Precision flyers: Glider team heads to Turkey for world championships

published June 2008 in the Naperville Sun www.napersun.com

Richard Burnowski works in the roofing and construction industry, but he has commited his life to flying.

Burnowski, 51, of Boling brook is one of three senior pilots on a national team that participates in competitions with hand-towed gliders. On Monday, Burnowski, junior pilot Jeff Walter of Naperville and the rest of their five-member team will leave for Turkey to compete in the F3J World Championship.

In the competition, teams from 23 countries will be scored based on their ability to accomplish two goals. Pilots launch their planes at the same time and try to land them after exactly 10 minutes. They also aim for a target on the ground and receive more points for landing their planes closer to the target.

F3J teams include five members: a pilot, a team manager, a caller to inform the pilot about other planes and two towers.

"My job (as tower) is to get them in the air as fast as possible," said Richard's son Franklin Burnowski, 26. "We want them to think about flying and nothing else."

The team will spend two weeks in Turkey, and almost all of the time will be spent flying, Burnowski said.

"It's a dream come try because I've been working on it so long," Burnowski said.

Burnowski has been trying to make the national team since 1979. Now that he earned a spot, he is confident in his team's ability to place in the top three at the world championships.

Years of practice

Burnowski's confidence comes from years of practice and from knowing he is in control of his aircraft.

"It took every minute of practice - every day, every hour, every month, every year - to get to where I'm at now," Burnowski said. "If you practice really hard and you practice the right things, then you kind of expect to do well, and it raises your confidence level."

Walter, the junior pilot member of the team, began flying with his father nine years ago. The junior at Neuqua Valley High School has been flying competitively for two years.

Burnowski and Walter practice with a Chicago-based competitive flying team called SOAR, or Silent Order of Aeromodeling by Radio. They use sod farms as their practice fields.

Every weekend when temperatures are greater than 50 degrees, the team practices launching, landing, adjusting to wind speeds and dealing with weather conditions.

But living in the Midwest stops them from practicing during the winter months.

"We don't fly as much as the West Coast guys," Walter said.

Burnowski and Walter are the only pilots from the Midwest on the national team, and they said they will be the first from this are to compete in the F3J World Championships.

Making it to the world championships took teamwork and trust.

"When you fly as a team, it's almost like being married where you have to fully trust in the person that you're married to," Burnowski said. "You have to have full trust in the people (who)are working with your team."

Copyright 2008 Naperville Sun