SoaringNZ Issue 36

new zealand’s premier soaring magazine

nationals himalayas joeyglide airworthiness • club news i s s u e 3 6 F e b r u a r y - A p r i l 2 0 14

Fly the best

Two JS1B Revelation 18m sailplanes (with 21m wing and jet options) are being delivered to NZ in 2014.

An opportunity has arisen to secure a third sailplane in this shipment.

This is a limited opportunity to own one of the best open/18m class sailplanes in the world.

Contact Brett Hunter 021 927 626 hunter.b@ihug.co.nz

contents february–april 2014

12

features 12 On top of the Himalayas 18 Multi-Class Nationals 2014 23 My First Nationals 25 Support at Nationals 26 The Northern Regionals 28 The New Zealand Team at Joeyglide 2013 32 Youth Soaring Development Camp 36 2700 OLC Kilometres 40 Fly Boys 42 Bivouac through Middle Earth 48 The fascination of Ultralight Soaring 60 Ray Sharland regulars 6 Log Book 52 Vintage & Classic: Restoring Double Foxtrot 54 Safety

23

54 Tow Upsets 56 D.I. your Parachute 58 Feeling Thirsty

28 63

64 64 66 68 74

32

Advertising, editorial and subscription enquiries

Publisher McCaw Media Ltd

Editor Jill McCaw soaringnz@mccawmedia.co.nz

Annual Subscription Rates New Zealand Australia/South Pacific Rest of world

$75 $112 $135

McCaw Media Ltd 430 Halswell Rd Christchurch 8025 New Zealand soaringnz@mccawmedia.co.nz Tel +64 3 322 5222 John - 0272 804 082 Jill - 021 1261 520

Youth Glide News Airworthiness A Question of Safety GNZ Awards & Certificates Gliding New Zealand Club News Classified Advertising

42

Printer MHP Design Rgb Design & Print Ltd Proof Reading Melanie Henrikson SoaringNZ is a quarterly publication produced

by McCaw Media. Advertising statements and editorial opinions expressed in SoaringNZ do not necessarily reflect the views of McCaw Media Ltd unless expressly stated.

ŠSoaringNZ is subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the owners.

All material sent to SoaringNZ will be assumed to be publishable unless marked not for publication.

SoaringNZ invites contributions but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material.

ISSN 1178-4784 February 2014 3

from the editor february–april 2014

I

am very excited about this issue of the magazine. We have so many interesting stories to share. We’ve even gone out on a limb and printed two stories which aren’t even about gliding – well not our sort of gliding anyway. Ultralight gliders, as reported by Klaus Burkhard may or may not be the start of a trend, but they do look fun and their low cost and ease of launch will make them very appealing to some. The real ‘not gliding’ story though is the epic ‘bivouac’ paragliding adventure of Thomas De Dorlodot and Ferdy van Schelven. It’s not our sort of gliding, but it’s unlikely that we’ll ever have a flying adventure like their one. When I heard of their length-of-the-South-Island challenge a year ago, I just knew it was something I wanted to cover in SoaringNZ. The new format makes this possible.

Thank you to the people who sent feedback on the new magazine. We have taken your comments on board regarding font size and colour and general readability, and have taken steps to improve this. Let us know how we are doing.

We have lots of our sort of gliding adventures in this issue too. Jim Payne has written about his 2700 km flight in South America and in a literal high for SoaringNZ, we have the report on Sebastian Kawa’s attempt to soar the world’s highest mountains in the Himalayas. Despite all the Kawa team’s effort, they only managed to get one decent flight in before they had to leave, but the story of the history of flights in the region is a really good read. The team is heading back to Pokhara about the time this magazine goes to press. We’ll be able to bring you that story in the next issue.

We’ve got local contests too, the Nationals of course, along with the Youth Soaring Development Camp and my son Alex’s report on Joeyglide – the Australian Junior Nationals. Our young people did really well and are setting themselves up nicely for the World Junior Nationals in two years’ time. We need the country to get behind them and help support their efforts.

Just when everything seems fine, we are reminded that gliding can be dangerous. January 19th was a bad day for New Zealand gliding. We lost two people to accidents. In Auckland, Trent Miller died when he crashed on the Drury Hills, while earlier in the day, Martin Lowen died in a tow plane accident while flying out of the Canterbury Gliding Club’s Springfield site. It hurts. It just feels tragic and awful. The New Zealand gliding community is so small, we’re like a family and to lose

new zealand’s premier soaring magazine

nationals himalayas joeyglide airworthiness • club news i s s u e 3 6 F e b r u a r y - A p r i l 2 0 14

4

February 2014

Canterbury's Janus soaring over the Springfield ridge on Waitangi Day. Photo John McCaw.

On top of the world.

people like this is dreadful. Our hearts go out to the families and close friends of these two men, who are hurting so much more than we are.

SoaringNZ and the GNZ executive wish to point out that the CAA investigations are underway and that we do not know, or are likely to know, the causes of these accidents for some time.

People are talking about these accidents and potential causes, so we have responded to this with a safety article on towing upsets and have one in the works on low speed stall/spins.

These are valid safety concerns which we are following up. Our goal, of course, is to make our pilots safer.

next issue

revised magazine deadlines

Next issue: Club Class Nats, Central District, Drury contests and a Himalaya expedition.

Deadline for Club News, articles and pictures is 31 March and 10 April for advertising.

subscription form Name:_______________________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________________

Photo Sebastian Kawa

___________________________________________ Postcode ______________ Phone _______________________________________________________________ Email_________________________________________________________________ Annual Subscription Rates - four issues a year New Zealand (All GNZ members automatically subscribed) $75

We need you to come home in one piece. Do your checks.

DI your ‘chute, run through your ‘Eventualities’ drills for all stages of your flight. Stay alert, think ahead, drink water, use sunscreen, wear a hat.

I’ll stop now, I’m sounding like your mother. Stay safe.

Jill McCaw

Australia/South Pacific

$112

Other overseas

$135

Payment enclosed $ _______________________________ (All cheques made payable to McCaw Media Ltd) Credit card facilities available Post today to McCaw Media Ltd, 430 Halswell Rd, Christchurch Tel +64 3 322 5222 Email soaringNZ@mccawmedia.co.nz

gif t subscriptions Recipients Name:___________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Postcode ______________ Email_________________________________________________________________ Gifted by:____________________________________________________________ Contact phone:______________________________________________________ Credit Card Number

Card Expiry Date____________________________

Name on Card_______________________________________________________

logbook february–april 2014

New FAI Secretary General is a Glider Pilot FAI Women’s World Gliding championships in 2009 and 2011, and holder of several gliding records. She is also a volunteer for several organisations such as the Dr. Angelika Machinek Association, which supports young female pilots in gliding.

In addition to her activities in aviation, she has held several positions in non-profit making organisations, including that of Executive Director at the Susan G. Komen Society for the Cure of Breast Cancer, thus gaining a wide-ranging knowledge of administrative matters and extensive experience in the management of volunteers and staff. Moreover, she is wellversed in the intricacies of politics, after working for several years for the Ministry of Social Affairs in Hessen, Germany.

The FAI is pleased to announce the appointment of Susanne Schödel as its new Secretary General, starting on 1 March 2014. Schödel, a 41 year old German native, combines experience in air sports, management of non-profit making organisations and political matters.

“Susanne’s background and enthusiasm will bring us new ideas, energy and expertise to bring our Federation to a new level. Although it is a complex organisation I am sure she will settle into the work very quickly, and I wish her the best of luck,” FAI President John Grubbström said.

Schödel is a world-class glider pilot, member of the German National Gliding team from 2004 to 2013, twice winner of the

Wrong author credited In our last issue we ran a piece on collision avoidance. The author was Gerard Robinson, not Jonathon Pote as was printed on the article. We apologise for any confusion over the mistake.

“I am very much looking forward to joining the FAI as Secretary General in March. I can contribute my expertise in the management of non-profit organisations as well as my knowledge of air sports in general and gliding in particular. It will be a pleasure for me to work with all stakeholders of the FAI and to ensure a good strategy and structure of the whole federation,” Schödel said.

GNZ Members Have you logged in to the GNZ website?

Are your ratings and awards official?

Are your contact details right?

Are you receiving SoaringNZ magazine?

Do you need contacts for club members? http://members.gliding.co.nz

ASH 31 Mi No. 100 and ASG 29 No. 250 delivered Schleicher staff, flanked by two each of the ASH 31 Mi and ASG 29.

6

February 2014

Glider pilot racing High Speed Jets at next Warbirds Over Wanaka Ex Canterbury Gliding Club member John ‘Johnny Rocket’ Kokshoorn, who lives in Australia, has been confirmed as one of the pilots taking part in high-speed jet racing at the Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow next Easter. John Kokshoorn has previously competed at the world-famous Reno Jet Air Races. John completed his Reno race training under Curtis Brown.

He is known to NZ glider pilots as Terry Delore’s co-pilot during his world record breaking 2500 km flight set in NZ in December 2009.

A NASA astronaut who has completed six space shuttle flights will also join the ‘Reno’ team. Colonel Curtis Brown of the United States was flight commander on two of his six space missions and is also a five times Reno Jet Air Race Champion. Alongside John and Curtis in the ‘Reno’ team contesting the #GigatownWanaka Jet races will be three times Red Bull World Air Race champion, Mike Mangold.

“Jet racing is fast and exciting, both for the pilots and the spectators on the ground. Group racing around a 14 kilometre closed course yields speeds over 700kph, with maximum G-forces in turns, and the challenges of passing. We’ve heard a lot about Warbirds Over Wanaka and very much want to be a part of it,” Mr Mangold said.

Curtis Brown and Mike Mangold could be considered ‘rock stars’ of American jet air racing.

The three visiting pilots will be flying Aero L-29 jets, one of which has already arrived at Wanaka to be permanently based in the Southern Lakes area. The aircraft is operated by Wanaka-based XXAviation,

which now has three Warbird aircraft available for leisure flights.

The international team will be taking on a New Zealand team, comprised of seasoned jet pilots Brett Emeny (also a glider pilot), Paul ‘Huggy’ Hughan and Peter Vause. Brett Emeny has been flying for nearly 40 years and will be competing in his own Vampire. Paul Hughan will also be flying a Vampire, while Peter Vause will be piloting his Aero L39.

Mr Mangold said he and his colleagues saw the event as a chance to promote jet racing outside the United States.

“Many people from New Zealand and Australia have travelled to Reno for the air races over the years but most have not, so to have it happening right there in Wanaka gives them a chance to see us in action on their own patch.”

“The event also gives us the opportunity to pit our skills against some very fine New Zealand Jet pilots, so all-in-all it’s going to be a great experience for everyone – most of all the spectators,” says Mike.

February 2014

7

logbook february–april 2014

military gliders

First Solo Glider Flight Over Everest

Photo Klaus Ohlmann

by Elke Fuglsang-Petersen via Soaring Cafe

8

February 2014

in the wave and had time to descend and climb once again. As a result, I could make very nice videos and pictures.”

Klaus’ flight is neither documented on OLC nor on SkyLines, but he shares the amazing view from the top of the world into Tibet, in a video. Search Klaus Ohlman on You Tube.

Klaus has been flying in the company of Sebastian Kawa. We have more details of Sebastian’s adventures on page 12.

Photo Sebastian Kawa

On February 1st, Klaus Ohlmann reported the first solo soaring flight above Mount Everest.

Klaus was in Pokhara measuring atmospheric impurities and other scientific research using Stemme motor gliders. In an e-mail that was quickly distributed around the world he explains: “In a measurement flight near Lukla I stopped the motor.

There was nearly no wind below 6000 m, difficult thermals. Between Pumori and the entrance of the Khumbu Glacier there was smooth lift on the ridge.

It was unbelievable and wonderful to surf along the lowest part of Everest ridge. From 7500m the lift got better and a sudden turbulence over Khumbu Icefalls indicated a small rotor in the blue sky. I could reach the summit

In issue 34 we ran a piece on WWII air assault gliders. Since then these pictures have come to light of other WWII gliders. The one at the top looks a lot more maneuverable than the big troop carriers.

In an ironic move, the Waco at the bottom was fitted with engines, making it, we suppose, a powered glider.

DG proves you can build anything from composite materials Can you guess what it is that the staff from DG Flugzeugbau are posing so proudly with?

It is a completely composite component ambulance bed, built for the US Treasury. What does the US Treasury want with an incredibly high tech piece of medical equipment that had to meet the following criteria:

• A ‘regular’ hospital bed with all the essential adjustability. It should also still be comfortable to sleep in.

• It had to be convertible: Just hit one button and the bed is ready to serve as a surgical table.

• The catalogue asked for a lot more options to readjust the bed – electrical adjustments and a mechanical back-up function. From time to time the unit should also serve as a dentist’s chair.

• The bed had to be able to endure vertical gusts in turbulence as well as a hard landing.

At this point an ordinary hospital bed would probably collapse. It really had to comply with the airworthiness standards of FAR 25.

• Extendible bedrails on both sides plus head- and feet-frames were necessary to keep a patient in his bed, at any time.

• In the bottom section, medical equipment had to be stored. DG were asked to make sure that the construction could be supplied with energy, air, oxygen et cetera.

• It could not be made of metal.

This ‘bed’ will be installed in the US President’s Boeing 757 air ambulance that travels where ever he goes.

February 2014

9

logbook february–april 2014

Gordon Boettger and Hugh Bennett set US Free Distance Record Photos and text from Walt Roger’s blog On 17 February Gordon and Hugh flew a Duo Discus from Minden, Texas to Casper Natrona International Airport, Wyoming.

Although short of their goal of Rapid City, South Dakota, the dynamic duo beat their 2013 U.S. National Multi-Place Free Distance record of 1128.87 kms by about 67.6 kms.

The exact distance has not yet been posted.

This flight will be a new US National Open Multi Place free distance record of around 743 statue miles (perhaps 5sm more if he released SW of the airport). The previous record of 701.45sm was also set by Gordon and Hugh, last year on Apr 15, 2013.

Take off took place around 0643 PST. Gordo cruised north and settled on a "sweet spot" near the NW corner of Washo Lake reaching top of climb near FL280. He turned downwind at 0808 and rapidly settled on 125-135mph ground speed toward ENE. He managed to stay high most of the day.

There was a panic mid-afternoon when ATC told him to land because both Mode C transponders were not reporting altitude (only location). Luckily the transponder warmed up and they could keep going.

The high point of the flight was FL265 when they had to make the decision to land before dark. After turning downwind toward Casper, WY, it was a 235mph race to get on the ground before end of civil twilight (The Duo does have navigation lights).

Looking North Wind River 18,200msl.

Santa dropping in on The Mount

Photo Paul Johnson

How Green Are You?

(He says his biggest problem wasn't the parachute jump but visibility problems caused by his beard.)

10

February 2014

The FAI Environmental Commission (EnvC) has established the Angelo d’Arrigo Diploma, a new FAI environmental award which aims at recognising and promoting major contributions in the field of environmental and sustainable development, in accordance with the development of a philosophy and a vision of sport aviation that increasingly wants to be respectful of the environment that surrounds it.

The diploma is to be presented for the first time in 2014 and may be awarded to individuals or organisations that have contributed significantly to the defence of and respect for the environment affected by air sports. The activities may include: scientific research, private, public or commercial events or activities, developed or promoted directly by pilots, sport flying clubs, FAI Members or public or private bodies as small and medium enterprises.

Has any NZ gliding club or individual done something that lifts gliding into the truly “green” category? What we need is solar arrays on hangar roofs charging self-launching sailplanes….

logbook february–april 2014 Aircraft No. 600 from the Sinus/Virus family Pipistrel is proud to announce that recently aircraft number 600 from the Sinus/Virus family was completed and left the production hall.

This occasion was an opportunity for the Pipistrel team of 80 members to take a photo next to the aircraft. They were accompanied by the Australian distributor, Mr. Michael Coates (second row, third from right) who had the honour of selling the 600th aircraft.

Pipistrel has produced (together with other aircraft models and powered hang-gliders) well over 1200 different aircraft by now.

The yearly production for 2014 has been sold out already so aircraft no.700 will also be produced this year.

MEMBERSHIP There’s a new link to membership in the opening menu of www.gliding.co.nz Home page, making it easier to find and access.

Follow this link and you can now view your Club’s membership list and contact details. While there, check your own data and update your contact details; especially if your postal address has changed and you want to receive your SoaringNZ magazine. Any problems logging in, contact membership@gliding.co.nz

Contributions to Logbook are welcome from all of our readers within New Zealand and internationally.

Email your news snippets to: soaringnz@mccawmedia.co.nz.

Please put "logbook" in the subject line.

Gavin Wills

M O U N TA IN SOARING SCHOOL Internationally acclaimed Soaring Courses and individual private coaching

The world's largest fleet of Duo Discus's including X's and the new XL

Crystal clear amongst the Southern Alps

"You absolutely must go to GlideOmarama!

No, really, you must go! Sell whatever it takes to get there, but go!"

Tremaine Callier – Lasham GC, UK

ADVENTURE SOARING FLIGHTS

Inquiries and Bookings free phone 0508 58 55 88 | phone +64 3 438 9555 | www.glideomarama.com

February 2014

11

12

February 2014

On top of the

Himalayas

By Tomasz Kawa Translated by Marta Najfield photos Sebastian Kawa

Last year was extremely successful for Polish pilot Sebastian Kawa. He started the year winning the World Championships in the windy mountains of Argentina. During the European summer, following a dramatic flight in the Alps, he became European Champion in the 18m Class, which was followed by his win in Standard class in Ostrow. He is now in possession of 15 gold medals from the main world gliding events. He finished the year with a stunning achievement – he climbed the Himalayas in a glider!

While Sebastian has blogged extensively about his Himalayan adventures, they are written in Polish, meaning most worldwide gliding enthusiasts haven’t been able to read them. Although he only managed one successful flight, the story of the expedition is fascinating. This report, written by Sebastian’s father Tomasz is an exclusive to SoaringNZ and is one of the first to be published in English.

H

uman nature is characterised by exploring new frontiers and reaching for goals set in our dreams. One of these goals was inspired years ago by a documentary exposing impressive wave clouds in Patagonia. Back then, Sebastian had no chance to face this challenge. Some others did though. It was only three years ago when Sebastian was able to make his dream come true and enjoy exploring the highest mountain waves in the atmosphere. Nothing was ever to be the same again, and his dreams turned to the Himalayas.

Historical attempts to fly over the Himalayas It is not a coincidence that not even birds attempt to fly over these rocky giants and no human being has ever tried to reach the top of the world in a glider before. To think about trying it could be even described as arrogant. No one has ever flown over these mountains without the assistance of an engine. Analyzing maps and satellite images alone creates a feeling of fear.

The scale and wildness of the gigantic barrier between freezing Tibet and Siberia, and the hot and moist Deccan and Indian Ocean induce fearful respect. There are numerous topographic and meteorological traps hidden in the shapes of the rocks. The very first powered flight over Mount Everest was conducted in 1933. The purpose built Westland PV-3 with 630 HP engine was flown by Lord Clydesdale. During his first attempt, extremely strong downdrafts pushed him several hundred meters below the tops. He was forced to try again from the other side and finally succeeded. A second pilot who was preparing for the challenge pulled out, even though the winds were only about 100 km/h.

