Highland Aerosports Closing

[aerosports]

After sixteen years of service we are extremely sad to announce that we will be closing our doors. With the combination of employee, financial, and our own personal issues, we find ourselves unable to operate this spring.

We will spend the month of March attempting to liquidate our inventory and equipment from the Ridgely Airpark. We will be at the airfield on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 through 4:00 throughout the month if you need to retrieve any stored items or want to pick up any of our discounted inventory or shop equipment. If you need to meet us outside of those days or times we can easily arrange that. Please email us to arrange any other meetings.

We can’t express how emotional this is for us as it feels like we’re abandoning our best friends and family. We’re sorry that we can’t continue to provide the services you have grown accustomed to. This is honestly the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do and we hope you can sympathize with our situation. Thank you for all the wonderful times.

Sincerely,
Adam and Sunny

[Eric]

I can't even begin to express how much of a positive impact you guys have had on my life. Thank you for helping this chubby and muscle memory challenged bird realize the dream of free flight. I wish you all the best. You certainly deserve it!

Eric

[jimsmess]

Truely the end of an era, from the highest highs,to the lowest lows, to the best friends one could ever have in a lifetime. I will cherish all of the memories from the past 16 years. Heres a unedited video of my last flight at Highland (10-25-15) it gets good at the 9 min mark
https://vimeo.com/154588806
Jim M

[Ward Odenwald]

We’ll really, really miss you guys! -> always in our dreams/our memories!

Ward

[markc]

So many incredible flying experiences, all made possible by the Highland Gang.

I could tick off 10 amazing flights, in the remember-as-long-as-I-live type of category, in less than 60 seconds. And those would just be the cream of the cream of the crop...

I'd bet that every other Highland Aerosports pilot could do the exact same thing.

So I wonder: Maybe we should get together to share some of those stories, all in one go? If this is the end of an era for our region, it cannot be allowed to pass without an expression of our appreciation.

Damn.... Highland closing? Tomorrow may be a work-day, but a bottle of scotch was just opened.

MarkC

[silverwings]

I am extremely sadden by this. It has been very enjoyable to be able to fly there with you all.

[krryerson]

Professional service, great location, short drive, fantastic landing fields for XC, reasonable priced, really great staff and more, made it my favorite place to fly. Highland Aerosports will be greatly missed.
Knut

[carweill]

Highland was my second home for many years.

Sunny and Adam
THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL TIMES!!

(I'll contact you directly)

Carlos

[g.sessa]

I am truly saddened to learn that Highland will be closing. The welcoming atmosphere, the awesome staff, the comradery, and of course the flying all made Highland Aerosports by far my favorite site! As many have already stated, I too have many great memories about hanging out and flying at Highland. I would like to wish both Adam and Sunny all the best moving forward, and want to say THANKS for all the wisdom you have shared and all that you have provided over the years!

[Richard Hays]

What a shame..........

[Dave Proctor]

As others have noted, Highland was a second home...and everyone there was family. While the 'home' may be going away, family is forever. Maybe we can do one last Highland blow-out party?

Dave

[callen]

Sunny and Adam,
Thank you so much for providing such a wonderful place to fly for over a decade. I know it was a hard decision to close and I wish you both the best of luck on your future endeavors. I will truly miss not only the flying you made available to myself and others but the community you built as it was an essential part of the Highland experience.

Best,
Charles

[Christian]

I saw Adam and Sonny yesterday at Highland. It is so sad but I know we all wish them well. They need to liquidate a lot of great stuff so I am sure they would appreciate it if you stopped by to say goodbye and help. It is so hard to make money at hang gliding without forgetting the flying community. They always supported us without sacrificing the pilots for the tourist money. I admire them for it and appreciate what they did. They will be missed.

[A.Lloyd]

I say don't sell short and regroup! USHPA is now collecting 3 MILLION DOLLARS!!! Too much money floating around to just sell out. Highland AeroSports' NAME ='s Priceless!!! WTF

[callen]

Money isn't the issue. Last week I donated ~$125k of stock in BTCS Inc. to the foundation for free flight for site preservation and development (still need to hammer out the restrictions with the FFF). Sunny and Adam have decided to move on we need to respect their decision and be grateful that we had 16 years of great flying.

Charles

[lbunner]

Sunny and Adam, I'll never forget how you guys welcomed me into the fold when I showed up in 2006. I loved flying there and so badly wanted to break John's record flight but alas it will never happen. You ran a class operation and I appreciated being able to say that I fly for Highland Aerosports. Thanks for the memories.

Bun

[markc]

I realized that two hugely important words were missing in my post about Highland's closing:

THANK YOU!

The flying family that we've all enjoyed was made possible by Sunny, Adam, Chad, Jim, Bob, Kristin, Bruce and Barbara, and more. Without them.... Never woulda happened!

What a fantastic run! Wish it could have continued, but hey, plus ca change, oui?

MarkC

[markc]

And I still want to push for some sort of celebration.... Might be a bit too much on-site, I do get that... But we gotta do something/somewhen/somewhere.

[mchevalier]

What a shock! I moved to Colorado in '03 but before that most of my flying was towing at Highland. I've got many memorable XC flights from there and have been wishing I could beam myself back there on the weekends to fly. And there was also the fun house, what happened there stayed there.

[brianvh]

So sad. I'm sorry I hadn't really been around the last 8 years - I can't imagine the old stomping grounds without Highland.