Welcome to Torrey Pines GullsTom Farley – Co-Modeler of the Year – 2025
Tom Farley was born in Northridge, California in 1957. He developed a healthy interest in cars as a teenager and while one brother was into model rockets and a neighbor was into .049 control line models, none of that really was of much interest to Tom…until February 1972. That month, National Geographic had an article on the modern re-birth of hang gliding, featuring the now-famous Otto Lilienthal Meet in California and its many colorful Rogallo-style hang gliders. At age 15, Tom was immediately hooked. One of the gliders pictured was a Batso by Taras Kiceniuk. Tom wrote to Taras for more information and for $10 received plans in return. The Batso was originally built out of bamboo for the structural supports but Tom built his out of an aluminum amateur radio antenna as that was easier to acquire. Slowly the hang glider took shape on his parent’s tennis court in the back yard with a black pool covering for the wing. Once completed Tom flew his Batso from a local hill near Northridge at Devonshire Downs with the assistance of his brothers and ropes to help get the glider airborne. The glider almost came apart in midair, but Tom wasn’t injured and through tethered flights at 30-40 feet high he had his first tastes of flight.
Australian hang glider showman Bill Bennett was making the rounds at this same time using a delta wing hang glider towed from just about anything to make paid public demonstrations. Bill came to the circle dirt track at Devonshire and made a flight and Tom was further hooked. He bought a hang glider from Bennett with a friend. The friend took off in the hang glider, it steered into a tree, and he never flew again. Given the accident, Tom’s father Ed (an electronic engineer working for Tasker Industries in Whittier) looked over the hang glider and arranged a meeting with Bennett. At the meeting, Ed Farley insisted that new cables and clamps were required. The discussion between Ed and Bill was heated but Tom’s dad was convinced the only way for Tom to continue flying was to have a more professional approach to safety around the structure and his training.
With the hang glider repaired and retrofitted to more stringent safety requirements, Tom showed up at the first US national hang glider championships at Sylmar, California in 1973. There he enjoyed several successful flights, even with his mom watching from near the landing zone as he glided high up in the air. All of this was when Tom was only ~15 years old. By the time he turned 16 he got his driver’s license, put racks on a Datsun suitable for carting hang gliders, and spent every weekend flying through his junior and senior years of high school. He started a hang-gliding club at Crespi Carmelite High School, graduating from there in 1975. He also continued to progress in hang gliding, flying frequently at Sylmar and Escape Country.
Once Tom completed high school, there was the important decision of where to go to college. His parents insisted that the hang glider was not going with him for freshman year, at least up to the first set of midterms and if he did well, then maybe… Tom had the choice of attending either Pepperdine or UC San Diego. It wasn’t much of a choice. Pepperdine (too close to family) vs. UC San Diego (right next to Torrey Pines…) and so off he went to major in economics with minors in mathematics and psychology at UCSD. He traveled home every weekend to see his girlfriend at the time and fly his hang glider at Sylmar.
An unfortunate accident that seriously injured hang glider pilot and mentor Jack Schroder happened at nearly this same time. This event led to a large discussion in the Farley household with the agreement that Tom would only fly hang gliders at places he was already familiar with like Sylmar and Escape Country but not at new places like Torrey Pines. Attending UCSD – and NOT able to fly HG at Torrey. That was a bummer. He sold his Bennett hang glider and his cars to a med school student and in exchange took a VW bus trip around the United States. It was the 70s…
Tom graduated UCSD in 1980. Needing employment, he ended up working for Evans Hotels in 1984 as a carpenter. This led to additional work in framing, and he soon rose to lead their in-house construction department. For those not familiar, Evans Hotels operates the Catamaran and Bahia Hotels in Pacific Beach and for many years operated the Torrey Pines Inn (currently the Lodge at Torrey Pines) near the gliderport. Tom continued in this role for nearly 40 years.
Over time he got the itch to take up motorcycling but gave it up. He got the itch to take up skydiving. During one jump at Perris, CA the plane ahead of him had an accident but Tom jumped from his plane regardless. While in the area of the gliderport for work, he used to stop by and watch the hang glider and RC activities. RC gliding never interested him all that much at the time, and accidents at Torrey with hang gliders reminded him of the risks.
In the mid-1980s, Tom met Marcus Salvemini who began making early paragliders from Ram air parachutes. These were made in a garage and test flown at Little Black Mountain near Rancho Penasquitos. Marcus formed a company, Airtek, to help sell these paraglider designs, and Tom began providing instruction on the weekends. Occasionally these activities migrated to the Poway slope near Tom’s house with van-loads of students showing up to try paragliders and landing in the empty fields below. Now also into paragliding, Bill Bennett paid for Marcus and Tom to enter a contest at Horse where Tom was introduced to the brand-new Katana higher-performance paraglider. Tom flew from his house in Poway 6 days a week for many years and held a site duration record of 4 hours 59 min at Buckman Springs for many years – as a “wind dummy” – the first to takeoff is usually the first to land but not so with Tom – he was the last to land that day, after climbing to 12,000ft MSL in his shorts. Brr. Unfortunately, Tom had three “come to Jesus” moments in paragliders and after each he took a break from flying for 30 days just to re-think and gain a better perspective.
He started dating his would-be wife Debbie in 1989 and continued flying paragliders to 2015. After paragliders, he shifted back to motorcycles. Tom is always on the move!
But another seed was planted back in the 1990s. One that is finally blossoming now. A friend named Todd roomed with Tom in the 1990s at Tom’s house in Poway. Todd and Tom built a pristine Mark’s Models Wanderer over a period of 6 weeks. Neither Todd nor Tom knew how to fly RC but occasionally they would see members of the Torrey Pines Gulls flying on Poway slope. They ventured out with the Wanderer and launched it on its beautiful maiden flight. This RC soaring stuff is easy! Soon enough in the flight they did a loop. That was fun! Then they wondered how many consecutive loops could be made. Loop after loop after loop and then POP! Wing folded. And that was that. Tom’s first experience with RC was over.
Sometime later, Tom noticed folks enjoying slope combat with Zagis at Poway slope. These were mainly young kids – many of them were under 16 – and some were not behaving well at all. They would park in the Sabre Springs community nearby, cause a ruckus and show no remorse. Eventually the community rebelled against them, they were booted and stopped showing. Meanwhile Tom repaired the Wanderer and enjoyed flying it on occasion from the slope. Todd built a Bob Martin Coyote and enjoyed flying that too (both planes are currently owned by Paul Nibecker).
Then more recently, Tom saw others flying at Poway and he came out to introduce himself. There he met Gary Fogel, John McNeil, Chuck Norris, and David Hall slope soaring with a variety of planes including a foam Radian. It had been a long time since someone had flown RC at the site and Tom struck up a friendship. Thereafter, Tom has gotten into RC gliding. He has a Radian, Weasel, Conscendo, UMX Conscendo, two combat wings, a foamy Schweizer 1-26, and discus launch gliders both regular and electric. He’s not only hooked; he hooked his friend Kevin into RC gliding as well.
Tom saw the professionalism of the Torrey Pines Gulls and joined. Ever since becoming a member, he has taken considerable time and effort to help with field work, help rescue planes from trees, help encourage membership, and he and Debbie have been exceptionally kind to allow TPGers to park and fly near their home for our new Poway Slope Fiesta events. Given his many hours in the air in hang gliders and paragliders he already understands a lot of what the atmosphere can provide and how to make use of it. He now enjoys doing so with two feet on the ground and TPG friends nearby. The TPG honored Tom as co-Modeler of the Year with Jake Olefsky in 2025 for his many efforts to help make TPG a better club. Thank you, Tom!