The French organised a gigantic and extremely expensive trip to the Himalayas in 1979. They engaged 1400 locals to carry 25 tons of equipment to the summit of K2. It all resulted in Jean Marc Bovin’s hang glider flight down from 7600 meters. Ten years later the same pilot flew down from Mount Everest in his paraglider.

Another attempt took place in 2004, when Angelo Arrigo

was towed in his hang glider up to about 8700 m. The turbulence encountered during the summit approach broke the towrope.

In 2011, paraglider pilot Pokhary Bobu Sunuwar together with his guide Lakpa Sherpa, climbed Mount Everest on foot and flew down, covering the distance of about 35 km to Nouche Bazar.

A successful helicopter flight over Mount Everest took place in 2005. No permission had been issued for that flight and the landing on top of Mount Everest caused a huge avalanche and some damage to the summit rocks. The controversy surrounding this event caused a lot of trouble for us when we tried to gain permission for our attempt.

Polish paraglider pilots had already been exploring the rocks in the Pokhara region. One of them made it all the way up to the snow line, where he landed and was planning on continuing higher the next day. It didn’t work out though. There was a problem for him as well as some climbers on a nearby mountain.

The wind picked up and took parts of their equipment, including the paraglider, with it. There is no mucking around up there!

Several flights have been attempted with motor paragliders, resulting in many fatalities. The biggest price is still being paid by rock climbers though – over 1100 fatalities on Mount Everest so far.

The potential of the mountains Most of the year, good updraft conditions for powerless flights can be expected in the northern parts of the Himalayas. The huge rocky barrier stops the moist summer monsoonal flows from the ocean and can therefore create mountain waves over Tibet. Because of generous sun activity, good thermal conditions off the rocks are also to be expected. Unfortunately, the Great Wall was built many years ago and even today that area is not accessible.

The southern part of the Himalayas disappears in moist monsoonal cloud cover and thunderstorms from May until the February 2014

13

"Someone has to be the very first one to step on the ice cover and check if it can carry the load.”

end of summer and re-appears again in October for the cold part of the year. In the peak of the winter season, the jet stream descends all the way to the tops of the mountains. The lower parts of the mountains are hidden in freezing fog and low cloud for weeks at a time. Upper winds are blowing parallel to the main ridge from the west to the east. One thing is for sure – there is no chance for Patagonian conditions here. On the other hand though, the ridges perpendicular to the wind create massive rotors and waves reaching very high into the atmosphere. The sunny exposed rocky parts should generate decent thermal updrafts and ridge soaring conditions. It could create a fascinating alternative for winter flying and a spectacular arena for gliding competitions. No one had ever explored it.

Be the first one “Someone has to be the very first one to step on the ice cover and check if it can carry the load.” Still, we were short of financial means and tools. There are no tugs in Nepal, so we needed a self-launching glider. We didn’t have one and this was the reason for our dream remaining a dream for a bit longer.

Last autumn, a German businessman agreed to lend us his ASH 25 with a 50 HP Wankel engine. At the same time, Prince Alvaro de Bourbon offered Sebastian his motorglider ‘Taifun’, in which he had made it to Nepal years ago but because of weather conditions couldn’t get any closer to the rocky giants.

He and his co-pilot had been trying to approach them but every time were pushed back down and caught in massive turbulence which, in the end, stopped them from further attempts.

Sebastian’s goal though was getting up there without the help of the engine, so he passed on the Prince’s offer and decided to proceed with the German ASH 25.

Because chances like this one do not last long, we had to get going immediately before the mountains were overtaken by hurricanes. We started the whole project with next to nothing and the help of Krzysztof Trzesniowski and Slawek Piela and a few others. We had to organise financing and sponsorships, transport of the glider and obtaining all necessary permits from the Nepalese government. Fundraising and sponsors covered one third of the costs, the rest was up to the participants. We kept moving forward like a blind man in the forest, because none of us had any idea of the politics and bureaucracy in that part of the world. We were getting very imprecise and conflicting information from numerous sources. We ended up having to tap into diplomatic circles to be able to move on with the project. At this stage, we’d like to express our huge appreciation to the paraglider pilots and contacts arranged by Polish instructor Tadeusz Franaszczuk, who was instructing Nepalese pilots on M28 years ago. One of his former students is now the leader of the Nepalese Flight Squadron.

We had many problems to face. The glider had to be equipped and modified for high altitude flying. We had to develop our own portable oxygen refilling equipment and organise medical assistance. Sebastian had to create his own navigation systems containing self-generated satellite maps and arrange for meteorological coverage developed by J. Elmer

14

February 2014

ASH 25, at last in Pokhara. Photo: Avia Club Nepal

Machhapuchhare. We made it! Lift from the rock and rotor behind it.

from Estonia. In all this Sebastian benefitted from good relationships with experts and friends established over the years. Only hours before loading the glider container on the ship I decided to build a ramp for loading and un-loading of the container.

The ramp saved us lots of hassle in Nepal, where there were no cranes available to unload the containers.

No one in Nepal had ever seen a glider and they didn’t want to believe that flying without an engine was possible.

The expectation was that we would never leave the airspace sector provided for paragliders. We started fighting for permission and nobody was able to get us through the documentation.

The political situation in the country wasn’t working to our benefit either. We had to admit that it was as abstract for them as it would be for us if someone claimed to be coming from the Russian border in a space ship and wanted to fly over the Polish mountains without an engine, taking off from hundreds of kilometres away. It was a miracle that we finally managed to find a way up the political ladder. It tested our patience and diplomatic abilities to the very limits. We were finally in possession of all the required documents at the beginning of December. This was when we received a call from Prince Alvaro de Bourbon from Spain, who was monitoring our misery, to let us know that it took him over six months to get everything organised back in the days when he went to fly in Nepal, even with the support of Nepal’s king.

The Mountain Wave Project organized by Klaus Ohlmann and his team faced a true disaster. The plan was to examine the condition of the glaciers, measure the level of impurity in the atmosphere and explore the dynamic currents over the Himalayas, using two purpose-built and equipped motor gliders.

They invested huge amounts of money with numerous institutions, including the head of the country. It all looked perfectly prepared and sealed, with a document folder of over 500 pages.

As soon as the whole team reached their destination and Klaus Ohlmann and his wife Sidonie brought their gliders to Nepal, they found themselves stuck at the border. Disappointed with frustration from hitting the brick wall over and over again, most of the team members gave up and returned home. The very determined Klaus Ohlmann stayed and continued fighting. A few days after us, he also succeeded and obtained his permit. He brought his motor glider to Pokhara and joined us.

We became friends.

It had been easier back in Marco Polo’s time Transport turned out to be one of the biggest challenges. The Silk Route is extremely dangerous these days. Air transport is out of the question. The only remaining way is by sea, but you still have to use 800 km of crowded Indian roads and then 300 km of roads in Nepal to get from Calcutta to Pokhara. Covering such a distance with a glider trailer in Europe is a piece of cake.

After a deep analysis of road conditions, we came to the conclusion that even if we managed not to get run over, to dodge holy cows and other similar obstacles, there would not be much left of a glider trailer and the insurance company would not be happy. The easiest way would be hiring a truck full of hay and sand bags and transporting the glider in the middle of it. We were not sure what the insurance company would think about that. We could have used train transport but the rails end before the Himalayas. In the end, we decided to leave the glider in the container and get the whole container delivered. We figured that was the safest way of transporting the fragile glider.

We were extremely disappointed with the delivery company.

The first estimate was to have the glider delivered at the end of October. For some reason, the container went via Singapore and ended its journey in Calcutta. We had to organise everything from the beginning again and finally got the glider to Nepal by Christmas. It was a nightmare.

Before we departed for the trip, Sebastian managed to obtain a permit to fly in Nepal, beginning in November. Natasza Shrestha, a Russian lady who married a Nepalese doctor and is now living there and running Avia Nepal Club in Pokhara, was a huge help to us. Natasza and all her staff took very good care of us. The permit was approved only because she decided to extend the club’s profile beyond paragliding, hang gliding and GA, by adding gliding to their activities.

And then a tragedy occurred. Natasza’s son Stefan was killed in a fatal aircraft accident. Things got worse. Nepal was in the middle of an election campaign and because of some political disagreements the country basically stopped. Bombs were exploding, people were protesting, the military was ready to go against its own citizens, as has happened there before.

No one in Nepal had ever seen a glider and they didn’t want to believe that flying without an engine was possible.

February 2014

15

There is no Polish – German war The very complicated history of Europe will always cause someone to try to stir up the situation. This is the reason some of the media were trying to portray the fact that Sebastian and Klaus were in Nepal at the same time, as a Polish – German battle over the Himalayas. The facts couldn’t be further from this. A glider and a motor glider are two totally different categories. Sebastian was flying a German ASH-25, rented from a German pilot and equipped at the German factory. The engine enabled him to self-launch but nothing beyond that. Sebastian’s goal was to explore meteorological conditions in the Himalayas for future soaring possibilities. On the other side, Klaus and his team were there for scientific reasons, utilising Stemme S-10 motor gliders, coincidentally built in Poland.

Because of the trouble experienced getting in, the Mountain Wave Project had been delayed. To give the whole journey meaning, Klaus decided to stay in Nepal and explore the mountain wave conditions. He is undoubtedly the wave master, and was in possession of a motor glider that enabled him to reach any mountain in the area using the engine and get back to the airfield. He could also switch the engine on and off as much as he needed it. This ability is essential in the Himalayas, where rotors seem to work only from very high altitudes and contacting them without the use of an engine is very complicated.

hidden in the cloud and took him up to 3800 m. He could now allow himself a cautious approach towards Macchapucchre. He decided to head towards a sharp rocky edge and again moved one step ahead; he contacted the ridge. That was it! He first got very close to the slopes using ridge lift and then got a brutal kick from the rotor. The next rotor made all the varios go off the scale.

Annapurna was testing the structural strength of the glider and reminding everyone that she has kept half of those who have ever dared to step on her slopes forever. It was about time to leave this brutal and unfriendly environment and head for the calm wave areas. The wind was picking up with height and reached 170 -180 km/h, gusting to 200 km/h. Despite the hurricane, the increased true airspeed of the glider at high altitudes enabled Sebastian to penetrate into the wind over the wide Kali Gandaki valley. The valley was full of clouds being carried from Tibet and travelling at high speeds. It was getting cold…freezing cold. The electronic instruments stopped working. Even the altimeter froze – it is a winter altimeter. The ice was covering the canopy and the oxygen systems were only working on and off, and required warming up under the pilots’ arms. The temperature dropped down to -30°C and then -40° and the boys were wearing casual pants and sneakers.

Dhaulagiri peak, for a long time considered the highest

Christmas miracle The joy of having all the permits didn’t last long. We still didn’t have the glider and it arrived at Pokhara exactly three days prior to our departure. To make it even worse, the weather wasn’t co-operating at all. It was drizzling and freezing fog filled all the valleys. Despite all that, we rigged the glider on December 19 th, 2013 and Sebastian and I went up for a pioneer flight over the Himalayas. We took flowers with us and dropped them out of the little window for all those who paid the highest price for their love and passion for the mountains. It is incredible how many people have stayed there forever…

The next day was raining again, so we just had a short flight to practice the procedures and taxiing. The whole procedure of getting the glider on and off the runway couldn’t take more than one minute and although the glider only has one wheel, the officials demanded that all the ground manoeuvres should be done with no assistance. We convinced them to compromise: Aleksiej Maksymov was allowed to run the wing, plus one person was allowed to put on or remove the tail dolly.

On the last day, we met the officials and media one more time. The sky started clearing up a bit. We were not expecting any great, high flights, so Sebastian and his student Krzysztof Strama jumped into the glider without even putting proper clothes on and off they went. In the meantime, a tiny gap in the cloud cover appeared, revealing the nearby hills. Some ridge soaring was possible. Sebastian flew along for about 30 km and approached the high mountains. It was like playing with fire because the gap could close at any time. The frustration and desperation were strong and removed the remains of his self-preservation instinct. Keeping in mind the wind direction, Sebastian didn’t fly directly towards the rocks. Any downdraft there could have pushed the glider to the point of no return.

Instead, he spotted a little ‘bump’ in the stratus clouds. It was spot on. The lift was either coming from a rotor, or a ridge

16

February 2014

Everest under our wing.

It was getting cold … freezing cold.

The electronic instruments stopped working. mountain in the world, welcomed the glider with excessive turbulence and Sebastian decided not to explore the rotors, which were forming a line behind the mountain at 10 000 m.

They turned back and the ground speed was showing 400 km/h.

The visibility was incredible and allowed the view of the whole Himalayas and huge areas of Tibet. From that altitude, Tibet’s mountain ranges looked like an accumulation of sand dunes in the Gobi desert. Mount Everest was just 30 - 40 minutes flight away but Sebastian had to obey the flight sector rules. The view towards ‘home’ was bad. All the clouds had merged and were now forming a thick, steady layer.

In the meantime, I was experiencing fear beyond belief on the deserted airfield. We’d lost radio contact with Sebastian about fifteen minutes into his flight and could observe the hills becoming more and more obscured by low cloud and even fog in proximity to the ground. Being aware of the risks, my imagination was generating the worst possible scenarios. I got Sebastian back on the radio in the evening, as he reported

he was descending from 19,000 ft. My world was beautiful and bright again. Almost like we had ordered it, the sky opened up for a moment, creating a little hole over a nearby mountain. The glider could safely come down. Before I even got the confirmation from Sebastian I sent the message out to the world: “He made it!”

Klaus and Aleksiej also flew on the same day. They climbed through the clouds up to 5000 m using the engine and contacted the rotor off Annapurna. They shut down the engine there and continued until they hit a horrifying downdraft that was right on the structural limits of their glider. It rearranged the whole cockpit interior and damaged the oxygen system. Klaus managed to fix it in-flight but lost so much height that they were forced to start up the engine again. Sebastian passed information on to them about a gentle wave area giving 10 kts of lift.

Our team is heading back to Nepal in the middle of February 2014 to finish off the exploration project.

Sebastian Kawa is the first person ever to climb the Himalayas in a glider and Klaus Ohlmann is the first pilot to explore the top of the world in a motor glider!

SoaringNZ will bring you the report of the 2014 expedition as soon as Tomasz writes it for us.

February 2014

17

Multi-Class

Nationals 2014

By Ralph Henderson, Contest Director

Open Class Champion, 18m Class Champion, Continental Airlines Trophy and Messervy Trophy winner Brett Hunter.

".... a number of former and current glider pilots called in for a visit, including, Roger and Kim Read, Ann Johnson, John and Chris Roake, Tony and Julie Timmermans and Phil and Helen Southerden."

Standard Class Champion and Hansell Trophy winner Steve Wallace.

Retrieve phone operator and kitchen helper Joan Hall.

Chief providore and tireless worker Jan Mace.

First solo pilot Sam Tullett being congratulated by his fellow juniors.

Why is there an Aussie running our Nationals?

Ralph Henderson, actually has quite a history with New Zealand. He had his first solo at Matamata in May 1973 and flew his first competition, also at Matamata, in November 1984. When he moved to Australia in 1985 he had a B Cat instructor rating, Silver C and 400 hours. He has since gained a Gold C and two Diamonds at Waikerie. He has set NZ records for distance around a triangle and speed around a 750k triangle, January 1989 and has an impressive list of executive positions held on clubs and national boards. He has 3900 hours gliding, 1500 hours of those in a Duo Discus. Ralph has been Contest Director of many competitions including four multi-class nationals, two in Australia, two in NZ.

Contest director Ralph Henderson and Helen Wood.

18

February 2014

O

ur trip to New Zealand for this year’s nationals began on Christmas Day, as we packed our bags ready for a 6.00am Boxing Day flight to Auckland, which meant the alarm was set for 3.00am! We checked the weather forecast for the next 10 days at Matamata, which predicted more rain than sunshine. Still, last year’s forecast for Omarama hadn’t been too good either and we got some good flying days in then, so we decided to have faith that the weather forecast would be wrong again.

We survived the early morning wake up, slept on the plane on the way over, picked up the car at the airport, drove to Matamata through rain showers and arrived late afternoon.

After many emails, we were very happy to meet Bill and Jan Mace, our hosts for the next two weeks, and what wonderful hosts they were. After we checked in we had a drive around the airfield and facilities. I flew my first solo here 40 years ago, so it was nice to come back. Some things have changed, but some things haven’t.

The contest was held at Matamata Airfield, 27 December 2013 – 9 January 2014. 27 December was the nominated practice day. There was a maximum of 13 contest days available.

The competition was run in two classes: 15m with 19 entries and 18m with seven entries. The 18m class comprised the 18m single seaters and the 20m two seaters. There were sufficient Standard and 15m gliders for them to be separate classes but the general consensus was a preference for one combined class, with 15m and Standard class champions to be declared.

The conventional Matamata start procedure of a 6km start line perpendicular to the first leg was adopted. A finish ring of 3km radius was adopted and was readily accepted by the pilots.

A minimum height of 50ft and maximum height of 6500ft were set, which effectively meant there were no height limits. This was done so that pilots could concentrate on looking out and landing safely.

The nationals were also promoted as an opportunity for club flying. Pilots from five clubs took up the opportunity: Piako, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington and Aviation Sports. Achievements included four first solos (one of whom went on to complete her C certificate flight), one 50k and completed Silver C, and two 300k Gold C Distance flights.

A novice class was included as part of the contest. There was limited uptake, but those who did participate enjoyed it.

Tasks of 100-150k were set on most days.

The Matamata Soaring Centre/Piako Gliding Club team did an absolutely outstanding job of feeding the pilots, helpers and visitors. Lunches for 50 people were commonplace and dinners were usually for around 20 people. For the final night dinner, 67 people were provided for in the club rooms. Morning and afternoon teas were provided in between meals. In addition to providing meals, the team also provided a healthy dose of jokes, good humour, hilarity and at times, raucous laughter. Thanks ladies - the competition would not have been the same without you.

The GNZ Facebook page was used as the Facebook page for the competition. Facebook was updated frequently each flying day, with commentary and photos. During the competition the number of likes on the GNZ page increased from 608 to 680, an excellent result.

During the competition a number of former and current glider pilots called in for a visit, including, Roger and Kim Read,

Ann Johnson, John and Chris Roake, Tony and Julie Timmermans and Phil and Helen Southerden. It was great to see you all again.

Friday 27 Dec – Practice day Some pilots had arrived early and were all set up, others arrived during the day. A two hour AAT was set for all pilots. Five completed the task and some flew locally. Richard Greatrex from Auckland Gliding Club had his first solo.

Saturday 28 Dec The required initial briefing was completed without too much pain, as all pilots had read the rules! As most pilots hadn’t completed the practice day task it was set again, a two hour AAT for both classes. There was only a narrow tasking window available, and the pilots cooperated by gridding quickly. The weather didn’t cooperate and with complete overcast and a sprinkle of rain, the day was cancelled. There was another first solo, Nigel Brinkworth from Piako Gliding Club, and there was some wave flying late in the day.

Sunday 29 Dec There was rain overnight and into the morning and a no contest day was called at briefing. At short notice, Helen gave a sports psychology lecture, which many of the pilots enjoyed.

