Women’s Soaring Pilots Association 48th Seminar

New Venue!

July 13–17, 2026

We are pleased to announce that Chilhowee Gliderport near Benton, TN, will now be hosting the 2026 WSPA Seminar. We are excited to have two-time world champion, Sarah Arnold, as our host! This will be the 5th time she has graciously welcomed us to Chilhowee. WSPA sincerely apologizes for any difficulties caused by this venue change. Seminar dates are July 13-July 17.

Anyone interested in joining us at Chilhowee is welcome to register, the previous June 14 registration deadline is no longer in effect. That said we are trying to firm up logistics as we are only 1-month out from the Seminar. We appreciate your signing up ASAP.  You can do so by clicking HERE.

We do have a few changes beyond the venue. The seminar fees no longer include glider rentals and tows as part of the registration fee. Tows, glider rentals, instruction and camping/bunkhouse will be billed separately as applicable at the regular Chilhowee rates, see website Chilhowee Gliderport. As such there are no longer separate “flying” and “non-flying” registrations. The $450 registration fee covers seminar programming, meals, a banquet ticket, one t-shirt, a donation to the Briegleb scholarship, and associated other seminar and site costs.

For lodging, Sarah has been recommending Air B&B (or similar) vacation rentals. Here are some more traditional options:

We look forward to seeing you at the Seminar!

Exciting Things Happen at a Seminar!

  • Building New Relationships and Meeting New Friends
  • Gaining Inspiration from Others
  • Workshops and Lectures
  • Flying Practice and/or Instruction
  • Gaining New Skills and Polishing Skills
  • Shared Meals
  • Celebration at the Banquet
  • Having Fun!
  • Limerick Contest (Find previous winning limericks here)

 

 

We flew and had a great time at the Finger Lakes Soaring Club, Dansville, NY, 2025.

The 2024 Seminar at Sunflower in Kansas was wonderful!

 

 

The 2023 Seminar in Übersberg, Pfullingen, Germany was a Great Success

 

 

2022 Seminar Photos from Chilhowee, TN:

 

Seminar Benefits

  • Networking Opportunities– Building new relationships and meeting new friends is important to your growth as a pilot. Relationships can help you gain knowledge from having meaningful conversations with them and interactions.
  • Learning Something New – Learning about new and more effective ways to accomplish things and gaining more knowledge about soaring in general.
  • Developing Expertise – Soaring training enables you to gain more expertise and helps you develop new ideas to improve as a pilot.
  • Gaining Inspiration – Meeting new people and learning new things often leads to great feelings of inspiration.
  • Having fun – Attending seminars are usually very fun. It’s a day away from the normal daily routine to improve you skills.  It is fun to connect with like minded women and support each other.

What Happens At Seminar