HARRIS HILL, N.Y. (WENY) -- Keep your eyes on the sky this week! Pilots from around the region, as far as Virginia, are putting their skills to the test in the Region 3 soaring competition at Harris Hill. Pilots are asked to complete a course, based on a required time-frame. 

"You have to fly for the minimum time and fly the course and fly it as fast as you can, but if you come in under the minimum time, then your speed is based on that minimum time...okay, you don't want to come in too early, so you have to fly farther," explains Peter Smith, Former Director of the National Soaring Museum and a current Harris Hill Soaring Corp. Board Member.

Harris Hill is considered the "Soaring Capital of America" after it hosted the first national soaring competition in 1930. Decades later, the motorless planes are merging with modern day technology.

"With the advent of GPS, and GPS recorders, the turn points on that course no longer have to be visually identified so there's all kinds of tasks... but they're all essentially speed around the course," Smith, a retired glider pilot himself, adds. 

 "Flying gliders is all about energy management and being able to make good landings and and took takeoffs and so forth, and being able to handle that sort of thing," says competitor Moe Acee, who has been a glider pilot for more than 50 years. 

This week's regional competition is also drawing attention to the National Soaring Museum which is celebrating a major milestone the coming fall. On Saturday, October 5th the National Soaring Museum will hold a special celebration for it's 50th anniversary! 

Information about the event can be found here: https://www.soaringmuseum.org/events.php