Monday 30 Dec There was hope for a late afternoon ridge task if the weather cooperated. The showers never really cleared for it to be a thermal day and the wind never swung around enough or got strong enough to make the ridge work. The day was cancelled again.

Tuesday 31 Dec – Day 1 We had lost three days, surely we couldn’t lose a fourth! A 300k ridge and thermal racing task was set for both classes, which would also enable pilots to claim it as a Diamond Goal flight.

Most pilots got around, but there was one land out at Tokoroa, three landed back and one had a technical outlanding due to an airspace infringement. Most pilots had had a good day and everyone was in a good mood for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. Jan and the team put on a fantastic meal for all the pilots, crew and helpers.

Five pilots achieved their 300k Diamond Goal – Hadley Bognuda, Geoff Gaddes, David Todd, David Hirst and Matthew Findlay. Winners: Alan Belworthy 15m, Trev Terry and Rob Lyon 18m

Wednesday 1 Jan 2014 The New Year began with a forecast of cloud and showers.

Having lost three days, we had to try and get a day in, so tasks were set and the pilots gridded. The weather didn’t improve and the day was cancelled. One day out of five so far was not good. However a bright note was another first solo, Kelly Rankin from Auckland Gliding Club.

Thursday 2 Jan - Day 2 A good thermal day was forecast, better to the south, although it would be blue. A 328k racing task was set for both classes. All seven 18m class gliders got home. In the 15m class 18 gliders

February 2014

19

nationals

Richardson Trophy winner and Hookings Trophy winner Alan Belworthy.

Safety Office Steven Care, 1st solo pilot and grid helper Nigel Brinkworth, Westpac Trophy winner and grid marshal Paul Castle.

launched, eight completed the task, five landed out and five landed back, one after motoring home. Being a public holiday with good weather, it was the busiest day of the competition for club flying. Winners: Lindsey Stephens 15m, Maurice Weaver and Mark Tingey 18m

started, the blue holes filled up and the sky overdeveloped. Cloud base didn’t lift and the day was cancelled. A pilots meeting was called for the afternoon. As the meeting progressed, the sky started to come good. There was a short window of soarable weather but it probably wasn’t taskable.

Friday 3 Jan – Day 3

Sunday 5 Jan

A marginal day forecast, but with the long term outlook not looking any better, we had to give it a go. A ridge task was set and the grid was launched. There were lots of land backs as pilots struggled to stay airborne. Some relaunched and some didn’t. Pilots called their start times and before long the retrieve phone started ringing. It was going to be a long day! There were ten land outs between Matamata and Te Aroha, as pilots struggled to successfully get around the back of Mount Te Aroha. A number of pilots chose not to relight and were soon pressed into service retrieving those who had landed out. Those that were able to get around Te Aroha were able to complete the task and at good speeds.

At the end of the day there was only one finisher in 18m class and four in 15m class. It was touch and go whether there would be enough pilots making the 80k mark to make it a contest day.

There were, but the points were severely devalued. How can you fly 275k at 101kph, win the day and still only get 56 points!

At least we now had a championship, as the minimum number of three days had been achieved! Winners: Alan Belworthy 15m, Bob Gray and Dave Dennison 18m

There was lots of low cloud and with rain forecast, the day was cancelled early to give pilots the chance to get away from the airfield for the day. Even the kitchen was closed for the day. Not that that stopped Jan and Bill coming out to the airfield!

Monday 6 Jan – Day 4 Four days to go, all with the possibility of flying and with a bit of good luck and optimism we might get to seven days. In the short term, the forecast for the day was good and likely to be the best day of the competition, with ridge lift and blue thermals. Big tasks were called for and they were duly set. A 445k racing task was set for the 18m class, and the same task but an AAT for the 15m class. For some, the task was a bridge too far and there were ten land outs, including five gliders at Tokoroa.

It was a good day for the club pilots, with two completing their 300k gold distance flights, Roy Innes and one of the junior competitors, Campbell McIver. Winners: Steve Wallace 15m, Trev Terry and Rob Lyon 18m

Tuesday 7 Jan – Day 5

Contrary to all the weather forecasts, the day looked flyable out the window. A task was set and we gridded. The convection

A difficult day for task setting, with no ridge lift and only blue thermals. Tasks were set to the south, but they were always going to be challenging. Some days the task setters don’t have many options. Only two pilots got around, one in each

Trev Terry Marine prize winner David Todd

Standard Class Champion, for the 10th time, Tony van Dyk.

Saturday 4 Jan

20

February 2014

nationals

Norge Cup winner Matthew Findlay.

Contest organiser, and competitor, Bill Mace.

class, although some others came close. Ten land outs again.

Winners: Steve Wallace 15m, Brett Hunter 18m

latter. The task setters ‘fall back’ AAT task was adopted, a big circle to the north then a bigger circle to the south. Briefing over, gliders gridded, now wait for a break in the weather. After a half hour launch delay, there was enough of a break in the weather to launch the fleet and have them stay airborne. Was it safe? Yes. Was it fair for all competitors? After much thought, yes it was, and there were good options available for those who couldn’t make it round. The start gates were opened and the last day was underway.

By mid-afternoon all the 15m class was home and the day could be scored and the winners decided. All the non-class winner trophies had been decided, pending outstanding flights on the last day. The weather put paid to that. However, one 18m class glider had re-started and another leading contender had landed out, not far from home.

Gliders were de-rigged and pilots were ready to go home – all except two! At 4.00 pm it was announced that the presentation ceremony would be at 5.30. Surely everyone would be home by then. They weren’t!

In the interests of most of the pilots, the ceremony began.

Presentations were made to day winners in 15m class, Std and 15m champions and trophy winners that could be awarded. As that was concluding, Brett Hunter returned from his retrieve, and the open class champion and five more trophies could be presented. As those presentations ended, the last 18m glider landed. A short recess while the last day for 18m was scored.

The remaining prizes and trophies were presented.

Winners: Steve Wallace 15m, Trev Terry and Rob Lyon 18m

Wednesday 8 Jan – Day 6 A ridge day was forecast and while the temptation was to set a racing task, after two days with lots of land outs, we needed to get most pilots home, so that they could complete a task and get some decent points. For the first time a fuzzy AAT was set, up and down the ridge. Just about everyone got around and did so quickly.

There was much happiness around the club rooms as we prepared for the competition dinner. Jan and the team fed 67 people, the most that had dined together in the club rooms for many years.

Why was the competition dinner being held before the last day, you ask? Because the Nationals was sandwiched between Christmas and the Walsh Memorial Flying School, which has been a feature of the Matamata airfield calendar for decades.

The compromise agreed between the organisers of the two events was that we would fly on Thursday 9th, but we had to be out of the club rooms and bunk rooms by 8pm that night.

The thank yous and general get together would be on Wednesday and then, after flying on Thursday, there would be a short presentation ceremony, after which people would depart and be home in Hamilton, Tauranga or Auckland before dark. Not ideal, but a good compromise. Winners: Tim Bromhead 15m, Maurice Weaver and Mark Tingey 18m

Thursday 9 Jan - Day 7 Another day, another challenging forecast. Another day with more drama than we needed. We had a choice - cancel the day or try to get one more competition day. We chose the

Rix Memorial Trophy winner Tim Bromhead.

Father and son competitors, Ross and Geoff Geddes.

February 2014

21

nationals

Trophies A number of trophies were mysteriously found prior to this competition. All available trophies were awarded where there were eligible pilots, even if they were only awarded by certificate.

The Continental Airlines Trophy, Norge Cup and Berkett Trophy are missing. The first two were “awarded” by way of a certificate.

The Berkett Trophy was not awarded as the only pilot from the “other island” was sharing a two-seater with two North Island pilots and was considered ineligible.

It was notable that there were five contenders for the Norge Cup for the highest placed pilot competing in their first nationals, a good sign for the future. In assessing who was eligible for this trophy, pilots who had previously flown a club class nationals were considered ineligible.

The full results are available on Soaring Spot and more photos and running commentary are on the Gliding New Zealand Facebook page.

Contest team Bill Mace Contest Organiser Contest Director Ralph Henderson Steven Care Safety Officer Weather David Hirst and Tim Bromhead Task setter Steve Wallace Paul Castle and Jeff Randrup Grid Marshall Tugmaster Iggy Wood Club coordination Seamus Breen Radio Evey Belworthy and Mavis Oates Joan Hall Retrieve phone Scorer Edouard Devenoges Facebook and Photographer Helen Wood Meals and entertainment Jan Mace, Joan Hall, Evey Belworthy,

Lisa Wallace, Helen Wood Certificates and Trophies Lisa Wallace and Joan Hall Tow pilots Iggy Wood, Ron Burr, Tracey Gore,

Derek Wagstaff, Colin Bell,

Richard Small, Dave Harding,

Bill Henwood, Cody Calder,

Paul Ellison, Tony Davies, Craig Walecki Rope runners Dennis Crequer, Hamish Crequer,

Paul Castle, Nigel Brinkworth,

Richard Greatrex, Kelly Rankin,

Sam Tullett, and many others Thank you to the sponsors, Trevor Terry Marine, Sailplane Services, Gliding International and BNZ. Thank you to all the pilots who flew safely and extremely well, in what were often difficult conditions. The winners were all true champions.

Thank you to everyone who made the contest a great success, especially the kitchen crew!

TROPHY

DESCRIPTION

RECIPIENT

Court Trophy

Highest placed pilot in the Standard Class

Tony van Dyk LS8 TD

Broadlands Cup

Highest placed pilot in the 15m Class

Steve Wallace Mosquito KT

Georgeson Trophy

Highest placed pilot in the 18m Class

Brett Hunter JS1 VR

Wills Cup

Highest placed pilot in the Open Class

Brett Hunter JS1 VR

Swiss Trophy

Second placed pilot in the numerically strongest class

Nigel McPhee ASW27 GB 15m Class

Continental Airlines Trophy

Winner of the longest speed task from any class before handicaps are applied

Brett Hunter JS1 VR 18m Class Day 4 444.9 km

Richardson Trophy

Highest average speed before handicaps are applied

Alan Belworthy Ventus 2cT RY 15m Class Day 6 at 152.4 kph

Hansell Trophy

Most meritorious flight in any class

Steve Wallace Mosquito KT 15m Class Day 5 only finisher in class and fastest finisher across both classes at 73 kph

Messervy Trophy

Most meritorious flight over a triangle task

Brett Hunter JS1 VR 18m Class Day 5 only finisher in class at 64 kph

Hookings Trophy

Most meritorious flight over a non-triangle task

Alan Belworthy Ventus 2cT RY 15m Class Day 3 AAT fastest finisher at 101kph, 11kph ahead of 2nd place getter and fastest across both classes

Norge Cup

Highest placed pilot competing in their first Nationals

Matthew Findlay ASW20B BL

Rix Memorial Trophy

Highest placed young pilot

Tim Bromhead ASW20C RS

Veterans Trophy

Highest placed pilot in any class aged over 60 years

Lindsey Stephens ASW27 ZM

Trev Terry Marine Prize

Most meritorious performance by a less experienced pilot

David Todd Kestrel 19 HU

Westpac Trophy

Person who did the most to make this competition successful and enjoyable

Paul Castle

Berkett Trophy

Highest placed pilot from the other island

Not Awarded

22

February 2014

my first

Nationals

By Steve Foreman

To get another perspective on the Nationals, Steve Foreman of Auckland Aviation Sports Club shares his experiences of his first Nationals competition. He was flying his LS4 KP in the 15m/Std Class.

S

itting down to write this, it becomes a blur of what happened on which day. I do remember Steve Wallace’s great flights day after day, completing the tasks and taking away the 15m National Champion. I am in awe of his ability. Great flying Steve.

I was amazed at David Todd’s effort and was hoping to be able to keep up with him. However, after a few days … ok the first day, it became apparent that I was the new boy in the skies.

I was going to compete in the intermediate class but due to few entries I went into the Standard/15m class with the big boys.

Every morning started at 7am, heading out to the field, knocking back an Up’n’Go on the way. Wipe down the glider, D.I., fill with water - unless I had to re-rig. There was briefing at 10am, then we gridded between 11-12, had some lunch and a pit stop, before the walk down to 28 for launch. Time went fast.

Briefing started with prizes for the previous day’s flying, weather by David Hirst and Tim Bromhead and task and comments from Steve Wallace.

It’s a great way to fly, with tasks set and weather explained.

Day 1 – 31 DEC 2013 First day, I was excited to be able to attempt a 300km Diamond Goal. It was a racing task of 308.3km.

It took me a while to get around and I had decided it didn’t matter how long it took, as long as I got around. Unfortunately, I took most of the climbs too far and the day was becoming short.

I remember heading to the turn point at Atiamuri and turning

back I was looking up at a huge hill I had flown over at height. I did get a climb on the hill but the sky was blue. Tip: fly faster, don’t stop for lift.

This was not the day for me to add to my badges. I landed out at Tokoroa Airfield (276km). As it was New Year’s Eve and dinner was being served, I got an Aero tow back with a wing down launch, which took two attempts to get in the air. I couldn’t get the wing off the ground and released before hitting a boundary fence. The second time, I radioed “all out, all out” then released. Luckily, it wasn’t quite all out. I quickly jumped out and hooked on again and we were away.

I was a little disappointed with myself but it was my biggest thermal flight to date. There were five diamonds unofficially achieved this day.

We then had a couple of days of bad weather. Even if we didn’t fly, we still had a briefing and most of the time still lined up on the grid and played the waiting game.

Day 2 – 2 JAN 2014 Another crack at the Diamond, with a racing task of 328.3km.

Other club members took to the air.

Apart from the actual launch, most of which were done in 50 minutes, there was plenty of time for club flying. I think there were four solos during the comp.

This day was not a diamond for me either. It was another land out, at Bennydale, after 205km.

While on the ground, four families came to look at the glider February 2014

23

nationals

Landout Tokoroa.

at different times and keep me busy with six kids needing their pictures taken in the glider.

I was lucky enough to have three members of my own club – Roy Jonathan and Tony – come and get me. They made it before dark and we were all glad we got back before midnight. Cheers guys.

Day 3 – 3 JAN 2014 Today was an AAT and the distances don’t matter. I didn’t fly many (25.4 to be exact) but I did place 8th in the field and also beat Dave. You’ve gotta take the little wins. The flight ended with me joining Brent Hunter in a paddock north of Te Aroha.

There were at least seven land outs around Te Aroha and the locals had rung the fire brigade on 111. We had a fire engine turn up in our paddock and the chief said, “You got gliders down all over the place,” and according to him, several had apparently crashed. He wasn’t very friendly and thought we were a little irresponsible.

Three days and three land outs.

Day 4 – 6 JAN 2014 AAT Speed Task, Task time: 04:00:00 Task length: 363.1km/526.9km (444.9km) Today was the first time I had been to Thames. I was unsure where I was meant to be on the hills but found my way along them. I had a glide of 14 km from the hills to Thames and only lost 50 feet, just a pity I couldn’t do that all the time.

Down south I couldn’t push out far past the golf ball and decided to land back, to have a break from landing out and re-rigging.

Day 5 – 7 JAN 2014 A racing task. The only thing to say here is, Amazing Steve Wallace was one of the two that got around today. The other was Brent Hunter in the 18m class, and both of these guys are going to the worlds I got 5.8km and landed back. I have so much to learn.

I retrieved Dave Todd, which was interesting. We met a herd of cows as we packed up the glider. Yes, we do know the Farming 101 rule but were distracted at the time. The cows and bulls loved the long, fresh green grass and clover.

24

February 2014

Day 6 – 8 JAN 2014 AAT Speed Task, Task time: 02:00:00 73 Wardville - 07 ThamesA/F - 56 KFC Sheds - 05 Hikutaia - 52 Tapapa - 01 MATAMATA Task length: 304.2km/426.1km (365.1km) Finally a day I got around. Nothing could stop me now (not even a flat tyre right before we gridded. Thanks to Tony van Dyk who happened to have a spare. Cheers Tony.) 352 km on task.

Day 7 – 9 JAN 2014 Another AAT speed task. It was the last day and I was very keen to get around on the final day. It was not the best of days and there was thunder and lightning heading down to the last turn point. It was pretty dark and raining but I got to the edge of the circle and turned back.

I had a fair bit going on in my head and was focused on getting back to the ridge just south of the golf ball which, looking at the trace later was a very bad tactical error. I could have made a final glide from the edge of the circle to Matamata.

It was 40km, I was at 3100ft and I travelled 45km to land out at Te Poi. Hadleigh and Nigel managed to get me before the rain came, to come 8th in the 15 meter class for the day.

There were a lot of lessons I learned from flying the Nationals. The main thing is that it is true, it is the quickest and easiest way to learn to fly cross country.

Over the competition I did: 1500 km 26 hours 4 land outs 2 land backs 1 completed task.

I placed 14 out of 21 in the 15m class.

I’d have liked it to be higher, obviously, but it was still a wonderful experience.

support at

nationals

By Roy Whitby

Roy Whitby is a member of the Auckland Aviation Sports Club. He made three trips to the Nationals during the fortnight, staying for up to three days at a time. Roy was there to support fellow club members Steve Wallace, Steve Foreman and David Todd, who were competing. There were about ten AAV members visiting at various times during the contest, some went to fly, some to see old friends and some to experience what it was like to attend a National Gliding Championship. Roy gives a another perspective of the contest.

P

ersonally, I travelled down from Auckland to see what a Nationals was like. I had been down for a couple of days for the Regional Competition a couple of months earlier, purely to support our Hawkeye (Steve Foreman) on his first competition. I enjoyed this very much and our cross country instructor Steve Wallace encouraged me to come down and see what it was all about.

Our club decided that we should send down our single Astir, for the use of the pilots that were interested. It was taken down and rigged by Ian O’Keefe and helpers. I arrived on my second trip down at about 0900, to be told that it was a good day to enter the Novice Task. I had intended to do a 50k badge flight for that day but was told that the task included that, so all of a sudden I was pushed into preparation that I wasn’t expecting, with less than two hours to go. The Novice task for that day was a polygon with two points (whatever that meant), with a distance of 126.2 km.

After about thirty-odd ‘real pilots’ had launched for the day’s task, it was my turn. I set off for the ridge, which was partially working with thermals and after some time, I went through the start gate with enough height to go south to where I thought the turn point was. I had a brand new colibri tracking machine with me that Hawkeye had programmed. It said to go north. I said, “Stupid machine doesn’t know which way to go. I must have messed it up.” Anyway, I proceeded south to the turn point (this was turn point 3) then turned north along the ridge to Te Aroha, then left the ridge into no-man’s land, getting far too low for my liking.

I was assured by Steve Wallace that the swamp would be booming. I picked out several fields that looked good for a land out, got to the swamp and…nothing. After a little hunting around in the blue, I got some lift and my heart steadied down

again. Surprisingly, I was quite calm about landing out. It looked so simple at the time, nice paddocks with easy access etc.

I now made turn point 2. The colibri said, “Well done Roy, you finally went where I told you to go.” Actually, all it did was beep once. I returned to the ridge and completed my task, landing back at Matamata.

On my return, I realised that I had reversed two turn points and although I covered the task, I didn’t do it in the right order.

