-3 (though many have experienced greater heights).
Advanced Digital Data Service (ADDS)
The National Weather Service's ADDS site contains a large amount of general aviation weather data. These links provide you with direct access to a number of these pages.
- ADDS main page
- Joliet Radar
- Visible Satellite image
- ADDS Metar Java page
- FAA Notams (main page)
- FAA Notams (radius search page)
- National Weather Service (NWS): forecast for Minooka, IL.
Dr. Jack's Blipmaps
Direct Link to Dr Jack's BLIPMAP images - Blipmap and Blipspot forecasts. This page contains 4 Blipmap images - Thermal Updraft Strength, Critical Height, Wind Speed, and Wind Direction. It also contains links to the Blipspot forecasts for the CGC location. Note: You must be a Blipmap subscriber to view all 4 Blipmap images.
NOAA-FSL
- MAPS Java Plot for IL59 (CGC) This is the unmodified version or the version from which the above were derived.
- MAPS Java Plot for Freeport (Albertus) This unmodified version is centered on Albertus for the 2003 Region 7 contest.
Forecast by NOAA's Forcast Systems Laboratory. This link provides 5 plots from the current time. I usually select the region around the drybulb from ground (~1000mb) to 10,000 feet (e.g., place cursor to right of drybulb/1000mb intersection, depress left mouse button, drag up and to the left to above 10,000 ft line). Expected cloudbases are indicated by the following: pressure (altitude), wetbulb temp, drybulb temp, and wind direction/speed.
- MAPS Java Plot for ILX
- Plymouth State College - skewt/logp for DVN - RAOB - Derived from the 12 hour balloon soundings.
Additional Helpful Stuff on the Web
- DynCorp DUATS on the Web
- DUAT.com by Data Transformation
- Plain English METARs
- Intellicast - Current US Surface Analysis
- Latest GOES Satellite Sounding for Davenport, IA - This provides hourly sounding - though vertical resolution is poor.
- Latest GOES Satellite Sounding for Chicago, IL
- Air Sports Net page for Joliet
- John Cochrane's soaring forecast links page for CGC
General Purpose Sites and Educational Information
The following is a collection of sources for the above graphics as well as some selected information sources on reading these graphics.
- Kevin Ford's Thermal Report Generator
- MAPS/RUC Page Interactive - home of a java applet that's really cool
- MAPS/RUC Page Non-interactive - Pick your favorites(ILX/DVN,???)
- Plymouth State College - depicts parcels -- nice size on a white background
- READY Page from ARL where you can get animations and pick the size of the plot (first enter your preferred station id (e.g., dvn), pick a size (900x900), start time, number of hours, Full Sounding or only up to 400 mb, select a chart, and Request plot
- The READY Page for dvn (ilx not in database)
- Temperature Converter from Intellicast
- Southern Eagles Soaring Forcast Page a compendium of web weather sites prepared by Chris Ruf
- Upper Air Data Details- a description of upper air products available and what they tell you.
- Upper Air Sounding Details - a concise description including parcel trajectory.
