Beaver Stadium, which holds more than 83,000 people, looks like a quarter from 2,500 feet above the ground. A flight in a glider helped me see how small State College really is.

The 21 members of the Penn State Soaring Club see similar sites every time they fly one of the club's glider planes out of Ridge Soaring Glider Port, located 15 miles northeast of State College.

The club's membership drive for this semester begins today highlighted by a glider outside Willard Building.

"We want to bring the plane on campus so people can see that we exist and who we are," said President Steve McLaughlin. "There tends to be a big misconception that we fly hangliders instead of actual planes."

Soaring, a one- or two-person sport, is a task which involves a combination of physical and mental skills, said McLaughlin (senior-marketing).

"(Soaring is) the ability to have the flight skills required to fly the glider and the knowledge in order to be able to soar it in the lift," McLaughlin said.

The glider is towed down the runway by an airplane and lifts off the ground before the plane similar to flying a kite. Then the plane brings the glider to the desired height. When comfortable with the position, the pilot breaks the tow line connection with the plane.

The glider soars smoothly with either one of the passengers steering it through the air. The plane usually flies between 60 and 70 miles-per-hour which seemed slow as I rode inside the glider. But as I watched another glider soar through the air, I realized how fast we really were moving.

The average passenger ride is about an hour. To end the flight, the pilots fly a landing pattern and the glider descends to the runway.

Troy Dunn, vice president of the club, said soaring is just like flying an airplane except that gliders do not have engines.

"It's a lot better (than flying a plane) because it's more peaceful," Dunn (graduate-aerospace engineering) said. He said one of his most memorable experiences occurred when he was soaring in the same lift as two red-tailed hawks and watched them plummet into a lake below.

Pilots form circles with the glider while waiting for the lift to take them higher. This can make inexperienced passengers a little queasy, as it did for me. McLaughlin and Dunn said pilots begin the same way until their stomachs become acclimated to the feeling.

McLaughlin said he anticipates the club will gain 15 to 20 members from the drive. The club is also offering glider rides out of the glider port for the cost of the airplane tow -- between $19.50 and $27, depending on the height of the tow, he said.

"(Offering flights) tends to be our best way to get club members. Once we get people up in the plane, they tend to be hooked," McLaughlin said.

Students and faculty who wish to join the club do not need to know how to fly, though some of the club's current members are already Federal Aviation Association licensed gliders and pilots.

To prepare members for the FAA glider pilot tests, the club gives lessons on the ground and in the air.

The ground school, taught by adviser Mark Maugher, meets at 7 Monday nights in Hammond Building and teaches students the necessary material for the FAA written examination.

"The whole purpose of the club is to promote soaring and to do it as inexpensively as possible," McLaughlin said. "The less expensive we can be, the more flights people can afford to take."

Membership dues for active members are $100 to cover airport fees, equipment rental and insurance.

The method of training was created by Tom Knauff, the area FAA examiner, and is used throughout the country. Knauff, who holds four world records and 30 national records, often holds special seminars for the club and other soaring clubs at the Ridge Soaring Glider Port.

Knauff flew from Williamsport to Knoxville, Tennessee and back, covering about 1,020 miles in 10 hours, 38 minutes.

The club was founded last March by three active soarers who already flew with a student discount from Ridge Soaring Glider Port, McLaughlin said.

Maugher said the club existed at Penn State in the past, but it dissolved in the 1960s.

"A lot of people talked about (reforming the club) for a long time, but all the ingredients came together just last year," he said.

In the past year, the club has competed against several other Collegiate Soaring Association universities.

"(CSA) is like the NCAA of collegiate soaring," McLaughlin said.

Last May they competed at Ohio State and took third to the Air Force Academy and Ohio State.

McLaughlin said he anticipates Penn State will be 1990 CSA national champs. The results will be known in two weeks.