This denied me the 50k for silver distance, even though I did 55k on that leg, just in the wrong direction. This was my first cross country flight and I was elated at achieving it and not landing out as well. I also missed my height gain by 15m but that’s the way it goes.

The whole experience was inspiring to an unexperienced pilot like me. The background of the competition, with a foreground of friendly, helpful competitors was wonderful. Everyone was interested in how all the others managed for the day. I wondered how many sports, at this level of competition, have this attitude towards each other.

The organisation by the people involved was outstanding.

The people were outstanding.

The competition was outstanding.

I have never met a more friendly and helpful group of people.

And HEY – I have competed in the NATIONALS! February 2014

25

the northern

regionals 1

By Contest Director John Griffin Conny Andersen (Melissa Jenkin’s partner), Phillipe Bonifanti de Barros (Brazilian, now a Piako member), Tony Van Dyk.

2

Matamata, 24–30 November 2013 Contest director: John Griffin Tugmaster: Iggy Woods Tasksetters: Steven Wallace and Tim Bromhead Scoring: Eduoard Devenoges Weather: Tim Bromhead

Ray Kerr, shelters from the sun under the wing of his K8 with Graham Player.

David Moody and wife Marion, with the back gliding ad.

A

t the start of the contest, the weather was not looking good, however by the end of the week seven flying days had been achieved. There were twenty two entries, four of whom were pilots flying their first solo contest. These new to contest pilots were: David Muckle from Piako, with approximately 100 hours prior to the contest. On Day One he completed his first contest task.

Neil Raymond from Piako, with approximately 160 hrs, completed his first contest task on Day Five.

Steve Foreman from Whenuapai, with approximately 220 hrs, had flown his first two contest days at Taupo, earlier in the season. He completed his first contest task on Day Two. Philip Dunlop, an 18 year old from Auckland, completed his first solo contest task on Day One, for which he was awarded the Ardmore Most Meritorious Flight trophy. However, he wasn’t there to receive the award as he left early to go to Joey Glide in Australia, where he was to come a very creditable 9th out of 24 entries.

Detailed daily scoring can be seen on Soaring Spot.

Highlights were:

Day One

unknown grid helper and Steve Foreman.

26

February 2014

Matamata, State Highway 27, Piarere (Lake Karapiro), Tihoi – 308km for the Open Class.

The southern turn point of Tihoi proved difficult to reach due to a lower cloud base of 4500 ft at Mangakino. For those who struggled, the base then went up to 6550ft to Tihoi.

The Club Class had Tokoroa as their southern turn point and

5

ny Van Dyk.

1 Russell Thorne and Norwegian visitor Ole Marskar.

2 John Griffin, Contest Director, presents Steve Foreman with the Matamata Soaring centre Most Improved pilot trophy.

3 Brett Hunter, a happy winner of the Ross Reid Open Class trophy.

4 Iggy Woods (tugmaster) presents Steve Wallace with the Bob Conner trophy for winning the 15m Std Class.

5 Marion Moody receives the Kia Ora champion volunteer trophy. John Griffin (CD), Bill Mace President of the Matamata Soaring Centre.

6 Presentation diner in the Matamata Soaring Centre.

7 Dave Moody and John Griffin show off their loot.

1

2

3

5

6

five landed there, with four others completing the task. Melissa Jenkins won the day for the Club Class. She is a Kiwi living and working in London and gliding at Dunstable. She has brought her LS4 out for the New Zealand summer to fly on both islands .

She is a member of the Taranaki club.

Day Two A good thermal day and a racing task with high completions in all classes. 15m Tony van Dyk. Club Melissa Jenkins.

Day Three A less predictable weather day, with wind from the north. An AAT task, with all landing out or back, but a scorable day.

Day Four Ralph Gore stood in as contest Director for the day and an AAT task was set in easterly wave. Open/Racing saw Steve Wallace first with 152 km and Karl Barrie first in Club Class with 115 km.

Day Five With Nor-Westerly winds of 15- 18 knots, tasks were based on the ridge, then the day developed into great thermals on the ridge as well. High completions at good speeds.

Brett Hunter was first in Open with 129kph and 259 km. Tony Van Dyk with 138kph and 286 km was first in the 15 meter, and Bryan O’Brian took out the Club Class at 126kph and 281 km.

Ray Kerr flew an extremely creditable 251km in the K8.

4

7

Day Six Showers in the morning, so the day was delayed and delayed. A cleared westerly airflow meant a B racing task was possible on the ridge. Open: Brett Hunter 153 kph. Club Class: Steve Care at 147 kph. 15m: Tim Bromhead at 147 kph and Sports Class: David Muckle, his first completed task at 86 kph.

Day Seven Forecast for 20 knot Norwesterly, instead it went NNW at 35 knots on the ridge. Rain was predicted to come at 4.30pm.

Launched at 12.15pm, with the same ridge task as Day Five. All completed the task by four o’clock and derigged. The rain came in at 5pm and we had the final dinner that evening.

Places in the Sports, Club and 15m classes were all close at the beginning of the last day and each leader had to work to win their class.

Final placings – Open: Brett Hunter, 15m: Steve Wallace, Club Class: Melissa Jenkins, Sports Class: Grahame Player.

It was a great week’s flying in variable conditions, with no incidents. This is a credit to the cross country courses run at Matamata each year, introducing new pilots to the sport.

Each year we just have enough volunteers, helped by visitors such as Ole Marskar from Norway, who had a great ridge day in the back of the Duo flown by Russell Thorne. Thanks to all those who help to run these contests.

February 2014

27

New Zealand Team at

Joeyglide 2013

By Alex McCaw

Narromine, New South Wales Twenty one year old Alex is aiming high. He and long-time friend and fellow Canterbury Youth Glide member Nicholas Oakley, and Auckland Youth Glide pilot Philip Dunlop, are intending to compete in the World Junior Gliding Champs in Australia in December 2015. As part of their build up, Alex and Nicholas competed in the Australian Junior Nationals (known as Joeyglide) in 2012 and again this season, along with Philip. Alex soloed at fourteen, and at eighteen became the youngest pilot in the world to complete a FAI 1000 km flight. Alex neglects to mention that he also brought home the Junior TransTasman Trophy for New Zealand.

I

’m sitting in a snake-infested paddock as the sun is setting.

I’m only 50 km from the airfield and Dave should have been here hours ago. It’s the practice day of the Australian Junior Nationals and I’m starting to get worried. If I don’t get picked up soon, I won’t make it back in time for Day One of the competition.

Six hours earlier I had been flying the Ventus too fast and found myself low, with no choice but to land in a large inviting stubble paddock. I met a contractor who allowed me to use his work phone to call the base and pass on my GPS coordinates.

28

February 2014

New Zealand Team places 2nd, 5th and 7th

As he left me at the glider to wait patiently for my crew, he handed me a large stick and a final piece of advice as he drove off. “You’ll need that for the snakes!”

I don’t have cell phone reception so decide I had better go for a walk to try to get some service and find out what’s going on. After walking for what feels like hours as it gets darker and darker, I finally manage to get a call out, only to find out there has been a muck up with the GPS coordinates. Dave has been sent to the wrong location. Later, the Aussies tried to blame me for this but it was clearly a misunderstanding on their part, as they entered the correct coordinates in the wrong format!

I reluctantly get hold of the contractor I talked to earlier in the day, who comes to pick me up and drops me at a local town where I met Dave and we collect the glider. We get back to the small town of Narromine just before midnight. Dave has driven nearly 400 km looking for me!

Narromine is a small town located in New South Wales; about five hours drive inland from Sydney. The airfield is located just on the outskirts of town, and has accommodation in the form of cabins. The town itself is a typical Australian country town, with a few shops and a couple of pubs. The best feature of the town is the swimming pool, which provides a much needed reprieve from the heat on the 40°C plus days.

Narromine is going to be the location of the 2015 Junior Worlds and this was the first chance for the junior New Zealand team to fly at the location. The New Zealand team consisted of pilots Nick Oakley, Philip Dunlop and myself, with David and Lynette Tillman, Mike Strathern, Ian Grant, and Ivan and Jan Evans as crew. We all had around a week of practice before the

... he handed me a large stick and a final piece of advice as he drove off.

The NZ team and crew.

Photo Mike Strathern

competition, however the conditions were mainly blue, along with some no-fly days due to strong wind. This gave us all a chance to get used to our gliders. Philip and I were both lucky enough to fly Ian Grant’s gliders. I was flying his Ventus C and Philip his Cirrus. Nick was flying a hired Discus 2.

Nick and I managed to fly a couple of 300 kms and one 400 km in the time before the competition. The terrain around Narromine is completely different to anything in New Zealand and it gave us a shock on our first few flights. To start with, it is completely flat and looks the same in almost every direction. There were lots of comments like, “If my GPS fails I’ll be stuffed.” Flying in the blue conditions also proved to be a challenge for us. It was very daunting heading out into the blue, hoping to hit a thermal. However, towards the end we began to trust the thermal triggers, we would often see a tractor working in a dark paddock in the distance and head straight for it. More often than not, there would be a thermal above the tractor.

The Australian Junior Nationals known as ‘Joeyglide’ had 24 entries, as well as many other pilots flying in two-seaters.

The range of gliders was huge, with one pilot flying a Salto, trying to compete against the likes of D2s and LS8s. This made task setting difficult but they did a great job and we ended up flying only two AAT tasks.

The first day was an AAT in blue conditions. After rigging and sorting out the glider from the previous day, we managed to get the glider to the grid just in time. Our crew did a great job of helping us get ready before launch. Dave and Ivan would take our gliders out to the grid, while the pilots would have the lunch that Lynette and Jan had made…the perfect crew.

Photo Lynette Tillman

Photo Lynette Tillman

“You’ll need that for the snakes!”

Philip after completing his 300km gold distance in a Cirrus at Narromine.

Nick Oakley.

February 2014

29

joeyglide 2013

The toilet paper thermal.

This gave us the advantage of having some thermals marked on track. However, this was tiresome as we could end up waiting two hours before we even started the task. This was the first day we had flown under cu’s and the Aussies flew much better than us. A couple of the guys who started 20 minutes after us caught up to us and I’m a little ashamed to say that once I saw them, I stuck to them, to limit my losses for the day.

The following day was hot, windy and stable. We sat on the grid watching the twins struggle to thermal above us at no more than 1000 ft. We were handed task B, then task C, before the day was eventually cancelled. Nick and I decided “Bugger it. We’re here to fly so let’s go flying.” Along with Jono, one of the Australians, we took off and climbed slowly to 4000 ft. We pushed into the 20 kt wind for about 50 km, before I heard Nick on the radio say, “See those ridges down there? I wonder if we can ridge soar them?” Nick was referring to this little ridge that was no more than 1000 ft high and nothing like the ridges we are used to flying in the South Island, but nevertheless a ridge.

I had a look at the wind on some ponds and replied, “Yeah. I reckon it should work, you go first.” Nick tentatively descended on to the ridge and found that even flying at 120 kts he was

Photo Rachel McEvoy

The trick to the first day was working out where to slow down and where to speed up. This was difficult in the blue but I was lucky because the task was set over where I had landed out the previous day. I knew that area was ‘soft’ due to the damp ground. Going over this area I took it quietly but once I felt it pick up again I found I could fly between 110 and 120 kts in the Ventus between thermals. I found the best way to fly in the blue was to pick ‘lines’ or ‘corridors’ of dark ground and try to fly along these, in the hope of picking up streaking. This seemed to work, but there was also a luck factor involved in regard to running into stronger than average thermals.

I had a good run on the first day however Nick missed a thermal and had to dig himself out of a hole. This cost him 20 minutes but at least it wasn’t a land out. Unfortunately, one small mistake in a competition like this can make all the difference in the final results.

On the second day, the task setters set a fixed task of 338 km with the hope that there would be cu’s on track. There were the normal pre-start games, while everyone waited for others to leave. Nick and I, in the higher performance gliders, would have to wait ages, while the lower performance gliders trickled out.

Contest pilots.

30

February 2014

joeyglide 2013

Ridge running on the no contest day.

Nick and Alex and the patriotic car.

Photo Rachel McEvoy

Photo Lynette Tillman

the middle of the thermal. To top this sight off, I looked down to see ‘Chopper’ trying to cut the toilet paper with his Libelle at the bottom of the thermal. We all must have been watching ‘Chopper’ as no one was circling in the lift any more.

Overall, the competition was a great success; the New Zealand team did really well, with all of us placing in the top ten, easily beating Queensland as the best performing State.

Not that we want to be a State of Australia! Philip, flying in his first competition, and doing it in Australia, did really well and managed to achieve 7th place overall, while Nick managed to fly consistently after the tough Day One and get 5th overall.

I managed to hold on to 2 nd place. I was really happy with my performance, feeling that I achieved my goal of flying consistently.

I would like to give a big thank you to everyone who helped us get to this competition. We could not have done so well without everyone’s support. A special thanks to the Gliding New Zealand Umbrella Trust for the financial support, but the biggest thanks has to go to our crew, who made the competition as stress-free as possible, which allowed us to focus on our flying.

struggling to get down on to the ridge. I heard back that the ridge was working and dove down to join Nick, flying up and down the 15 km ridge at 1000 ft. We spent a good part of two hours racing up and down the ridge. Nick said, “It almost feels like we’re at home.”

“You kiwis are mad, but it sounds like you’re having too much fun. I had better come and join you,” I heard Jono say as he joined us in his Cirrus.

Getting back to the airfield was easy. We first climbed in a thermal, then climbed in wave to 9000ft and glided back to the airfield. When we arrived back, no one believed us - until they saw the smile on Jono’s face. Thermal, ridge and wave all in one flight. It was a new experience for an Aussie.

For me, the rest of the competition was about trying to fly consistently. I was in second place overall, and I wanted to stay there. To do this, I just did my own thing but also kept a close eye on the competition. I tried to relax as much as possible and remember that it was a fun competition. This was quite easy to do, with all the banter over the radio. One day in a prestart gaggle, I heard someone say, “bombs away,” and within a few seconds I saw a trailing roll of toilet paper come down

Nick finishes on the final day.

Nice umbrella girl but still room for improvement.

February 2014

31

Photo Karl Ridgen

youth soaring

Development Camp

By Enya McPherson

My week started off well, completing my BFR with Ray, my instructor.

This was a good area familiarisation, as I hadn’t flown in Omarama for a year.

Plus, it’s always good to practice spin recovery.

M

y next flight was a follow-on from my BFR and, after only three minutes for a simulated launch failure, I was current again. Now that I was good to go, I had an abundance of soaring and cross country flights ahead of me. I was ready for the mountainous conditions to challenge and thrill me for my second year at the camp, in the world mecca of gliding.

I did a couple of soaring flights over Mt. Cuthbert (known to us all as Mt. Horrible, which proved to be anything but horrible) which was the basis for cross country flights further afield. I had the most incredible evening flight with Youth Glide president Jordan Kerr, and we didn’t land until ten past nine that night.

Nowhere better to watch the sunset than over the mountains at altitude. Magic.

Tuesday the 17th marked a very special day in my gliding career, as it was my 100th flight. It will sure be one to remember.

Graham Erikson and I headed south to Lake Hawea and dolphin soared our way along the Dingle Range at 8,500ft. I learnt a lot from Graham, as his wealth of knowledge and experience of cross country flying is incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed my flight with him and we went up again the following day: #101 for me. Although our patience was tested as we released from tow a little early, we worked hard for any lift we could find on the Nursery Ridge. We climbed on to Mt Horrible and managed

32

February 2014

Omarama, 12-22 December 2013 to glide into wave at about 8,500ft over the Benmore Range. It started off very weak and we held our breath, as it was only two knots up on the vario. However, we were still climbing. We found the good bits and headed for Mt. Cook. A flight I hadn’t thought would be more than half an hour turned into just under three hours, and at 13,000ft my feet were a little chilly! Next time I’ll be sure to remember my woolly socks.

When I did a check flight with an instructor on Thursday 19th we decided it was a perfect thermal day for some solo soaring. I went up and released from the tow plane about 1800ft and all I found was sink, so came down pretty promptly. Needless to say Graham was rather unimpressed. So I had another go and stayed with the comfort of the tow plane slightly longer.

I was up for an hour and a half, completing my QGP soaring flight, got up to 7,400ft and practiced some spiral dives on the way down. This was my first proper soaring flight on my own and I absolutely loved it. My next challenge on the camp was to complete a type conversion into the single Astir. With a full ground briefing from instructor Mike Strathern and a horizon/ nose attitude familiarisation from Richie McCaw, I was ready to take off. Flying Mike Quebec was a great experience and

Photo Mike Strathern

Enya and Jordan.

Photo Mike Strathern

Rob McCaw aims high.

Photo Karl Ridgen

Photo Karl Ridgen

Front seat Toni Thompon, back Jordan Kerr.

Photo Karl Ridgen

Photo Karl Ridgen

Anoki Jacksch heading for Mt Cook.

Retrieve from Glenorchy.

Enya converts to Single Astir.

February 2014

33

Photo Mike Strathern

Photo Karl Ridgen

Onesies

Tim Gordon About to ridge soar mt cook.

it meant I had nearly achieved all my goals for 2013’s Youth Soaring Development Camp.

By Wednesday the 20th the camp was nearly over, I was sure to make the most of the last few days, so I booked myself in to do some cross country soaring with instructor Trevor Mollard in the Duo Discus. We did a lot of ground theory and waited patiently whilst the wave clouds developed. They sure did. We

gained enough height on Mt Horrible to head south and get us over to Hugo’s Elevator and the Ewe Range, where we pushed west and once again we found wave. Although this time we had to battle with major rotor thermals - I have never been thrown around so much in a glider - but it was definitely worth it to get up to 16,000ft. I did lots of navigation and map work with Trevor and learnt a lot about the characteristics of wave flying, glider

YSDC

By David Palmer

T

here were unfavourable weather predictions for the Youth Soaring Development camp, so it was with a sense of trepidation that I pitched my tent as firmly as I could against the forecast week of south westerly rain. However, the next day dawned hot and sunny, with good thermal activity by late morning. I duly set off for a local familiarisation flight with Paul Marshall, my allocated instructor. This was my first experience in Omarama, having only flown from Timaru before that, and I was not disappointed. Our hour’s flight was centred around the field, with familiarisation of Mount Horrible and Little Ben, along with the plethora of land-out strips around the basin. This flight was followed by a second later in the afternoon, exploring further afield.

The next morning we received what would become a daily warning at the weather briefing, that while the weather looked like great soaring today, rain was coming tomorrow and would likely scuttle soaring for the rest of the week. That prediction was happily wrong for the next six days.

Further local soaring after the weather briefing was good for getting my hand in at thermalling, an unfortunately uncommon experience at my normal flying site. In order to consolidate these new skills, I took off in the afternoon for my first solo soaring flight, and made over an hour on my second attempt.

34

February 2014

It was quite a thrill. On the next couple of days early conditions were not good for much more than circuits, presenting an opportunity for me to make a type conversion into Youth Glide’s Single Astir, MQ. In the afternoons I took it up for a succession of further assaults on Omarama’s thermals.

One of the highlights of the camp was a cross country thermal flight with Mike Strathern, which took us from the Ewe Range to the top of Lake Ohau, over the Hunter range. That flight was the densest learning experience I had on the camp, and also one of the more exciting flights.

