Thousands of feet in the air, Tom Rent pulls the lever to detach his light-weight glider from the single-engine plane that's towing it.
There's no sudden plummet, no stomach-wrenching nosedive into the rural Goodhue County cornfields. Instead, the glider coasts for a moment or tow, and then catches a thermal — a warm air current rising quickly from the ground.
On Sunday, Rent was one of many Minnesota Soaring Club members taking to the air in non-motorized aircraft called gliders. This summer, the club is celebrating its 50th anniversary by doing what it does best, soaring gracefully through the sky in planes without jet turbines or propellers.
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