I have wanted to do a glider flight since I lived in New York an hour and a half from Elmira, NY which is often called the soaring capital of the US. I took the time to go to Jean and go for my glider ride. Picking the right day is important. My ride was only about 20 minutes yesterday, but I knew with the colder weather and the noon flight time I chose was not the best for the optimum ride time, but I had to go early enough to get back home, change, and get to the Strip for dinner. I was really impressed with the operation. My only problem was not giving them my cell phone when I first called. We played a little phone tag, but that would have been solved with the cell number. Getting ready for the flight was a piece of cake and the take off from the runway was super! When we got to the correct altitude, I got to pull the know that released the tow rope from the glider and we were on our own. It was such a super ride looking at all the beautiful desert and mountain scenery below. Had we had better thermals, the ride would have been longer. The pilot explained everything and was really a pleasant fellow. I'm hooked. I will be back in April when it's warmer and there are better thermals. read more

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This company is extremely difficult to deal with and their communication is at best inefficient and at worst fundamentally dishonest. I required Groupon to intervene to even make an appointment, since 2 voicemails did not receive a response in 5 days. I received a call from them on the scheduled morning and had my appointment rescheduled. Not a big deal itself, but it perhaps should have been a clue going forward. When I arrived for my appointment, there was no one present at the office. No human, no sign, no note. After waiting 20 minutes, and leaving another voicemail on the office line, Karen arrived. I hate that she attempted to lie to me. She gave me a form to complete and tried to pretend that everything was normal. When I pressed her, though, she admitted that they were overbooked and it would be at least another hour before I could go up. I'm not sure that that's true, either, but I couldn't wait that long. I left without having my soaring experience and have asked Groupon for a refund. This nasty experience cost me 45 miles of driving and 1 hr 45 minutes of time wasted. I will never deal with this company again. They are inefficient. They are dishonest. If I can't trust them to make an appointment, can't trust them to keep it, do I really want to trust them with my life? read more

Total ripoff. I wish I could say differently. I attempted to use a Groupon voucher, and booked 2 months in advance for this past weekend. When I arrived the evening before, a voicemail from the Soaring Center mentioned the tow plane had valve problems and they would call back in the morning with an update. No call, so I called them, and they said to call back in a couple of hours (so my appointment was squashed). Later, they said call later. I let them know I could change my schedule to go on another day. No return calls. I left them a message saying I was disappointed with the lack of follow up. They stopped contact. I wouldn't waste your time or money with them. Clearly the aircraft are not reliable, and neither is the team there. read more

Good part: when you get to ride in the sailplane the instructor is good and the scenery is great. Bad part: who knows if you will ride. I've made two trips out to Vegas specifically to do this, both times signed up via back and forth emails well in advance and confirmed the day prior by phone/text. I really wanted to do some winch launches. First time there was no ground crew, I was disappointed, but we did aero-tows and still had a pretty good time. The second time I drive the car I rented just to do this the 20 miles south of the strip and arrived at 10:00 for my 10:00 appointment. This time there was nobody there. After a while I text and call on the phone. No answer. I waited in the 101 degree sun for an hour and a half. Never heard back from them. They have my email, my text number, my phone number. I'm out the rental car cost and hours of my limited time in Vegas. Talking with the skydiving operation at the airport all you get is embarrassed shrugs and 'who knows where they are.' I left at 11:30. Zero communication from the glider people. This is no way to run a school or a business. Very frustrating. The winch was there. The sailplanes were there. I was there. But no one from the school was there. I still want to winch launch , but now looking at taking my money to other places that might at least try to pretend they care about my time. read more

We recently visited Soaring Center Las Vegas. It's a good thing we didn't read the previous poster's review first, because it doesn't represent the true quality of the experience. In fact, I feel sorry for his wife who gave him the gift - what a jerk. Anyway, a caveat - we are not in any way related to the owners or anyone who lives or works in Vegas. We're just a couple of 40-ish people vacationing in Vegas who wanted something more than slots and craps. If you want to jump out of a plane, then this isn't for you. The excitement doesn't come from risking your life doing something that nature didn't intend for you to do. For me, the thrill came from being 6000 ft above sea level in a small tin can without an engine, propellers, or energy source other than the thermal updrafts. If you've ever seen an eagle soaring high above you and wanted to know what it felt like, well, this is as close as you're gonna get. Yes, the glider isn't pretty. There are some privately owned beauties out at the airstrip - don't even look, it's not the one you'll use. Yes, you'll use that old ancient-looking contraption with patched leather seats, slightly rusty controls, and a frayed tow-rope. Your pilot, however, has years of experience unmarred by a single safety issue, and your tow pilot is one of those dang pesky highway patrol guys who clocks you from his plane and radios down to the guys in the cars who hand out the tickets. You're in good hands. The ride duration does vary. For those who choose acrobatics it is shorter, as the dips, stalls, and turns take you down a bit faster than those who choose gliding. If you're gliding, your ride length is mostly based on the thermals. My ride was over 30 minutes, as the winds were excellent - my husband's ride was about 20 minutes though, as he did a few stalls and steep banking turns, losing altitude at a rate that was far too fast for me! The four of us had a great time and thought it was a better use of money than throwing it down on the craps table. It's a family run operation. There's no slick ads or gimmicks, no flashy entertainment or tacky souveniers. It's not for everyone, but it was good for us. read more