The day after my cross country flight, armed with the notes I had scribbled on the side of a beer box on returning, I set off in the Single Astir to see how much I could put into practice. My flying had markedly improved and I managed to climb to 10,000 feet on a long local soaring flight. Landing after that flight, and having been duly reprimanded for out-climbing the instructors, I was sent back up with a logger to attempt to repeat it for a Silver height gain. Unfortunately though, almost all the thermals had died, and with the wind abating as the evening wore on, I was unable to contact the wave again or climb high enough in any other type of lift. I landed two hours later, two hundred feet short of the Silver height gain.

YSDC

and personal preparation, as well as the human factors of flying at altitude, including how to use oxygen safely.

My very last flight was with Mike Strathern, back in a Twin Astir, and one flight which I’ll be sure to never forget. We thermalled up to just past 8,000ft and found some convergence, so stuck around in that for a while. We then decided it was getting late and I needed time to put my lippy on for the final dinner. I decided to try to set a personal best consecutive loop record.

With plenty of height to lose, we managed 15 in a row and then a celebratory 16th loop! A perfect way to end 2013 on a high note - literally.

We had a lovely final dinner and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the running of this year’s Youth Soaring Development Camp. Roger and Kim Read, your continued support of us youth pilots is so generous and we would not be able to have achieved such feats without you. The kitchen ladies, under Kim’s lead, we wouldn’t have managed such a successful camp without your support and delish meals to keep us fuelled. To the instructors, especially those who taught me: Graham, Trevor, Mike and Ray - thank you for everything. You not only help us develop as young pilots but mature as young adults.

I hope we can pass on the knowledge and share these amazing memories with young pilots of the future. Lastly, thank you to the sponsors and supporters of Youth Glide New Zealand.

Safe & Happy Soaring

The Fourth Annual Youth Soaring Development Camp (YSDC) organised by Youth Glide New Zealand (YGNZ) was held at Omarama between 12 and 22 December. Twenty five YGNZ members attended.

Some quick stats from the camp: ›› 300+ flights were flown during the ten day camp ›› 261 hours gliding were flown (costing $11984) ›› 31 hours towing were flown for launching (costing $17289) ›› $4500 was paid in camping fees to the Omarama Soaring Centre and $2740 was paid to Omarama Airfield Limited for Landing Fees ›› There were two First Solos (Lazar Naniov and Tim Marshall) and several re-solos after last year; ›› Three A Cert’s completed; ›› Three B Cert’s completed; ›› numerous type ratings; ›› one Diamond Height ›› and one C Cat Instructor Rating achieved.

Our Sponsors NZ CAA Air NZ Ltd Oakley’s Premium Fresh Vegetables Ltd Sanitarium Health and Well Being Ltd Coupland’s Bakeries Ltd The Original Smoke and Spice Company Ltd Meadow Mushrooms Ltd Avon Technical Solutions Ltd

Prizes

The final day of our camp brought the arrival of the longforecast rain which, although it quashed flying for the day, presented an opportunity for some classroom learning and to sit some of my QGP papers.

The Youth Soaring Development Camp presents a fantastic opportunity to youth glider pilots in New Zealand. I had been looking forward to it for weeks before going, yet it still superseded my expectations, both in terms of how much I learnt and how much fun I had. I am already counting down to the next camp.

Running a camp for 24 (mainly student) pilots is a huge undertaking and I, as well as my fellow camp attendees, am extremely thankful to those who gave up their time to make it happen. This includes, but is not limited to, the army of instructors, Kim Read and her assistants in the kitchen (whose catering would not have been out of place in a restaurant), the parents who helped with timekeeping, running wings and generally making things work; and most importantly, Roger Read: the driving force behind Youth Glide, who put an enormous effort into making the camp the success that it was.

Thanks also to Youth Glide’s generous sponsors and the clubs who supplied gliders.

Prizes came from the following: Georgeson Trust: $500 Georgeson Trust: $500 Georgeson Trust: $500 Georgeson Trust: $500 Mt Cook Airlines: Day With Crew Mt Cook Airlines: Day With Crew 3 Hr Flight with Justin Wills 3 Hr Flight with Gavin Wills 3 Day Course with Glide Omarama Kerry Jackson: $500 NZAWA Prize; Membership, book, $350 NZAWA Prize; Membership, $150 Helicopter Line: Day experience Helicopter Line: Day experience Air Safaris Line: Day experience Air Safaris Line: Day experience Milford Sound Flights Milford Sound Flights EMDA: $250 EMDA: $250 Canterbury Balloon Flight, GO T Shirt GO T Shirt GO T Shirt GO T Shirt McCaw Media: Bernard Eckey Book McCaw Media: Bernard Eckey Book Lucy Wills Trophy

Winner Fraser Mc Dougall Enya McPherson Tim Gordon Campbell Hall Campbell McIver Jake Bevan Tim Austen Jordan Kerr Karl Ridgen Daniel Town Enya McPherson Abbey Delore Tim Marshall Rob McCaw Anoki Jacksch Scott Wagstaff Reuben Graham Jonathan Wardman Toni Thompson Anna Bissett Lazar Naniov Scott Wagstaff Peter Carter Daisy Strange David Palmer Harley Paterson Tim Austen February 2014

35

2700 OLC kilometres

By Jim Payne

West of Las Lajas headed south. Highway in the sky.

After Delore and Fossett’s amazing distance records in the early 2000s, most glider pilots are aware that South America, especially the Patagonian area, is the place for distance flights. In December 2013, Jim Payne flew 2700 kms in the Andes wave. It isn’t the longest flight done there, Klaus Ohlmann logged a flight of 2831.15km in 2009. The gliding community is still very impressed with 2700 km. Jim tells us how the flight came about and how it was done.

P

eople ask, “What is the secret to a very long flight?” Actually, there is no secret. A pilot just has to fly all day from sunrise to sunset. Flying fifteen hours at 100 kph yields a 1500 kilometre mission. Flying faster just adds frosting to the cake.

This was our third trip to Argentina. During the first two I was still working, so we only stayed for a short time. During the first visit, Bariloche was under the plume of an active Chilean volcano so we flew out of Esquel and Los Antiguos. During the second trip, we flew out of Chos Malal and Bariloche.

The purpose of the trips were to build relationships and learn about flying in Patagonia as we prepare for the Perlan Project. Dennis Tito, who greatly enjoys flying in the wave, sponsored the trips. He shipped a DG-1001M from Los Angeles to Mendoza, Argentina via Chile. Tago De Pietro, who crewed for Steve Fossett and Terry Delore, joined the team and has been an outstanding logistician, crew, interpreter, and ambassador for soaring.

Since the DG is not equipped for very high altitude flying (i.e. we do not have pressure suits), we have used the trips to soar cross-country in the Andes. The DG has a 50 cubic foot oxygen bottle with a dual EDS regulator and two 11 cubic foot bottles with individual EDS regulators. With solar panels and a 40 amp-hour battery, it has plenty of electrical power for long flights.

Dennis had some holiday commitments in Los Angeles, so he had to leave Bariloche a couple of days before Christmas.

36

February 2014

However, Christmas turned out to be a good wave day. I flew with Juan Pagano, a local pilot and member of the Bariloche Soaring Club. The weather was better to the south and we logged 1550 km.

Several days out, the GFS winds aloft forecast said that Bariloche would have wave on December 29th. The wind field would extend well to the north, including the segment of the Andes from abeam Zapala to Volcán Domuyo, which I have come to really like. This was the first time that the winds looked good for the entire day to the north, where the Andes profile is better.

The night before, the forecast pointed to winds that would increase in strength during the day. The direction and profile were forecast to be good. Juan was still ‘gung ho’ to fly another long one so we got everything ready for an Onda Grande (Big Wave).

If you are going to fly all day it means getting up early, as in 4.15 am. At the gliderport we had a lot of cloud but there was a foehn gap to the north of the field. We scurried around with flashlights, head lamps, and high beams from the truck.

As the sky lightened, we hooked up the tail of the glider to the truck, keeping the full covers on. It is a long dusty drive to the departure end of the gravel runway. Covers off, we loaded the cockpit with food, water, and necessities, checked and verified the engine, oxygen, batteries, and electronics were all working.

We launched at sunrise, into mostly cloudy skies. We went north to the foehn gap that was located where the good wave

Happy pilot

usually sets up. We slowly climbed up and because of the forecast and good clouds to the north, we headed to Volcán Domuyo as planned.

The run north went pretty much as expected. Juan sweet talked air traffic control into a clearance to fly up to FL240, which was very helpful when making transitions. From Chapelco, there is about a 60 km segment where the Andes are well upwind of the desired track. We tiptoed through this area, which was not too difficult as we were transitioning slightly downwind. Once we got past the Chapelco gap, it was smooth and fast.

Just past Copahue, which has a steaming volcano, the winds started to die and the sky turned totally blue, which was congruent with the forecast. We really wanted to try the Cordillera Del Viento, which leads into Volcán Domuyo but it was downwind. If the Cordillera was not working, the upwind transition back to Copahue would negate our excellent beginning, so we turned back south.

South-bound, the lines of lift had not moved and we got past the Chapelco gap without much trouble. Because we had a good speed going, we decided to try south of Bariloche. If the lift lines were in the normal places, we would need to cross a blue area of about 80 km before reaching some wave clouds. However, south of Bariloche the lift got soft and the clouds ahead were not that inviting, so we turned back north. The clouds improved and we had excellent markers going to the north. The foehn gaps were well defined and marked strong lift. This time, when we got to Copahue, the Cordillera Del Viento had some rotor clouds, so we pressed on to Volcán Domuyo. The ‘Corridor of the Wind’ was ripping and so we extended past the volcano. With groundspeeds in the 250 kph range, this was a fun segment.

Going back south was a matter of following the lift lines and making the upwind transition. Experience gained during my flights from Chos Malal with Morgan Sandercock during the

Photo Pablo Pszemiarower

Photo Pablo Pszemiarower

Jim and Juan landed.

Tago, Jackie, Jim, and Juan after the Dec 29 flight. – team

Argentine wave camp was very helpful during the transitions.

The strongest winds were in the Chapelco gap, where we saw as much as 76 knots on the computer. Last year we saw 95 knots in the same area. As the day progressed, the wind direction shifted to WSW, so we had to fight a pretty strong headwind component during the crossing of the gap.

The last trip north was spent deciding how far we could go and still make it back to Nahuel Huapi with the quartering headwind. As fate would have it, the foehn gap filled in and the wave weakened when we were just over 400 km out, so we turned for home. On the segment from the northern turnpoint to abeam Zapala, the groundspeed bumped above 300 kph. We definitely could have used negative flaps on this flight! Once into the Chapelco gap, progress was slower.

When we checked in with Bariloche Tower about 120 km out, they reported rain in the vicinity of Bariloche. We had good lift along the last segment of the trip home so we finished a little high in case the rain was a problem at Nahuel Huapi. Except for a few drops, the rain held off until we landed. The happy pilots and crew did get a little wet putting the DG away, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We all are still smiling weeks later.

The power of the wind over the Andes is incredible. The difficulty is figuring out when and where the wave will be optimum.

This flight was 2701 kilometres in 15 hours 1 minute, at 185 kph.

It earned 2486 OLC points, which is the highest handicapped point total since the beginning of the OLC contest. In the week from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day, we flew three flights of fifteen hours each, for a total of 6381 kilometres and six U.S. national record claims.

A final interesting note is that in 1998 at the Baron Hilton Cup camp three young pilots and their wives enjoyed the hospitality of the Flying M Ranch. They were Wendy and Terry Delore, Sidonie and Klaus Ohlmann, and Jackie and I. Subsequently, all of us have enjoyed much success exploring the Patagonia wave.

February 2014

37

GLIDING THE H

Sebastian Kawa

38

February 2014

E HIMALAYAS

February 2014

39

Fly

Boys for Charlie and Fletcher

By Patrick Frame

Although not in my blood, flying has always held a fascination with me. As a boy growing up on a farm in the Eastern part of Southern Hawkes Bay, I spent many hours at our busy airstrip watching the top dressers.

S

itting patiently on the super bin lid, I was waiting, hoping, willing the pilot to slide open his canopy and call me over. Will he? Won’t he? Occasionally my patience would pay off and away I’d go, screaming around the sky for the last few loads of the day in a Beaver or Fletcher. The smell, the noise, the banking, the speed, the absolute rawness of the flying still remains etched in my memory to this day.

It was not until I was in my late 30’s that gliding got me.

I had experienced a trial flight in Dannevirke some 10 years earlier and enjoyed it. Why not learn to fly? One phone call and enter Ross Anderson; the oldest 12 year old boy I’ve ever met, and the rest is history. I was lucky to have joined as the only student at the time, so had free and easy access to otherwise bored instructors. I soon learnt that not only could I learn in this environment but that this was a place where I was sure my boys

40

February 2014

could develop and learn also.

I was a house-dad when I first began flying, with my two boys, Charlie, three at the time and Fletcher coming up two.

Fletcher’s Mum has no idea of the aircraft reference, not to mention the character in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I guess Charlie can thank his lucky stars he isn’t called Beaver or Chiang.

My thoughts were simple. If children can be exposed to this sort of experience and environment at a young age, they will surely be instilled with traits that will hold them in good stead as they enter adolescence. To grow up in this environment and to become a young glider pilot must run parallel with a character set of responsibility, safety, good decision making and team work. It is with this in mind that I convince, cajole and frankly bribe them to come out to the field with me at every opportunity. They have been the field gliding urchins for a good many years now.

When they were younger, I often left them in the caravan under the watchful eye of the duty ground controller while I flew. They’d be hooking up gliders, riding on the tractor, riding their bikes and scooters down taxi-ways and way too close to gliders in the hangar. They will learn a great many skills here, not from me but from the many and varied characters within

Garth Cameron

Aviation Law our club. Importantly, they will watch and observe how adults interact and learn from each other within this environment.

They will learn to drive.

The tractor on the field will provide their first lesson; as boat tractors on beaches were mine. They will learn intricate details about weather systems and geography, well before they are taught at school. Map reading, mechanics, avionics, swearing, the list of life skills is endless.

None of this has been without incident, I might add. Here’s something that very few glider pilots know. You can actually fully close and lock the front canopy of a Twin Astir with a two year old child’s fingers clasped around the rim on each side of the cockpit. It is, as it turns out, a very noisy process; but it can be done!

I recall the day while flying a frontal system with Ron Sanders (I think it was), when over the radio we heard, “Feilding Traffic. Be advised. There appears to be two young boys near the taxi-way throwing stones at passing aircraft!” I have never felt so sick in my life as I did at that moment. A quick call to base and I was reassured my two were not the culprits. From that terror, to the joy I felt as they grew big enough to take them for their first flight, the range was enormous. Their reactions – priceless.

My eldest, barely 500 feet off the ground exclaimed, “Gosh Dad. No wonder you spend so much time up here!” Soon after that, I spotted a plane below us and pointed it out to Charlie.

The reply, without a moment’s hesitation, “I have him visual.”

I was so proud. My youngest paid me the ultimate compliment on landing after his flight. “Dad, why is your head moving around all the time when you are flying?” This Saturday just gone, they both had their first turn on the controls. One was nervous yet willing, smooth and thoughtful with the controls; the other direct, aggressive and assertive. Two unique characters, two unique styles, both just as useful in flight.

I hope that soon they will learn, as have I, that to momentarily occupy that space between the sun and the ground is an incredible space to be in. Nothing else exists but that moment which you fly through. Melancholy cannot sit on your shoulders as you soar, anxiousness of the future, does not exist.

What does, is an acute awareness of the space immediately surrounding you. There is only that moment, those moments, all combining to be the collective instances that make up your flight for the day.

I look forward to the not too distant future when they, with flying in their blood, will soar well beyond me. To have introduced you to flight has been my pleasure boys. I look forward to the future, to watching you spread your wings and soar. Fly boys, fly.

32 years legal and aviation experience.

03 477 1719 garth@garthcameron law.co.nz www.garthcameronlaw.co.nz Calling for Expressions of Interest REstoRE thE

Hawker Tempest and keep it in New Zealand

The Hawker Tempest MW376, owned by Eric Hertz and under restoration at the time of his death, is now being put on the market. Eric’s dream was to restore it to flying condition, to honour the New Zealanders who flew with 486 (NZ) Squadron in the Typhoon and Tempest aircraft.

There are only 11 Tempests in existence and this would be the only one flying in the world.

To express interest in joining a syndicate to buy the aircraft, restore it and keep it in New Zealand, contact Paul McSweeny of Pioneer Aero.

E: paul@pioneeraero.co.nz Business Address: 458 Corsair Lane, Ardmore Airport, Papakura, Auckland.

P: +64 09 296 8913 F: +64 09 296 8943 Family members of previous 486 (NZ) Squadron members are also invited to get in touch.

February 2014

41

Bivouac through

Middle Earth

by Thomas de Dorlodot

This time last year, Belgian Paraglider pilots Thomas De Dorlodot and Ferdy van Schelven used this adventure to train for the Red Bull X-Alps race in July. They ‘bivouacked’ the length of the Southern Alps, from Te Anau to Nelson. Thomas was happy to share the story with SoaringNZ readers.

42

February 2014

O

ur trip was a self-contained 28 day traverse of New Zealand’s South Island with our 22kg packs (including sleeping bag, fishing gear, clothes, instruments, etc.)

We either traveled on foot carrying our paragliders or were carried by our wings. We slept in huts or outside wrapped in our gliders. We had to go back to a town once a week as we could only bring seven days of dry food with us. We also caught some trout on the way. We drank water from the river. We were pretty much alone in the middle of nowhere for most of the trip.

It was an amazing experience. Here are the highlights of this incredible adventure.

Tom and Ferdy, Tasman Glacier.

area was covered with white snow and glaciers. It was serious stuff. Suddenly, I realised what awaited us. “This is sick,” I whispered.

Ferdy was waiting for me with a big smile on his face. I was glad to see my friend and teammate for the ‘Red Bull X-Alps’. He had arrived ten days before me. Ferdy took me to town where we ate our last burger and enjoyed each bite of it. The next day our long journey would begin and lyophilised (freeze dried) food would be our menu for over a month.

A few months ago Ferdy had texted me: “Are you up to cross New Zealand’s South Island on bivouac flight? It’s more than 800 km of wild mountains from Te Anau to Nelson. It has never been done before. It could be a good training for Red Bull X-Alps…”

I could not refuse the challenge.

Day 1 A treat We got out of a 4x4 at a place called The Key. We thanked Peter, the farmer who made a 40 km detour to drive us to the right track. I could sense his skepticism when he shook my hand to wish me good luck. “You will need it,” he said. My bag weighed 22kg. Inside was: my new Nevada light, a Sup’Air Delight harness with a rescue, a 600 gm sleeping bag, a mattress, very few clothes, a fishing rod, a flashlight, a gas stove, my gear, a SPOT tag, a tooth brush, a bottle of water and seven days of food supply. We did not bring our tents.

We walked all day long along the Mavora Lake and arrived at the Carey Hut, where we spent the night. We were impressed that there were many shelters like this all over the country. We knew we could count on them to accommodate us when night

Almost thirty hours from when my trip began, I was on the plane to Queenstown, New Zealand. Through the window, I could see the sun slowly rising over the horizon. After a closer look, the New Zealand Alps could be seen several thousand meters below. It was my first time seeing them. The mountains were huge and rough. There was nothing in the valleys except vast forests and beautiful rivers. Not even a soul: a virgin territory.

