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October 6, 2009

Local aerobatic pilot Paul Jennings has earned numerous awards for his glider skills.

By BOB GIBBINS The Tahlequah Daily Press Tue Oct 06, 2009, 09:37 AM CDT

Paul Jennings has spent his life around airplanes and, perhaps, that’s why he’s a top glider aerobatic pilot.

Jennings, who has lived in the Tahlequah area since 1987, won the U.S. National Glider Aerobatic Championship Sept. 25, after only three years of competition. He was one of 81 power pilots and 20 glider pilots to compete at the week-long event in Denison, Texas. Glider categories are sportsman, intermediate and unlimited.

“The categories are progressively more difficult with the unlimited category being the most difficult of all,” he explained. “The winner of the unlimited category is crowned the U.S. National Champion.”

Three of Jennings’ four flights were scored for the championship. He said those flights are called the known, free and the unknown. The known flight is a sequence of aerobatic maneuvers and can be practiced as much as the pilot chooses. The free flight is developed by each pilot within very specific rules, and can be flown as much as the pilot likes. He said the unknown flight is developed at the contest and given to the pilot the day before the flight and may not be practiced.

“Each aerobatic maneuver is scored by several judges with a degree of difficulty, like diving and figure skating, and the pilot with the highest score wins,” Jennings said.

Jennings’ father was stationed in the Navy at the Guantanamo Bay air station when the national champ was born. His first plane ride occurred later that year in a military transport back to the United States. He graduated from a New Jersey high school and later earned aircraft mechanics licenses while attending Spartan School of Aeronautics.

He got interested in flying while attending Spartan and took flight training at Tulsa Downtown Airpark, where he soloed. After graduating from Spartan, Jennings moved to Miami, Fla., and worked as a mechanic for Eastern Airlines.

“That’s where I got interested in gliders,” he said.

“I worked at Kendall Flying School and traded aircraft maintenance work for flight instruction in airplanes and gliders.” Jennings earned a flight instructor rating in gliders there, and had his first exposure to aerobatics.

He has given several youngsters and adults their first flights in airplanes and gliders through the Young Eagles program and selling plane rides at Balloonfest and air shows.

“I keep food on the table by flying as a part-time crop duster and working as an aircraft mechanic for American Airlines,” he said. “My passion for flying and improving my skills has progressed over the years to competition aerobatics.”

His Swift S-1 is specially built for aerobatics and stressed to 10 positive Gs and 7.5 negative Gs. Jennings plans to continue to get lots of practice so he can defend his title and start training for the World Championship held every two years in Europe.

He also flies and instructs with the Tulsa Skyhawks Soaring Club at the Pryor airport.

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