League of Silent Flight

The League of Silent Flight (LSF) is the special interest group representing RC soaring to the Academy of Model Aeronautics. LSF has its own lengthy and important history, having first been conceived of in Northern California over 50 years ago, and helps arrange the annual RC soaring Nationals at Muncie, Indiana each summer. For additional info on its history you can read The LSF Story.

LSF has two types of Soaring Accomplishment Programs (SAPs) that encourage personal skill development in the sport and are fun! There is an SAP that is strictly for RC soaring (the oldest and original SAP) and with the advent of electric launch methods, an eSAP was added more recently that duplicates the original SAP but with the use of electric motors for launch. Each SAP consists of a series of five levels of achievement with increasing difficulty. The levels involve slope and thermal soaring, spot landings, cross-country flights and participation at contests. A pilot needs to achieve Level I before proceeding to Level II and so forth all the way up through Level V.

Similarly, pilots who regularly hone their skills at contests generally improve in overall performance and over time, seek increasingly different and difficult tasks. By the time a pilot achieves Level IV, the Level V tasks can feel daunting. A 2-hour thermal duration flight. An 8-hour slope duration flight (some refer to this as the “bladder test”). A goal and return cross-country flight of 10km (6.2 miles) out and 10km back. It’s longer than it seems. And Level V requires 3 contest wins at large contests over 20 participants. These days it can be hard to find contests of this size, and the requirement to win them really means the pilot has to be on the top of their game. It can take years or decades for a pilot to complete Level V. Some pilots never do complete Level V; in fact, less than 150 people in the history of the program have done so.

Getting Started

So how do you get started? It’s EASY. First, go to: silentflight.org and print out a copy of the SAP or eSAP voucher form. Bring the appropriate voucher with you to any of our TPG events and participate! If, for instance, you are flying in an F5J contest, each landing can be considered as a spot landing for the Level I and II requirements. Even the contest flights can have sufficient time to satisfy Level I requirements. Whenever you do make an achievement, have the Contest Director or your timer sign your form as a witness. We have Torrey Pines Gliderport (and other slopes) at our disposal. It’s easy to get a 15 min slope flight with your buddies. TPG occasionally has events specifically dedicated to LSF achievement opportunities.

Once you’ve completed all of the Level I tasks, submit the completed voucher to the LSF Secretary as a pdf scan or photo that clearly shows the witness signatures. The secretary will then review your voucher and email you your acceptance or rejection of the voucher submission. If for some reason your voucher is rejected, you will have to adjudicate rejections with the Secretary. Want to find out more? Detailed information is available on the LSF Website.

Within TPG we keep an informal listing of which members are working on which levels. We collect that information as a part of membership renewal and encourage members to let us know when they have succeeded with any level in the program. To date several of our members have achieved Level V - we hope to one day add you to the list! If you have questions please reach out.