The commander of the 347 took the microphone, “To your right, you can see Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand.” What appeared among the clouds impressed me. The February 2014

43

middle earth

fell. For dinner we prepared our first lyophilised meal. As I was preparing my bed, I felt something deep in my sleeping bag – a chocolate bar hidden by one of my Belgian friends with a note saying, “Have a nice trip bro!” We shared that last piece of chocolate with a cup of tea before sinking into our sleeping bags. The adventure had only begun.

Day 3 The big flight Three days had passed since we started walking in the mountains. The wind was less strong, a possible day for a good flight?

We chose to climb the north ridge of the Greenstone valley; we knew it would be well exposed to the sun a few hours later, perfect for take-off. Everything works upside down here; we are on the other side of the world. We cut through bushes and rocks to finally find a piece of grass at 1500 m.

The breeze we were waiting for came through. We put our stuff into our paraglide harness – it barely fitted. Ferdy had our pan hanging under his cocoon while I had a fishing rod fixed to my back. We took off around 1pm and struggled for an hour in weak conditions, when we finally managed to get some altitude. We could not believe it. The wilderness underneath us was spectacular. I have rarely flown over such an isolated place. There was not a soul, no roads in the valleys, no cities, no villages – nothing. The place was completely deserted. It reminded me of the French Alps, but without its habitants. Deer and chamois were running down the slopes below our gliders.

It was beautiful. An hour later we were above Lake Wakatipu.

That is the beauty of paragliding – we just covered a day of walking with a one-hour flight. However, we kept on going. The weather was getting better. Each kilometre accomplished by flight was one kilometre less of trek. That was our main source of motivation. Even though Ferdy and I have very different flight styles, we perform great flights together.

44

February 2014

Staying together was mandatory, since we did not have radios to communicate with each other. All of a sudden, I was not sure of the path we were supposed to be heading. I got closer to Ferdy with my glider and he instantly reassured me, “Don’t worry, it’s the right way.” In the distance, I could see the snowcapped peak of Mount Aspiring. Under our feet, forests and dozens of rivers kept coming. I could not help myself and screamed with excitement.

I hate walking across frozen rivers, they are a real punishment.

Sometimes, they are so deep you have to try several times before you find the right passage. We arrived at the end of the valley and passed the Rees saddle, then switched to the Dart Glacier and passed the Cascade saddle at 1500 m. The overview of the glacier was so impressive! It was a really rough passage to cut through and we had flown for five hours – we were pretty tired. I remember reaching high altitude but, on the other hand, Ferdy was getting lower and it was out of the question to leave him behind. As mentioned before, we had no radios to communicate. Besides, it was easy to get lost. Fortunately, I saw him fighting hard and holding on. He finally managed to cross the mountain pass. What a relief! We ended up landing after 100 km of flight. It would have taken us four days to cross that pass by foot. Thankfully, Wanaka was not that far away so we headed up to the village and bought some food for the following days.

Day 9 Strong wind and great fear We had been confined to the ground due to strong winds. Every time we tried to take off, the wind would push us back into the ground. We had to sleep two nights in a row wrapped up in our gliders in the middle of the nowhere. We were exhausted, if not a bit discouraged. Prior to that, we had spent twelve hours a day walking and climbing. The sun was burning our skins and we had lost some weight. Fortunately, our bags were much lighter than when we started.

middle earth

The next morning, we arrived at a 1600m pass after four hours of climbing through the forest. We have seen better conditions, yet we do not hesitate long. Neither of us wanted to go back all the way down by foot. I took off first and rapidly reached 2500m. The wind was strong and turbulent but manageable.

We went for it. The first valley passed at an impressive speed.

The tension was palpable, however we were extremely focused.

My Nevada [rig] remained incredibly strong in such turbulence, while the wind was getting more powerful. We were now standing still against the wind just above a 2000m pass. We had to think quickly. Going back to the valley was not an option.

We wanted to switch sides but we had to avoid losing height.

Ferdy took the initiative. After one kilometre, I could see him gaining ten metres per second. He was trapped in a huge rotor.

He managed to come out after a major struggle, trying to maintain his glider over his head. My turn had come, but I was at a lower height. It was abnormally calm. I already knew what was about to happen. I took a look at my emergency handle…just in case...and mentally prepared for battle. It all happened very quickly. My vario screamed as if to prevent me from danger, then stopped abruptly. A huge gust of wind made me twist, the glider totally collapsed. Next thing I knew, I was in aerobatics mode, trying to keep my glider under control. I realised I was trapped in a massive rotor… I lost 200 m but I was now stable. If I had taken my competition glider, I am pretty sure I would have pulled the emergency handle. All I could say was, “That was a close one.” The fright made me realise I should have walked down instead of taking such risks. I landed in the valley flying backwards, but I was safe again. I caught up with Ferdy who had lost track of me and we decided to walk until we reached the nearest shelter. We had made good progress and had had our fill of thrills for the day.

Day 11 The rainstorm From my camp bed I could hear the rain falling heavily on the rusted roof of the shelter. Even though the cacophony of the storm had made it impossible for us to sleep that night, it was 6 am and we had to get up. I turned on the stove while Ferdy prepared the porridge and analysed the maps. During the night mice had got into our food supply. Luckily, they had not eaten much. I was staring outside the window, it was pouring rain.

To be honest, we were not that excited about leaving our warm shelter that morning. “Today’s going to be tough,” said Ferdy.

We walked all day in the rain. We were soaked. The ground was loose and sometimes, I sank into the mud up to my knees.

I suffered in silence. I remember Ferdy telling me about an isolated farm where he’d stayed five years ago, after a long day of flight. “I recognise the area, we are not far away,” he said.

“You’ll see, the farmers are very nice people and their roast chicken is unbelievable,” he added. I began to fantasize about that chicken, with the image of an adorable couple receiving us into their home. We finally got to the end of the valley, after nine hours of hiking. We were exhausted but happy, it was almost over for the day. Not far away a smoking chimney appeared “It’s the farm!” we shouted, and began accelerating. I could already smell the roast chicken.

Overjoyed that the journey was coming to an end, a tiny yet major detail escaped us – it had rained all day, therefore, the river going down the valley had grown really big and was now blocking our way to the farm, which was just on the other side of the river. I looked at Ferdy. He was as desperate as I was. I decided to get into the water and see if I could find a passage that would lead us to the other side. I tried several times, taking different lines, swimming as fast as I could, trying every possible technique that crossed my mind… nothing worked.

February 2014

45

middle earth

However, I had no intention of quitting until I started to get tired and, let’s be honest, extremely cold. The current was so strong it almost carried me away. I was defeated. Ferdy handed me his jacket to warm me up and dry myself. I was freezing. We had to wait for the end of the storm to cross the river. Dreadful.

Day 13 Mount Cook Crossing those frozen rivers first thing in the morning was a torture! The night before was particularly cold outside; we were not far from the glaciers. Luckily, the passage we took in order to take off was neither difficult nor far. It was a beautiful grassy mountain, not too steep and well exposed to the sun. Raindrops were no longer a challenge and our rate of ascent impressed me. The idea of accomplishing a great flight gave us energy to quickly reach our destination. We were now in the Dobson valley, not far from Mount Cook.

I took off first at a height of 1700 m but was unable to get into a thermal therefore I landed 200 m lower and walked back to the launch site. “This time it’s the right one,” I thought. The wind got stronger and we could use that to do what I like to call X Soaring. Thermals were not frequent but we could hold on to the wind to gain some distance. I managed to get through the mountain pass. Unfortunately Ferdy was too low and had to land right underneath me and walk all the way up to the take off for a second try. Meanwhile, I landed and sat on a rock waiting for him. Once he got there, we shared a cereal bar while reading our maps. We took off a few minutes later – I never thought it was possible to travel so much distance without thermals. I slowly gained 1000 m while flying next to the straight mountain front. I was overwhelmed; I could see the valley of Mount Cook right on the other side. I waited for Ferdy to get closer, nevertheless, I could see he had lost me. I screamed as hard as I could, as if my life depended on it, but he was already too far away. I remember him going towards the glaciers. He was taking the tiger line! “How on earth will I find him?” I thought. We did not have our radios and the wind made it impossible for me to turn around and follow him. I passed through a shortcut and flew

46

February 2014

3000 m above Mount Cook village. I could have kept going but it was 5pm and my friend was lost. After 20 minutes of circling around the village, I landed. It was weird being surrounded by people after many days of loneliness. I was worried; I didn’t want to finish this trip alone without knowing where he was.

I thought about leaving him some marks with notes saying “Ferdy, meet me at the Tasman glacier,” so that he could track me down. It was silly.

When I thought there was nothing left to do, I looked up the sky and there I saw a paraglider. He managed to pass the glaciers! Instantly, I opened my glider, swinging it in the air so that he could see me. We were at the foot of Mount Cook and had already covered half the distance of our trip.

Day 14 The Tasman Glacier Ferdy and I struggled painfully on the moraine of the Tasman Glacier; our rate of hike that day was ridiculous. We tried to find our way through the rocks and debris all day long. Nine hours of intense effort for only 20 km. At 5pm we thought it was time to call it a day. Then, once we got to the top of that stone-icedmonster, there appeared a mountain with a potential take off area, well exposed to the sun with the perfect breeze. I looked at Ferdy, who had exactly the same idea. We arrived an hour later, after a traumatic climb through thorny bushes and launched.

Once again, we ended up hanging in our gliders enjoying the magnificent view of the South Island.

We overflew the Murchison glacier without any difficulty whatsoever, and gained 20 km of wild glaciers and 1,300m of ascent. Slowly, it was getting dark and we had to find a good place to land. We flew over the Godley River until we reached the mountains on the other side. While trying to land at sunset, breezes pushed me and lead me to the other side of the mountains at a height of 2,300m. We had just traveled 40 km. In a one and a half hour flight we passed two valleys and an entire glacier. We landed just in front of a hut. The place looked too good to be a public shelter. I pushed the door. It opened on a beautiful room with a fire place, wood and half a bottle of red

middle earth this place. We flew at 2,400 m over the Blue Lake. Thermals were strong, the wind was perfect for such a flight and the view that surrounded us was breath-taking. We flew next to each other; our gliders could almost touch. Not far away, over 100 km farther on, the sea made an appearance. Ferdy and I were euphoric. Even though I could not be happier, I was sad the trip was almost over. The idea of arriving at our final destination did not make us happy. We had learned to appreciate those difficult days, the long hikes, the beauty of flying and of course, the giggles. Life in nature would be missed.

We flew at a height of 3,000 m above the Angelus hut (last shelter of the high mountains) before reaching our target. Ferdy easily convinced me to land next to the shelter. “This is all ending really fast, let’s enjoy a bit more.” We did a beautiful 360 with some loops and landed right in the shelter’s front door. The door opened and a woman called to me sternly, “Do you have reservations?”

It was the first time we had come across someone in a shelter. We told the ranger about our trip but she insisted that we paid a fee. Everything worked out fine after we sat down for some tea. We could feel the return of civilisation. It was tough. wine left on the table. Our thrill was indescribable. Rarely have I been so happy. Ferdy also had a huge smile on his thin suntanned face. We earned it!

Day 20 Epic catch The last few days had been difficult – we had hard climbs on foot, experienced a terrifying flight, landed backwards in the bushes due to strong wind, reached 3,000 m height during a wonderful flight where we could see both coasts of the island – basically, we had an intense week. Thankfully, we were doing well.

We had walked along the Harper River since sunrise. An old fishing guide once said that this was one of the best rivers for fly-fishing in the world. The river was very remote and not well known. I wanted to try.

We ate our lunch next to the water’s edge and calculated what remained for us to walk for the day. We were ahead of schedule, therefore I had time to fish. I prepared my equipment and went up the river, arriving in a beautiful canyon. The water was crystal clear and made it easy for me to identify a splendid trout. It probably measured more than 65 cm. I tried to put my fly in the best possible position, immediately, the trout went for it. Caught it! I could feel the trout trying to get out of it, it struggled and made huge leaps out of the water. I had to run in the river in order not to lose it. I won the battle after 20 min of tussle. I caught six more trout on our way. I kept two and released the others. It was by far the most beautiful fishing day of my life. We prepared those two amazing trout under the sky with a big camp fire. It was delicious and allowed us to vary our menu a little. That night, nothing could make us happier.

Day 25 Last flight The weather was pleasant and with lots of luck and a bit of effort, we managed to move forward. We travelled approximately 150 km in flight over the last three days. We flew over the Harper Pass, up the Trent River valley and swung along the Boyle River. It was wonderful. It was the first time paragliders had passed through

Day 27: The sea Ferdy and I walked for two days by the side of the road. The day before, seven people had offered us a lift to Nelson, but we refused each time. Even though it was hard, we had to finish by foot. We slept wrapped up in our gliders and the next day, we had already traveled 60 km. This was our last breath of effort.

The sea was close. We entered noisy suburbs; cars and buses oppressed me. The city was chaotic and annoyed me more than ever. The world seemed crazy. I just wanted to turn around and return to the mountains.

Once we got closer, we started counting our last steps left to the sea, laughing and enthusiastic. I shook hands with Ferdy with great emotion, “It was a pleasure travelling with you.

Thank you my friend.”

List of equipment: Tom: Glider: Gradient Nevada light 26.

Harness: Sup’Air Delight Rescue: Sup’Air. Xtra light Bag: Gradient S. Mattress: Thermarest Sleeping bag: Eider/600 gr Torch: Black Diamond Walking sticks: Black Diamond Shoes: Salomon XA3D Tag: SPOT Camera: Iphone Fishing rod Clothes: Peak Performance Vario sound

Ferdy: Glider: UP prototype Harness: Sup’Air Delight Rescue: Sup’Air. Xtra light Bag: Sup’Air Delight Mattress: Thermarest Torch: Black Diamond Walking sticks: Black Diamond Shoes: Reebok Stove: Coleman. Essence Fishing rod

Statistics: 165 hours of walking for 480km covered on foot.

Average speed: 3 km/hour. 55% of the distance.

25 hours of flying for 393 km flying.

45% of the distance.

February 2014

47

The fascination of

Ultralight Soaring

By Klaus Burkhard

Ultralight gliders are not new, but they are something we haven’t seen much of in New Zealand yet. German glider pilot and Ultralight enthusiast Klaus Burkhard shares details of these gliders and shares the thrills and joys of flying them. This article is adapted from one written for Ruppert Composite for distribution at the AERO-Friedrichshafen 2013.

I

n 1998 I read an interesting article about an Ultralight Glider, called the Banjo MH. The aircraft was of Czechoslovakian construction, very light weight, self-launching but also affordable with respect to my limited budget. It met my dreams of independence from the usual weekend gliding clubs and the need for towing, pilot and/or winch. It would provide

Ballistic Rescue System installed in aircraft.

48

February 2014

cross-country flying, whenever I had time and the weather was good (mostly Monday to Friday).

I called the German dealer, Junkers Profly in Kulmbach, Bavaria and set a date to get a closer look at this low-weight butterfly and possibly do a test flight as well.

Outside the company’s hangar, a slightly smaller but otherwise normal glider trailer was parked. I took a critical look at the fuselage, everything looked perfect. It was a nice clean compound construction. The whole aircraft seemed incredibly flimsy though. The fuse was paper thin. You could read the registration painted on the outside from the inside. The ribs were made of Styrofoam. When I pushed my thumb against the fuse it dented.

I was impressed with wings that only weighed 26 kg, but after seeing it struggle to take off in a slight crosswind I decided that only nutcases, gamblers and people with a suicide wish should ever entrust their life to a fragile aeroplane design like that. I was not one of them.

More than ten years passed before I had a second contact with lightweight gliders again and I became convinced that air sports do indeed need this type of aircraft. New traditional

Banjo Designer Václav & Ivan Brandejs Manufacturer ProFe (Czechoslovakia) Wingspan 13.3 m Length 6.3 m Empty Weight 115 kg MTOW 220 kg Load factor +4.4 / -2.2 g Max Speed (Vne) 140 km/h Max Speed Turbulence VB 110 km/h Stall Speed 50 km/h Min. Sink rate 0.68 m/s Glide ratio L/D 28 Price approx.

19,500 €

GFW-3 gliders are not only too big, too heavy and too over-regulated

by EASA, but also expensive and mostly unaffordable for the majority of international glider pilots. Nowadays, glider designers follow one direction in new model designs: Faster, bigger, heavier = dearer.

Deregulated ultralight gliders covered by the National German LTF-L (Building and Construction Regulations for very light air sport vehicles less than 120kg empty weight) have some valuable advantages in comparison to the ‘high-tech toys made in Germany,’ for example: > lifetime valid license (like ordinary GPL) but > no medical required (self-assessment about personal fitness and health) > no expensive, aviation-certified parts mandated > no yearly inspection or maintenance by certified staff mandated (Maintenance/Repair/ Overhaul is pilots/owners full responsibility) > no aeroplane registration mandated (but it can be applied for by pilots/owners) > no aeroplane logbook mandated

Designer Manufacturer Wingspan Length Empty Weight MTOW Load factor Max Speed (Vne) Max Speed Turbulence VB Stall Speed Min. Sink rate Glide ratio L/D Price approx.

Dr. Gerhard-F. Wagner Dr. Gerhard-F.Wagner 13.4 m 5.47 m 120 kg 220 kg +5.6 / -3.5 g 185 km/h 142 km/h 53 km/h 0.55 m/s 35 at 81 km/h n. a. (will be produced in series, most probably next year)

> no EASA Maintenance Program mandated, which might be good for Business and Airline Aviation, but is just complete nonsense for a glider.

All these simplifications turn the cost curve downwards, getting back to affordability by everyone.

High performance ultralight aeroplanes like the GFW-3, February 2014

49

designed and home-built by Dr. Gerhard-Friedrich Wagner from Kaiserslautern; the US-made SparrowHawk, designed and professionally produced in series by Craig Cole; and the Swiss made Archaeopteryx, a 65 kg foot-launchable and foot-landable Carbon/Kevlar glider (manufactured in an outstanding quality I have never seen before), are good examples of today’s design, engineering, craftsmanship and new materials. These beautiful constructions are just the beginning of a new gliding era, which I personally believe, will change the world of gliding and soaring sports dramatically. As this happens, these aeroplane designs will initiate a new direction in glider development too.

Producers in Czechoslovakia, Poland and other low-price countries, who design and build undoubtedly very good aeroplanes with high-quality, excellent performance and affordable prices will benefit.

Ursula Hänle designed and built the first ultralight glider ever, the Hippie H111 in 1974. The Hippie H111 was categorized as a hang glider, not an aeroplane, despite the fact that the H111 looked similar to a SG-38 and was 3 axis aerodynamically controlled. The spars of the Hippie wings were made of carbon and the open cockpit was (in her advanced design with 10 m wingspan) made of Epoxy Compound with a Styrofoam core inside. The form of the cockpit was designed to protect the pilot in case of a roll-over during landing.