These people are fundamentally dishonest and you should look elsewhere for glider rides. To make a long story short: We were told that their tow plane's magneto had developed a problem and they needed to make repairs. We only found out by happening to have called them just before we got in the car. They definitely should have called us. Had we not thought to double-check, we would have driven out and back for no reason at all. Anyway, we rescheduled. The next day, we are told that the wind is too strong to fly. That's strange - according to our weather forecasts the wind won't get bad until early the next day, but fine. We call every few hours to check on conditions, and we go to the Hoover Dam to kill time until later in the day. While driving out to Hoover Dam, we see skydivers, which makes us think that there are probably no issues with high wind at the moment. After Hoover Dam, we call again, and after pressing the issue, we discover that the real issue is still their magneto. They needed to get it inspected and signed off on, and they hadn't been able to do that yet. So in sum, they lied to us and misled us about the nature of the problem. In doing so, they wasted our time and prevented us from calling another company before we had to go back home. They should have just been honest with us about the nature of the problem. Because they weren't, we didn't get to go glider riding before we had to come back home. Do not, under any circumstances, give your business to people who are this dishonest, who are this bad at communication, and who have no concern for their customers. read more

My BF and I were here early Sept and each took an individual soar. I loved it! We both did! Michael made us comfortable and we felt safe. So peaceful and beautiful. read more

The Soaring Center - Flight Instruction Near Me - Jean, Nevada

To the poster commenting on my review.....No need for name calling. I wrote an honest review of MY experience. Keep your opinions on yelp for your own experience. And by the way, I felt sorry for my wife too because this placed stiffed both her and I. She was pissed and prompted me to write this. Who's the jerk or should I say bitch now? read more

My experience with this company seems to be a reiteration of what others have already said in their reviews. My wife purchased a gift certificate in order for me to have lessons ultimately leading to certification with their instructor, Michael. Multiple visits to the airfield yielded little in the way of meaningful ground lessons and/or flights. Several times I found myself simply waiting for literally hours at the airfield for someone to show up to operate either the winch, or the tow plane in order to get up in the air. The tow plane seemed to constantly be under maintenance, or pilots weren't available, and the winch typically took three attempts to get airborne due to broken tow cables. In all of my visits, all of which were during appropriate weather conditions, I experienced only three flights that never lasted more than ten minutes. While Michael may be a nice guy, he's certainly not organized and doesn't meet the definition of a professional, and the people he would hastily arrange to operate the winch was either his wife on break from her actual job, or another student which made the entire experience seem awkward due to the lengthy wait times, excessive excuses, and lack of real professionalism. Realizing that the substantial amount of money my wife paid towards the certificate was not going to be placed to good use, I politely requested a partial refund that both parties could agree to and find fair. After multiple emails, Michael's wife replied that we would work something out, but after multiple emails and phone calls afterwards I haven't heard anything since. As per the consistent history provided by these reviews, this company takes your money and runs with it, producing mediocre services, if any at all are even given. If you're like me and would like to learn to be a sailplane pilot, I highly encourage you to seek lessons and training elsewhere although it may be a lengthy drive, but at least you'll be getting credible, reliable training in exchange for your funds instead of wasting your time and money. Soaring Nevada in Minden, NV is an excellent alternative, but there are also the Southern California Soaring Academy outside LA, and Arizona Soaring outside of Phoenix. read more

While the flight itself was great fun and an experience, the operation is a bit sketchy. The pick up and drop off service was unprofessional, we had to wait for while she stopped and shopped for dog food. Thankfully I shot some IPod video as I am still waiting for my in-flight video ( 1 year ) and good luck getting them return phone calls asking about the video. I had planned on getting my glider license with these guys, so ultimately their poor after the fact service has cost them the training fees and future rentals. read more

