Demo Rides by appointment only - available for $200. Weight limit 240 lbs.
Nutmeg's Flight Instructors
Martin Opitz
Marty joined Nutmeg Soaring in 1967. He's held a Commercial Flight Instructor Glider rating since 1980. He holds an FAI Silver C badge with an altitude Diamond. He also holds the New Hampshire state absolute altitude record for gliders (26,100 feet). When he's not instructing, he can be found flying his family's ASW19B. .
Mike Opitz
Mike Opitz has been around gliders his whole life. Starting with rides as a kid, Mike began lessons in May 1964 with Nutmeg at the age of 13 then soloed when he turned 14. Mike earned his licenses at the FAA minimum allowed ages.
With a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1972, Mike spent the summer of 1972 as an intern working at the Schempp-Hirth glider factory in Germany.
Serving with the USAF and Air National Guard as a fighter pilot from 1972 to 1995, Mike flew A-7D, OV-10A, and F-16 as instructor pilot and weapons officer; retiring as a LTCOL with 23 years of service.
Mike's airline career spans over 35 years (16 years overlapping Air National Guard service) with Eastern, Northwest, and Delta Airlines, flying: 727, A300, DC-9, DC-10, A320 aircraft.
Randol Webb
Randol's flight training in college ROTC using Aeronca 7AC Champs earned a Private certificate in 1959.
After graduation in 1960, he entered USAF Pilot Training at Bainbridge AB, GA and later at Craig AFB, Selma, AL as a 2nd Lieutenant flying the Beechcraft T-34, Cessna T-37 and Lockheed T-33 finishing that training in 1961 and the USAF Flight Instructors Course flying the T-33 in 1962. As a USAF Flight Instructor and Check Pilot in the T-33 and T-37 and as a civilian flight instructor he spent another 4 years instructing at Craig AFB, AL. In 1966 after transition at Hurlburt AFB, FL to the Douglas A1E Skyraider he did one combat tour based in Thailand, flying exclusively in North Vietnam and Laos as a combat pilot and instructor and check pilot in the A1E. Returning from SE Asia in 1967 he joined Pan American Airways as a pilot/navigator, later as flight engineer, copilot, captain and instructor in the Boeing 727, 707 and Airbus A310. In 1991 after merging with Delta Airlines he flew the A310, Boeing 757/767 and Lockheed L1011. Glider flying began in 1967 in California and continued with Nutmeg starting in 1999, finishing the Silver Badge in 2001 and instructing and towing at Nutmeg since.