With a wingspan of 10 m, an Empty Weight of 45 kg, a glide ratio of 12 at 45 km/h, a sink rate of 1.3 m/s at 40 km/h and a Vmax of 60 km/h, the performance of the Hippie H111 was far away from the performance of any common glider at that time.

Hänle and her husband Eugen produced the well-known H101Salto six years earlier.

Other designers built on the idea. ULF1 was very popular and twenty years on people are still buying the kits. The main focus of the designers was neither aesthetics nor performance, but an excellent climb ratio in very weak weather conditions; low speed flying abilities for the sake of pleasure soaring and safety. Last, but not least, they should be a low-budget production by do-it-yourself and home-build activities. Foot launch and foot landing, auto launch, winch launch, trike launch and bungee launch; a very wide variety of launching methods, including a horse launch – which actually happened, there are pictures on the internet!

Many high profile aircraft designers joined in the fun.

A small breakthrough came in 1997, when a tiny aeroplane manufacturer from Czechoslovakia (Pro FE) introduced a new ultralight glider – Banjo. It was the first ultralight glider design of its kind and offered for an unbeatable price of about 15.000 DM.

50

February 2014

With a wingspan of 13.3 m, an empty weight of 112 kg, this new glider design had a glide ratio of 28, nearly doubling the glide ratio of the ULF-1. On second glance, a glide ratio of 28 was just about the same as of the Schleicher Ka-8, in service since 1957, but the Banjo was nearly half the weight of the geriatric Ka-8. This enables pilots to get in the air very early and in the weakest thermal conditions, when not even a Ka-8 could stay up in the air.

This is contrary to ‘common’ glider development in Germany which seems focused on increasing VNE and improving glide ratio, obviously to beat present World Records and win World Championships. Ultralight glider development is divided in two rather contrary design and development directions, meeting different pilot demands. According to German Building Regulations (LTF-L), the restricting limitations are an empty weight of <120 kg and Vmin <55 km/h in landing configuration. Those limits are fixed and cannot be altered or ignored by design.

Now, the target of the first group of ultralight designers is to design an ultralight glider with the highest possible VNE and the best possible glide ratio. A good example of this category are gliders like the Banjo and the GFW-3.

The second group of ultralight designers has a rather different target in their mind, because 120 kg empty weight as well as 55 km/h Vmin, are far too high for them. Their targets are an empty weight of about 50-60 kg and a much lower Vmin, somewhere near 30 km/h. Both targets are combined with the best possible glide ratio and a high Vne as well. Their mainintention is to design an aeroplane to be independent from clubs and allow pilots to launch early in the morning away from any airfield, just somewhere on the top of hills or up in the mountains, landing late behind their house.

When I searched the internet the first time for other types of ultralight gliders than the Banjo, GFW-3 and SparrowHawk, I discovered funny names like Carbon-Dragon, Swift-light and the Archaeopteryx. After a second glance at those ultralights, I

Swift-light Designer Manufacturer Aeriane Wingspan 128 m Empty Weight 8 kg MTOW 158 kg Load factor +4.0 / -2.0 g Max Speed (Vne) 120 km/h Max Speed Turbulence VB 100 km/h Stall Speed 32 km/h Min. Sink rate 0.6 m/s Glide-ratio L/D 27 at 65 km/

ultralight soaring Are those ‘Lightweights’ dangerous?

Archaeopteryx Designer Manufacturer Wingspan Length Empty Weight MTOW Load factor Max Speed (Vne) Max Speed Turbulence VB Stall Speed Min. Sink rate Glide ratio Glide ratio (70° Flaps) Price approx.

Roger Ruppert Ruppert Composite 13.6 m 5.7 m 66 kg 164 kg +4.0 / -2.0 g 130 km/h 85 km/h 30 km/h 0.5 m/s 1:28 1:5 75,000 €

decided for myself, that these were not the types of aeroplanes I would ever board. The first and very visible difference to what I was used to in 40 years of glider flying was the fact that you do not get into the cockpit like entering a common glider, but you have to slip into them or pull them over your body. Once you somehow manage to get yourself in the cockpit, you have to run downhill and hope that your wings will produce positive lift before you stumble over your own legs and end up with the nose in the middle of a fresh and juicy cow-pie. Definitely not for me, or for other pilots of my advanced age of 66.

But in July 2012, I had to adjust my attitude to these ‘funny toys’. I invited three Swift-light and three Archaeopteryx pilots to the yearly DULSV meeting in Bad Sobernheim. Manfred Ruhmer from Austria, multiple world hang-gliding champion, came with his Electro-Swift, also Jaques Bott from France, the OLC-World Champion 2012 in PHG FAI Class-2 (rigid wings) with his Swift-light. Roger Ruppert, Swiss designer and builder of the high-tech Archaeopteryx brought his aircraft. My former attitude about those ‘funny’ gliders changed when I saw them flying on the first day. Long before the ordinary gliders were even unpacked, the ultralight pilots were already in the air.

Until that day, I had only seen hawks and buzzards soar the unimposing Domberg ridge, a very small hill-plateau between Frankfurt and Kaiserslautern. But now, Swift and Archaeopteryx did just the same, together with some birds of prey.

In September, I arranged to have a test flight in the Archaeopteryx with Roger Ruppert in Switzerland. This first flight in an Archaeopteryx changed my attitude of ultralight soaring completely. It was very different compared to common gliders, with a side stick and especially low speed flying characteristics, between 30-140 km/h.

No, not at all, as long as pilots adhere to the limitations (Vne and Structural Limits) published by the manufacturers.

But this basic regulation applies for all kind of aircraft or air sport vehicles, from the giant A380 to a Duo-Discus and down to Swift-light and Archaeopteryx. As everybody should know and be aware off, exceeding the specified limitations can result in breaking the aeroplane apart – all aeroplanes, not only ultralights.

On the other hand, all ultralight vehicles certified according to German Regulations (LFT-UL and LFT-L) are equipped with a ‘Ballistic Rescue System’ (BRS), instead of a common pilot’s parachute. In a worst-case scenario, there is no need to unbuckle the harness, open the canopy and try to bail out of the tight cockpit, wasting useful time before the release handle of the parachute can be pulled. Within a second the red handle in the cockpit is pulled and immediately the BRS is activated, igniting a small rocket device which pulls out a huge parachute fastened to the structure of the plane, bringing it safely down to earth, together with the pilot safely belted to his seat.

Low landing speeds mean any landing accident may destroy the aircraft but the pilot will be unhurt or only slightly injured.

These are good reasons for pushing the deregulated air sports scene forward.

Despite the low speeds, long distance flights of 500 km and more are possible. The longest flight so far was done by Marlies Eicher in Australia flying 485 km from Yando Airfield to Forbes in January 2012.

SparrowHawk Designer Greg Cole Manufacturer Winward Performance Wingspan 11.0 m Length 6.28 m Empty Weight 70 kg MTOW 188 kg Load factor +5.5 / -4.0 g Max Speed (Vne) 228 km/h Max Speed Turbulence VB 148 km/h Stall Speed 63 km/h Min. Sink rate 0.61 m/s Glide ratio L/D 37 at 92.5 km/h Price approx.

45,000 € SparrowHawks hold nine world records in FAI class “DU”

by Gary Osaba, Jim Payne and Robert Spielman.

February 2014

51

VINTAGE & CLASSIC

restoring

double foxtrot – Re covering

By Andy Benton Andy – fuselage almost done.

Our series on refurbishing the K6 FF continues.

The last issue covered stripping the fuselage and Andy now goes on to talk about recovering it and making it look like a glider again.

M

odern covering (polyfibre, ceconite, stits etc.) are generally all the same stuff, simply woven Dacron, which is glued in place, shrunk with heat, and then sprayed with various solvents.

There has been a massive improvement over the last 50 years in covering technology. Irish linen was pretty heavy stuff, and was likely to be eaten by rats. These days, a full recover with modern covering weighs about 50% of the original, and isn’t damaged by anything other than UV radiation. It can last for 30 years, as long as it is looked after. Which is great, as I won’t have to do this again till I reach the tender age of 67!

I got a copy of the Ceconite application manual through NZ distributor Aviation Performance Parts in Auckland, and read it very thoroughly.

While it is a pretty thick book, it also has lots of funny pictures and good advice, such as not using heat guns, and getting a really good respirator.

52

February 2014

The original K6 was only covered with fabric on the open structure; the wing trailing edge inboard of the ailerons, the elevators, and the rudder. However it is considered best practice to fully cover vintage gliders, as it gives the wood more protection from the elements.

I worked out how much fabric, glue and dopes (nitrate, butyrate, and silver butyrate were required) and ordered this.

I had a good think about everything else required, including pots (preserving jars of various sizes), clamps, masking tape, stringlines, trestles, scissors, pinking shears, and devised a method for suspending brushes in acetone when not in use.

The amount that the fabric shrinks is entirely dependent on the temperature to which it is heated. I got a candy thermometer and calibrated an iron and extension cord combination at 225°F for application, and 250°F for shrinking.

The garage was extremely dirty after all the paint stripping, so it was given the clean of its life, dusted and vacuumed then drop sheets laid on the floor.

Then we started on the glider. I was very fortunate that my dad Rob, who had also done the fabric application course, came and helped at this stage, as you need another set of hands for this job. Marc Edgar also came and helped, and obviously had so much fun that he went and bought the Ray Boss/Ray

VINTAGE & CLASSIC

VINTAGE & CLASSIC

Fuselage finished – all the dye was at the bottom of the pot.

Rob does first coat of brushed rand-o-proof.

Covered tailplane and covered elevators. Too many compound curves.

Rob has always enjoyed doing the ironing.

Sharland Ka6E ‘GET’ and has stripped that back and is about to start recovering it!

We cleaned each part very carefully, tightened all nuts which would be enclosed by the fabric, and put grease on the bushes for the various pushrods. The structures were given three coats of 50% thinned nitrate dope (rand-o-proof).

We covered the first wing using the exact method from the instruction manual: to work from one end to the other, painting the ‘Superseam’ cement onto the structure and then working the fabric into the wet cement. However we got big wrinkles, which were difficult to remove. Apparently it is possible to use heat to roll ceconite around a bowling ball without any wrinkles, but I reckon the person who did this had applied an awful lot of ceconite to other things first!

For the second wing, we used the technique we had been taught in the fabric application course: painting undiluted Superseam onto all parts of the wing that needed the fabric directly stuck down, then, while the glue was still tacky, the fabric was smoothly laid in place and 50% thinned superseam was painted through from the top. I elected not to stitch the covering to the ribs, as modern glue is very strong and this method has been successful on other K6’s.

The ceconite tightens beautifully with heat at 225°F, and we

were careful to tighten the top and bottom, and the different rib bays uniformly. Then the fabric is shrunk at 250°F, which makes it tight as a drum. It is really satisfying to watch the bare structure become covered in the space of a day!

The first coat of nitrate dope is brushed through the fabric, wetting the three coats applied at the start, and serves to stick the un-glued covering to the structure, and to seal it. The remaining two coats of nitrate dope, three coats of butyrate dope, and three coats of silver dope were to be sprayed on.

The wings were reasonably easy to cover, but the fuselage, with all its compound curves, was really fiddly. The covering and associated work took about 60 hours.

top of right wing covering done.

This series will conclude in the next issue. Thank you for the feedback received from people doing similar projects.

February 2014

53

tow upsets by max stevens & the british gliding association

Seven tug pilots have been killed in the UK since 1974 while aerotowing.

Two accidents stemmed from engine failure, one from a lack of fuel, and four from tug upsets. The New Zealand experience over a similar period is four tug pilots killed; one where a broken hinge allowed the cockpit door to strike the pilot in the head (Auckland), one from an upset shortly after take-off(Masterton), one where the take-off was made while the tug’s rear control stick was tied by the seat straps (Tauranga), and a recent one where the cause is not yet known (Springfield).

The four fatal upsets in the UK took place in the 1970s-80s and the British Gliding Association made considerable efforts to educate pilots and instructors on how to avoid such accidents. The tug upset incident rate then decreased, and the fatal accidents stopped. But the tug upset incident rate is now 7 times higher than 10 years ago. In 2012 alone, six tug upset incidents were reported. In one of these incidents the tug pilot recovered 100ft above trees. In yet another incident, in 2013, the tug pilot recovered 40ft from the ground. New Zealand is not immune – there have been some upset incidents at Omarama very recently.

Tug pilots must remain aware of the possibility of tug upsets. If you are losing control of the tug do not hesitate to dump the glider – act now, ask questions later!

Some excellent video simulations are available on the BGA website at www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/ safety/safeaerotowing.htm

Aerotowing Accidents 1. Tug Upsets In a vertical tug upset the glider gets high behind the tug and pulls the tug tail up. The slingshot vertical upset is

54

February 2014

particularly dangerous. If the glider pilot is low in relation to the tug and the pilot moves back into position too quickly the glider in effect does a winch launch behind the tug which tips the tug into a vertical dive. In a lateral upset the glider is too far to one side and it can be just as dangerous particularly if a slack rope suddenly tightens. It can be all over for the tug pilot in as little as three seconds.

The circumstances which make tug upsets more likely are:

»» belly hook intended for winch launching

»» short rope »» pilot with little aerotow experience »» near aft C of G »» turbulent conditions »» all flying tailplane, or light elevator forces Vertical upsets are more likely with a belly hook but can also occur with a nose hook.

A vertical upset can also arise when

safety the glider releases if the glider turns before the pilot has confirmed that the rope has separated. Similarly, the tug pilot must not rely on the usual feel of a release – release must be visually confirmed before turning away.

2. Wing Drop Accidents About 25% of aerotow accidents to gliders in the UK involved a wing drop on take-off. The necessary energy for a cartwheel was not usually present, but the glider was substantially damaged in half of the instances.

As with winch launches, if you cannot keep the wings level, release before the wing touches the ground.

3. Launch Failure Accidents There has been one glider pilot fatality in the UK from a spin after a return to the airfield following a rope break.

After an aerotow launch failure in the air, the glider will probably be at its approach speed, in roughly level flight, so the pilot has a good view of the options, the airspeed is not reducing rapidly, and it should be straightforward to avoid a stall/spin accident.

Aerotowing Technique The currently recommended aerotowing technique is: »» While waiting for the tug to leave the ground, fly at a height of 6-10ft. The top of the tug fin is a good marker. »» Control the vertical positioning of the glider by reference to the vertical position of the whole tug in the canopy. Techniques involving positioning the tug in relation to the horizon, or aligning fore and aft parts of the tug structure, are less reliable, and less stable in turbulence. »» The vertical position of the tug in the canopy at the beginning of the ground run will probably be roughly the correct position in flight. If you are unsure of the correct position, gently descend until you encounter the slipstream and then move up about 10ft. »» If you are displaced to one side of the tug, adopt the same bank angle as the tug, wait for the rope to pull the glider astern of the tug, and then gently dip one wing to stop the lateral movement of the glider. It is not necessary to bank towards the tug to recover from a lateral displacement. »» To release, check it is clear,

pull the release, visually ensure the rope has separated from the glider, and raise the nose slightly before making a turn.

Aerotowing Essentials Should you be flying?

If you are inexperienced, do not aerotow on a belly hook and do not aerotow in turbulent conditions.

Avoid distractions on the ground and in the air. Rushed checks may leave the airbrakes unlocked. During the tow, leave any instrumentation, ventilation, or similar problems until after release.

Leave the undercarriage down.

Pre-Flight Preparation: »» Are you within the CG limits? If you are inexperienced, ensure the cockpit load is at least 10kg more than the placarded minimum weight »» Precisely align the fuselage with the take-off direction »» Use the aerotow hook, if one is available »» Note the vertical position of the tug in the canopy; this will probably be roughly the correct position for the tug once the combination is airborne.

Ground Run: »» Left hand on the tow release. »» For flapped gliders, keep your hand on the release until positive lateral control is assured before changing flap setting, if required. »» Use the elevator, ailerons, and rudder independently. »» If you cannot keep the wings level, release before the wing touches the ground or the glider may groundloop and the tug may yaw uncontrollably. »» Balance the glider on its main wheel. »» Keep the glider running. straight behind the tug. »» Wait for the glider to take off.

Glider Airborne, Tug on the Ground: »» Use the controls in a coordinated way »» Allow the glider to climb to 6-10ft; the top of the tug fin is a good marker »» In a cross-wind, keep the glider directly behind the tug »» Wait for the tug to take off Tug and Glider Airborne: »» Be ready for the tug to climb, and climb with it »» Continually update your launch failure options »» Maintain the correct vertical position of the tug in the canopy. Do not allow the glider to get too high. »» If you are too low behind the tug shortly after the tug take-off, or at any other time, move back into position SLOWLY. Being lower than the tug is not dangerous. An upset can follow if you pull up quickly. »» Release immediately if the glider is going high and the tendency cannot be controlled or you lose sight of the tug. »» If you are unsure of the correct position for the tug in the canopy, gently descend until you encounter the slipstream and then move up about 10ft. »» If the glider is to the left or right of the tug maintain the same bank angle as the tug and allow the rope to pull the glider back into position. »» Fly the glider! Leave any instrumentation, ventilation, or similar problems until after release.

Leave the undercarriage down.

Release: »» Is it clear? Pull the release, visually ensure the rope has separated from the glider, and raise the nose slightly before making a turn.

Any tug upset incident has the potential to be fatal for the tug pilot. We must strive to reduce these upsets. This article is based on a British Gliding Association leaflet recently published, and offers advice to the glider pilot on safe aerotowing and in particular the avoidance of tug upsets.

Club CFIs – are your trainees and low experience pilots really aware of this hazard?

Does the glider only have a belly hook?

Does the glider have an all-flying tailplane?

Is the tow rope short?

Is there rough ground in the take-off area?

Are conditions turbulent?

Inexperienced tug or glider pilot?

THEN THE RISK IS HEIGHTENED!

February 2014

55

D.I. your Parachute Damage sustained to Pilot’s Rig/Parachute

By Dave McIver

Dave McIver and his son Campbell both fly with Auckland Gliding Club.

Dave is relatively new to gliding but is not new to aviation. Dave held a PPL in the early 80’s. He has also held a Jumpmaster rating for both Static Line and Accelerated Free Fall disciplines in skydiving and has logged over 1000 skydives. He discovered the following damage to a parachute during the recent National Gliding Champs when the ripcord handle turned out to be completely separated from the workings of the rig, even though on casual inspection all appeared well.

Terry Delore ensures his parachutes are well maintained and in top condition.

Parachutes are not a seat cushion and are too often taken for granted.

When was the last time you D.I.ed your parachute?

T

he most likely cause of the damage discovered on the parachute at the Nationals was the ripcord handle and flexible ripcord housing conduit coming into contact with the terminals of a 12 volt glider battery. The consequent short circuit formed a mini arc-welding plant and burnt the ripcord completely through inside the flexible conduit.

The circumstances surrounding this incident were compounded by a landout/retrieve, then subsequent de-rig of the glider in deteriorating weather. The battery, pilots rig and other items from the glider cockpit were hastily placed in the boot of the retrieve vehicle. Suitable measures to isolate the battery from other objects were overlooked as it had started to rain.

Photo 1 – A casual glance at the rig does not reveal anything out of the ordinary.

Photo 2 – Withdrawing the ripcord handle from the Velcro keeper on the L/H main lift web reveals the ripcord itself has burnt completely through. Evidence of charring is also present on the ripcord.