I give them one star because they were nice. But I would NEVER recommend them. We gave a wider ride to my dad for his 85th birthday. Bought the whole package, including video. Never got the video. Maybe there was no film in it...the worst was that I tried to communicate via emails, texts, phone calls...they didn't respond. I drove from Arizona for this event and had to go back several times to get it done. They didn't show the first appointment. But we tried again. Too much inconvenience for both my father and me . They're flakes. It would take an attorney to get them to act on any dissatisfactions. I tried for a year! They are disorganized, unreliable, and unresponsive. Boo...Big Boo! read more

Based on the address, this is The Soaring Center, a glider flight center. I had a wonderful flight there in Jan 2012, but the rest of the experience was terrible. The people running the place are hard to get along with, will lie, are very disorganized and will not fulfill their contracts. My Groupon was to include a video of the flight. All I received was false promises and after months of e-mails, a fake video that was not of my flight. I advised the BBB and Groupon. The BBB never got a response from the Soaring center and neither did Groupon. Finally, Groupon gave me a partial refund to make amends. I would not do business with them again. If this is an example of their organization, I'm lucky to be alive! read more

Wasted so much time with this company trying to complete a glider ad on rating. They don't communicate, the don't show up.....repeatedly, they have been a complete waste of my time, effort and money. I would take your hard earned dollars and your very valuable time and seek out another alternative. I'm now trying to collect money back from them, which as you can imagine is more difficult than getting them to show up at the airport....which is no easy task. Good luck, but in 30+ years of aviation this is one of the worst businesses I've come across. read more

I believe these folks to be dishonest and possibly unsafe. I have 25 years of flying and teaching experience so feel qualified to make this statement. I purchased their Introductory Flight Training Package for my son who was entering the Air Force in a month. My credit card was promptly charged $299 and a flight scheduled one week out. What happened after was one series of delays after another. Their communication stinks (probably on purpose) and many of the cancelled flights were not forwarded to me until late at night via text, the night before. Finally, the day came and when we showed up, we were told that their tow plane was still down but they had contracted out with another tow plane pilot. Michael, the owner/pilot did a "test" run in the single seat glider behind the 150 HP (low power) Decathalon and deemed it good to go for pulling the bigger 3 person glider--something wrong with their 2 seater so had to take the 3 seater. The launch went OK but they had to break off from the Decathalon and return early due to overheating of the Decathalon and inability to gain altitude. It didn't smell right from the beginning and I, unfortunately allowed it to happen--assuming they knew what they were doing. Despite that, we tried several other dates afterwards (with a properly powered tow plane) to get my son his training and each was delayed for one reason or another. I finally got hold of them and asked for a refund. I was told I would get a full refund via text message but of course, that never materialized. My calls, texts, e-mails now go unanswered and I have had to work through VISA to try to recoup my funds. If you don't care about safety or your money--give them a whirl. read more

The Las Vegas Soaring Center is a poorly run business. It started with us having to call them repeatedly to get confirmation for our scheduled and paid for gliding session. At approximately 9:00 a.m. (before we were to picked up at 11:30 a.m.), we were able to reach them to confirm that we would be picked up for our gliding session that had been scheduled and paid for a month in advance. We had been told that we would be contacted the night before our scheduled event by 8:00 p.m. This obviously did not happen. When we were picked up about 11:30 a.m. as promised I noticed a strong and offensive odor. When riding only about 5 minutes, my head started hurting and I became nauseous. I moved up to the passenger seat, leaving my companion in the back seat to suffer a harsher indictment on his system, and drove with the windows rolled down to the Center. When we arrived at the Las Vegas Soaring Center we were both nauseous and had a bad headache. I asked to look into the trunk ( from where the offensive odor was coming). When the trunk was opened a staggering stench came out that smelled of benzene. (My background is in chemistry...thus, the ability to distinguish the obvious smell of benzene.) This is a TOXIC substance and has been positively implicated as a carcinogen. We discussed the possibility of going up and it was decided that we could not go up and enjoy our gliding experience....partly due to the outright adverse affect to our health from the TOXIC substance we were force to breathe and we were not feeling well, and partly my skepticism and distrust in the business in that it was run with the client's safety in mind. When asked to produce maintenance records or documentation the the gliders were air-worthy there were none available. We were told by Karen, the owner of the business, that our payment would be refunded. Now, they are refusing to issue a refund. THEY ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED. BE FOREWARNED. It should be a - 1 star due to the possible long-term effects of breathing a CARCINOGENIC and TOXIC substance. read more