ROY M. COULLIETTE

Enshrined 2004

From novice aviator
to starting and operating
one of the top soaring schools
in he country

Roy M. Coulliette, a resident of Peoria, Arizona since 1954, was born in         
Florida in 1941.  His interest in aviation began early.  He dreamed of being a pilot after he saw a glider club operating off a dirt highway.

Roy Coulliette’s rise from novice aviator to owning and operating one of the top soaring school in the country started when he bought his first airplane in 1967; a 150 HP Citabria.  He hired on to tow gliders for a soaring school in Buckeye, AZ.  The school moved to Chandler, Arizona where the owner chose to sell his interest in the school to Roy Coulliette and two partners.  Roy and his partners moved the school to Turf Paradise Airport where the business grew substantially and the name was changed to Turf Soaring School.  Later, Roy Coulliette became the sole owner and in 1976, he moved the school and began building the Pleasant Valley airport.  By the year 2000, the school was recognized as one of the major soaring schools in the country with 11 gliders, 4 tow planes, and operated over 12,000 flights per year.  Turf Soaring is also home to CAP Cadet Training Squadron Flight 400, the most active in the U.S.

There is no question that Turf Soaring would not be where it is today had not been for the perseverance, dedication and guiding hand of Roy Coulliette.