- The Thermal Soaring Adiabat Chart an explanation by P.J. Kelly of the Valley Soaring Association
- Forecasting Soaring Weather another article by P.J. Kelly of the Valley Soaring Association
- General Information - GOES Atmospheric Soundings Display
- Soaring Weather - Shenandoah Valley --- How to read a RAOB/SkewT
- Soaring Weather - Shenandoah Valley
Created by Greg Chisholm December 1998
Modified by Rich Carlson July 2004
Chicago Glider Club is located on Bell Road in Minooka, Illinois, about one mile north of US Highway 6. This is about 2 miles SE of Minooka, 9 miles E of Morris, and 8 miles SW of Joliet (about 2 miles SW of the intersection of I-55 and I-80). From Bell Road, turn East onto Airport Road; this road runs immediately along side the grass runway, so please drive with caution and look out for gliders and tow planes. The clubhouse phone is 815-290-5021. |
Use the interactive Google map below to see our location. |
Club Objectives |
The purpose of the Club is to provide fellowship, information, instruction, stimulation, and education for those interested in flying, gliding, and soaring, both locally and cross country. The Club promotes interest in soaring both locally and on wider levels. The Club supports recognition of outstanding accomplishments in personal feats, sailplane design, and technical advancements pertaining to soaring. CGC has a good blend of flying personalities. Many members just fly locally. But there are about 20 who fly cross country at every opportunity. Flights up to 350 miles have been flown from the CGC Field. For those wishing to start soaring cross-country, or to just improve their thermalling ability, there is a large pool of very experienced soaring pilots from which to obtain advice. After the flying is finished for the day, the cross-country pilots expound on their flight to all who will listen. This often culminates in a cookout by any and all who care to stay. Planned social events include a buffet dinner in the Spring and a Pig Roast in the Fall. |
Membership Obligations |
The Chicago Glider Club is a working glider club, not simply a flying club. The club owns the airport, hangers, gliders, tow-planes, and other airport facilities. Club members perform all maintenance activities, including cutting the runway, sweeping out the hangers, and performing annual inspections of the club aircraft. New members are expected to pitch in and assist with all these tasks. The cost of operation is kept to a minimum by having the membership do ALL of the required work to maintain the club. This includes maintaining the aircraft and facility equipment, mowing the grass on the runway, and cleaning the clubhouse. Members participate as their own talents, interest and time permit. This "do it yourself" philosophy is the mainstay of the club and is expected of each member. No work details or schedules are mandated. Each member is expected to share in the work. Being a member can be a real hands-on total aviation experience! Many members are high time soaring pilots and several have extensive contest experience. |
Eligibility |
The club always welcomes individuals interested in becoming committed members that love soaring and who intend to participate in the club's operations and activities on a long-term basis. It is preferred that new members have at least a private pilot certificate with any rating; non-glider rated private pilots are welcome. If you need transition training for a glider rating, that can be worked out with a club instructor using club sailplanes to acquire the required experience in preparation for the FAA check-ride. Club instructors offer their service free of charge to club members in club equipment. Any person who expresses an interest in soaring may apply for pilot membership by the payment of the initiation fee and submission of the Club application. Applications for membership in the Chicago Glider Club will be reviewed the Board of Directors for final approval. Applicants must have a sponsor: a sponsor is a current member of the club who is knowledgeable of club procedures and is willing to provide any guidance the new member should require until familiar with club procedures. Although CGC is not set up as a primary glider flight school, the club will consider genuinely committed student pilot applicants. In this case, the student pilot applicant must make prior arrangements with a qualified club instructor for the flying lessons needed to acquire a glider pilot certificate. Family Membership is available at a very nominal one time charge. This enables any member of the regular pilot's family to use club aircraft. The only restriction is that only one club sailplane may be used by the Family Member unit at the same time. This rule is waived on days of low utilization of club sailplanes. All usage fees incurred by family members are the responsibility of the primary pilot member. |
The Application Process |
Pilots interested in joining the club should contact the club's This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who is in charge of new member relations. The VP will send you an application kit that explains the club's history, and what the club expects from new members. An application form will be included in the application kit. |
Our members fly on weekends throughout the Northern Illinois soaring season, and on weekdays whenever one of our many tow pilot members is available to tow.
Typical cross-country routes from CGC go from northwest to south from Minooka, away from Lake Michigan and the Class B & C airspace. The longest recorded flight from CGC was 435 miles free distance by Harold Jensen in April 1962. This was accomplished in a plywood "floater" sailplane, Harold was an excellent pilot as well.
Tracking
CGC gliders can be tracked on these sites:
- Glidernet
- GliderRADAR (clicking on Minooka opens a menu with further options including coverage)
- GlideAndSeek
- GliderTracker (zooming in and clicking on ‘Minooka’ will provide further options including OGN range)
- See 'Club Flight Log' under the 'Membership' menu when logged into the site.
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