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Oran Nicks trained as an aeronautical engineer at Spartan College of Aeronautical Engineering and at the Universities of Texas, Oklahoma and Southern California. He spent two years in the Army Air Corps, 12 years as an engineer for North American Aviation and Chance Vought companies, 20 years as program-center director for NASA and 16 years as research engineer-center director at Texas A&M University. His publications include two books on space flight and over 100 papers and reports on aerodynamics, aircraft and spacecraft design and applications. He first began flying in 1941 and obtained his pilot's licence in 1945. He was a Certified Flight Instructor and owned and flew a Cessna 182 and a Standard Class Sailplane. An avid soaring enthusiast, he flew in regional and national competitions and was a holder of the FAI silver, gold and diamond badges. He served as Chairman of the Technical Board of the Soaring Society of America, US delegate to the FAI-OSTIV Sailplane Development Panel and member of the World Class Management Committee of the International Gliding Commission. In addition, he was volunteer Director of the Soaring Society of America for many years. He invented a total energy sensor used on sailplanes throughout the world. Having obtained a licence to construct a World Class Glider, he worked for three years to build from scratch a beautiful glider. His handcrafted wing moulds were displayed at the SSA's national convention in Portland, Oregon. Oran Nicks was one of the greatest supporters and proponents of the World Class Glider. It is somehow ironic and yet appropriate that the accident that claimed his life in September 1998 was in the glider he built with so much effort and love.