Photo 3 – A closer inspection of the ripcord shows a second point of partial failure approx 20mm from the burnt end.

Photo 4 – A slight amount of burning is evident to the ferrule where the ripcord enters the flexible housing.

Photo 5 – Withdrawing the ripcord slightly from the housing exposes damage to the inner cable.

56

February 2014

Photo 6 – One of the battery terminals which contacted the ripcord and housing.

This is a good example of something that can happen in a rushed situation, when distracted and/or when suitable measures are not taken to ensure equipment is safely stored for transportation. This pilot’s rig was also used on a flight subsequent to the incident described above and was only identified after the glider had landed. The consequences of having to use this rig in an emergency situation simply doesn’t bear thinking about.

A simple pre-flight check of the pilot’s rig in question would have revealed the problem.

Consider the following steps prior to using a pilot’s rig.

Make a visual inspection for any evidence of visual damage, nicks, cuts, abrasions, fraying of material, discolouration, solvent or other chemical damage to any parts of the container assembly, webbing or associated hardware.

Grasp the end of the ripcord where the spherical ball is swaged onto the end and move the ripcord physically back and forth within the flexible housing. The ripcord should travel freely up to the limit of its length and there should be no obstruction between the ripcord and housing that would make for a hard pull. This step would have revealed the issue described above.

Peel back the velcro cover or tuck tabs protecting the ripcord pins and visually inspect the ends of the ripcord. The pins

safety

1

3

2

4

5

should pass through nylon closing loops that hold the container closed and be firmly seated against the stainless steel grommets. They should also be free of any impediment or obstruction that could cause a hard pull of the ripcord. Grommets should be in good condition and there should be no evidence of fraying or pulling away from surrounding material.

Ensure the ripcord handle is firmly seated in the velcro keeper or elastic loop, which will be located on the left hand main lift web. It should NOT be loosely floating or dangling from the end of the ripcord.

Ensure when you have put the rig on that the straps are FIRMLY tightened. A loosely worn pack increases the risk of a hard opening and at best will make for difficulty in controlling and steering the parachute. A properly adjusted and correctly worn rig eliminates these risks completely.

6

Take care when transporting or storing pilotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rigs. Many rigs come with a protective bag, which should be used when not in use. Never leave a rig in a glider when not in use. Place it in a cool dry place inside a protective bag.

If you are in ANY DOUBT, ASK an instructor or experienced pilot, or get in touch with a local skydiving organisation for further assistance or guidance. NEVER use a rig which appears substandard in any way.

The entire process for a simple pre-flight inspection takes about 1-2 minutes and should form the basis of any pre-flight preparation where a pilotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rig is being worn. Consider the consequences of having to use a parachute and ensure the rig is serviceable before your flight.

February 2014

57

a question of safety STEVEN CARE National Operationals Officer

feeling

THIRSTY?

When I started cross-country gliding in the late 70’s, the issue of dehydration was not particularly well understood. Most pilots thought that it was a good idea to take a drink, in case you got thirsty, but that was all. We now know a lot more and many gliding books published in the last 15 years will have a section on dehydration. It’s a really important safety topic.

D

ehydration is when you lose more body fluid than you put in. Most of us will lose 2 -3% of our body fluid during a normal day, just through sweating, breathing and urination.

So what happens when you lose body fluid and become dehydrated? A loss of: »» 2% – judgement and decision making impaired, mild memory loss, some loss of concentration. »» 2-5% – thirst, irritability, nausea, increased pulse, fatigue. »» 5-10% – headaches, dizziness, inability to speak clearly, vision begins to blur. »» 10 -15% – delirium, severely impaired vision and hearing, swollen tongue, possible loss of consciousness.

If you are feeling thirsty, your cognitive function could already be seriously affected.

58

February 2014

Age & health From age fifty, our ability to detect thirst diminishes and this continues as we get older. Our susceptibility to dehydration can also be affected by some health conditions.

How to avoid dehydration Most competition pilots have Camel Back type water systems, but it’s a really good idea for all pilots. They are relatively inexpensive. It is worthwhile getting one that holds a decent amount (2 to 3 litres at least) and has reasonable insulation to keep fluid cool. There is some debate over whether to use water (to avoid hypoglycaemic peaks and troughs) or sports drink (to replace electrolytes). The main issue is to get fluid in. To stay hydrated, have a few swigs every half hour or hour, rather than drinking a large amount in one go. It’s easy to forget if you are

safety trying to concentrate on tactics or flying, but really important if you want to stay on top of your game. Also, make sure that you have plenty of fluid before you take off.

For high altitude flyers, the loss of fluid is not so much through sweating, but breathing. There is less risk from the effect of heat strain, but it is still important to remain hydrated.

Identifying dehydration An easy way to identify dehydration is by urine colour. It should be clear or pale yellow. If it is a dark colour, then serious dehydration should be suspected. Apart from this, there is very little to identify that you are dehydrated. At the 2% stage, you will not know and yet you are very likely to be seriously impaired.

Barriers I think the biggest barrier for pilots to remain hydrated, is the risk of having to pee in the glider. For many, the plastic bag works, but it can be distracting and potentially messy. The best solution is to have a system in the glider (as many Polish gliders have). They can be retrofitted, but please ask your Class 4 engineer if it is possible for your glider. Another option is medical supply products such as uridomes for men. [Women, the consensus seems to be that high quality adult incontinence pads – ie nappies, work the best – Ed]

Accidents There have been many gliding accidents where very experienced pilots have clearly made really serious and out of character errors. Often there are no clear reasons, but if they have been in the air for more than an hour or two, then dehydration has to be a suspect. It’s the insidious nature of dehydration that catches pilots out and most don’t see it as an issue unless they are actually thirsty.

Other reading

A PASSION FOR FLIGHT New Zealand Aviation before the Great War Volume Two: Aero Clubs, Aeroplanes, Aviators and Aeronauts 1910-1914

There is a very good CAA ‘Vector’ article on the GNZ web site called ‘Need a Drink’ that gives a lot more information than the above. I don’t profess to be an expert on dehydration, or that all the above is strictly accurate. I have tried to give a gliding slant to the topic and it is too important not to highlight. Dehydration risk applies to all pilots, including Contest pilots, Instructors, Students, Private owners, Club pilots and Tow Pilots alike. Don’t get caught out.

A Passion For Flight is a definitive account of New Zealand aviation’s formative years, and is continued with this volume covering civil aviation activity in New Zealand and by New Zealanders abroad from 1910 to August 1914.

Published by Volplane Press Ph 03 343 5408; Fax 03 343 5408 Email errol.martyn@xtra.co.nz

February 2014

59

Ray

Sharland

By April Rumsey

Ray Sharland was one of the founding members of the Nelson Lakes Gliding Club. Ray died last year and the following stories are taken from his obituary, written by fellow club member and K6 owner April Rumsey. Ray’s soaring stories encapsulate the history of the NLGC, as well as the spirit and adventures of many of our gliding forefathers. Gliding in the 60’s was a real adventure and much less rule-bound than the sport we know now. The mechanics of how airflow worked, particularly in the mountains, was still being discovered. One thing that era really had in common with this one is the joy of flying. Ray’s delight in soaring shines through in these stories.

T

he Nelson Lakes Gliding Club started in 1960, with the Rhönlerche K4 GBW as the first club glider. Ray quickly learnt to fly from the club’s base at Nelson airport, having a natural aptitude for the sport. On one of his first solo flights he became aware that the towplane was in trouble and reacted immediately, releasing from tow in order to save the pilot and crew. Subsequently finding himself over the sea and too low to make it back to the airfield, he landed on the beach at Tahuna.

This created quite a commotion in the local community!

Ray soon became an instructor, teaching many pilots to fly, including our present CFI, Rob Corlett. However his greatest pleasure was in cross country flying. He often said that in the early days knowledge about cross country flying was scarce and so it was a great challenge to discover and develop the sport.

In May 1962, Ray was one of a syndicate of six club members to bring the first private glider to Nelson: the Olympia GAT. It had been imported as a kitset and assembled in Timaru. Other members of the syndicate were Ron Knight, Miles Hursthouse, Gerry Stewart, Brian Kidson and Doug Guthrie. The Olympia had an L/D of 1:25 and had been originally made for the 1940 Olympic Games, cancelled due to the outbreak of war.

Ray enthusiastically embraced cross country task flying, starting with an attempt at the Silver distance on 12/2/63. He completed the 50km Silver distance flight on 10/3/63 as a straight distance task from Nelson to Marlborough, landing near the Grove Arm Wharf. A description of Ray’s notable flights can be found at the end of this piece.

Over the rest of that year Ray had several adventurous flights, as he extended his cross country distances flown, initially aiming for 100km flight plans. Other cross country flights followed with the aim of completing his 300km FAI badge flight. After several lengthy attempts, Ray completed this badge flight from Nelson to Springs Junction on 4/2/67 in the club’s Rhönadler GDT.

60

February 2014

Over his gliding career, Ray attained the awards of Gold Distance, Gold Height and Diamond Goal flights. These were huge achievements in times when knowledge of cross country flying was scarce and still being developed. The gliders he flew were all wooden and fabric covered, with L/D ratios of 25:1 to 29:1.

Every flight was an adventure, with the eventual landing field often unpredictable! Ray would leave home to go gliding and tell his wife Phyllis that he didn’t know where he would end up or when he would be back. His aim on a lot of the flights was to simply fly as far away as possible, to test the limits of the craft and his skill, to use the prevailing conditions. Ray enjoyed the freedom of flying without many of the modern limitations.

Landing out often meant a long walk to find a way of communicating with his retrieve crew, and sometimes staying overnight awaiting transport.

Sadly, health issues put an end to his gliding career, but Ray then went on to spend many happy years sailing, successfully competing in sailing events with his three sons in the Nelson Yacht Club.

In later years he bought a couple of Ka6 gliders with the hope of flying again, but unfortunately his health deteriorated. Just having the gliders gave him a hope of flying again and repeating the exciting flights of earlier years. Ray always had plenty of interesting tales to tell of those flights. His enthusiasm for gliding cross country never dimmed, and they remained memories of an exciting time in his life. He was always encouraging of club members participating in cross country flights, especially in his beloved wooden gliders.

Ray will be greatly missed by all who knew him and enjoyed talking about gliding with him.

The gliders with their tow plane.

Ray Sharland makes absolutely sure the rope is securely hitched.

Nelson's second glider, an Eon, and its owners, Miles Hursthouse, Ron McKnight, Gerry Stewart, Ray Sharland and Doug Guthrie (Brian Kidson, sixth owner, absent).

Photos: Nelson Photo News

Some of Ray Sharlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s notable cross country flights 12 February 1963 Ray Sharland attempted a closed triangle out of Nelson. The task was from Nelson to the Pelorus Bridge to the Glen and back to Nelson. However he was unable to complete the last leg along the boulder bank, went back to the Glen and landed.

10 March 1963 Ray completed his 50k as a straight distance task. He released over the Black Cat shop at the maximum height allowed of 1600 feet and made his way to Jenkins and onto Fringe Hill, where he got a thermal to 5600 feet, enabling him to drop back to Wooded Peak and onto Dun Mountain. His log book records that two hours after launching and at a height of 4500 feet he set off into unknown territory down the Pelorus, over to the Wakamarina valley and, staying on the high ground, across the Kaituna Valley to Mt Cullen, before dropping down into the sea breeze and landing in a paddock near the Grove Arm wharf.

3 November 1963 Ray flew a planned task to Omaka. He released at 4600 feet over Wooded peak in the Oly (Olympia) and flew along the Bryant Range to Mt Duppa. He carried onto Omaka by way of Rai Valley and Havelock, then landed. This was the first known flight by glider linking Blenheim and Nelson. He then got a tow home from the Marlborough clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tow plane.

23 November 1963 Ray, again in the Olympia, wanted to achieve a 100 km flight and planned a longer flight to the east coast of the South Island.

He took a long tow towards Mt Richmond, where he released at 5800 feet but got low out east and headed for Omaka, arriving

overhead at 1400 feet AGL. His intention at this point was to land and get a tow home as he had done three weeks earlier.

However he could see that the gliding club hangar door was shut and nobody about, so he persevered and found lift on the hills behind Omaka. He was, for the most part, ridge soaring in the prevailing SW. At a height of 6000 feet he left the high ground and dropped across the Awatere onto the inland Kaikoura range.

His intention was to get on the windward side of Mt Tappy, but it must have been in the Hodder that he found the head wind too strong to penetrate around to the true windward side, so he flew through a low saddle and glided in a tail wind down the Clarence and around onto the eastern side of the Seaward Kaikouras. He found, somewhat to his surprise, an easterly wind that enabled him to stay aloft and slope soar south, to be in sight of the Kaikoura airfield. However, he then soared back north to the Clarence valley where the lift ran out and he landed in a paddock near the Clarence bridge. Unfortunately, the field turned out to be a shut-up hay field of long grass, but he got away with it and also discovered later, when driving in the retrieve car and trailer, that he had narrowly missed an overgrown pile of posts that were lost in the grass. He calculated this flight to be a 112 km task.

14 December 1963 Ray declared his first 300k FAI badge flight. It was to be from Nelson to Murchison township as a turnpoint, with a remote finish, landing at Darfield. This flight was written up in Gliding Kiwi April 1964 edition. Suffice to say that after pressing east through Lewis Pass, he found a moist easterly with a low 8/8 cloud filling the Waiau Valley. He landed on a hay field on the Glenn Wye station. He had flown 120 miles in 4 hours.

18 January 1964 Ray had decided that planning a task that would cross from the west to the east had the problem of needing simultaneously February 2014

61

ray sharland

Springs Junction and flew back as far as an airstrip on a ridge at Hiwipango. From here, he again took an aero tow (by the club’s Tiger Moth) back to Nelson.

23 October 1966

Gerry Stewart about to take a lesson under Ray Sharland while club members George Cornish and Ron McKnight look on.

good soaring weather on both sides of the Alps, so he opted to do his 300km gold badge as an out and return. Ray declared a 300k out and return from Nelson to Springs Junction. The actual turnpoint was the Brown Grey river bridge, four miles south of Springs Junction. He made it down to Springs Junction by following the hills behind Nelson to the Goulter River area and cutting west across the Lake Rotoroa area, to get onto the Mt Cann Range, where one can soar above the Maruia valley.

Ray could not recall the exact track of this flight (or subsequent ones) except to say that the routes chosen were from one good cloud to another but favoured keeping west of the alpine mountains, so that there were farm paddocks in sight ahead. On this flight, he recalls he got very low over Springs Junction and, on moving down valley to choose a paddock near the Maruia Valley bridge, he stumbled into a climb from 900 feet AGL up to a decent height to be back on task. In fact, he was at some 9500 feet near Lake Station, but there was a solid 8/8 cloud layer with a base of some 4500 feet in front and below him. Otherwise he would have been pretty much on final glide home. He elected to pull brake and land on the airstrip at Lake Station, so he could get an aero tow home. This flight had been 7 hours long.

6 March 1964 Ray again attempted the 300km task to Springs Junction and return. This time he abandoned the attempt just short of

Ray landed the Olympia in an ‘undulating’ paddock near Omaka aerodrome during the South Island Regional Competitions. The fuselage snapped. The insurance company wrote it off and the syndicate dissolved.

In April 1964, the club purchased another two seat glider, GDT. This was a Rhönadler, which had a longer wingspan and no strut and so was a much better cross country ship than BW. After the loss of the Olympia, Ray’s next couple of notable cross country flights were made in this glider.

8 January 1967 Ray declared an out and return to Springs Junction in DT. He made the first turn point, but on the way back he got low while ridge soaring on the eastern slopes of Lake Rotoroa. Fearing he did not have enough height to run down wind to Lake Station, he pushed up through the Braeburn saddle and, getting a bit of lift on the way, made it to land at Murchison

4 February 1967 Ray again attempted the 300km task in DT and made it all the way there and back. By the use of the radio, club members were kept in touch with his flight when he was in range. There was quite a crowd at the airport to welcome his landing, which was described as “a beat up followed by a landing” and the pilot emerged “shivering” (he was only wearing shorts and a shirt).

This was the first 300km badge flight flown out of Nelson. It was obviously a notable and historic flight simply because of that, but it was also a splendid sporting achievement given the equipment used and perhaps more importantly, the lack of knowledge of cross country soaring skills and techniques needed. It was all learning as you go.

Photo Sebastian Kawa

himAlayas

62

February 2014

youth glide nz news

Photo Mike Stathern

Philip Dunlop lands out near Taupo.

Photo Mike Stathern

Philip and Mike Strathern at the Nationals.

Photo Mike Stathern

The last couple of months have been pretty full on for Youth Gliders! We held another successful Omarama Youth Soaring Development Camp in December, 28 students with us all achieving different feats. The most memorable of them are our 2 first solos. – Congratulations to Lazar Naniov and Tim Marshall who soloed at the camp and Sam Tullett who completed his first solo at the Nationals held in Matamata. Other youth glide achievements are Campbell McIver’s 300km and having four Youth Glide Pilots competing in the nationals; Jordan Kerr and Scott Wagstaff flew the Janus together and Campbell McIver and Philip Dunlop were coached through the competition by Mike Strathern in the Duo Discus X. We also had three of our pilots compete at the Australian Youth Championships; Joey Glide, well done to Alex McCaw, Nick Oakley and Philip Dunlop for flying that New Zealand flag for us.

We are still on the prowl for new members! For just $30 per year everyone under 25 can become a member of Youth Glide New Zealand, and for those young at heart and wanting to support Youth Glide you can join at just $20 per annum.

Our goal is 2015 members by 2015! So please encourage your friends, parents, aunties, uncles, brothers and sisters to join. We need you! Once you are a member, we would love pilot profiles for our website. So send about a 100 word blurb about yourself and a photo to our treasurer, Philip Dunlop where he will ensure you star on our website!

We held our first AGM at the Omarama camp and I would like to thank Karen Morgan on behalf of Youth Glide for her continued support in helping us become a recognised organisation. We could not have achieved so much as an organisation already without your expertise and knowledge, thank you. I would also like to take this opportunity to announce Youth Glide New Zealand’s first honorary member, Dick Georgeson; your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Planning is underway for our annual North Island Camp held in Matamata during April, dates will be out shortly. In the meantime, safe and happy soaring and encourage others to join Youth Glide NZ.

Photo Mike Stathern

enya mcpherson

Campbell McIver after completing his 300k in an asw15 at Matamata.

Youth Glide at the Nationals. Jono Wardman, Campbell McIver and Philip Dunlop.

February 2014

63

airworthiness martyn cook National Airworthiness Officer

Review of Airworthiness First some good news: All gliders on the NZ register, except those operated by a club or commercial operator, now need to file a Review of Airworthiness (RA) every two years, rather than annually. All gliders must still undergo an Annual Inspection (to be carried out by a GNZ Engineer with a Class 3 or Class 4 rating), and gliders which fall outside the exemption must still file an RA annually. Check with your GNZ Engineer for further details.

Seat Belts I receive a number of enquiries about seat belts in gliders. For newer gliders, the Maintenance Manual typically specifies replacement of the webbing every 12 years, but for older gliders the instructions are less specific. One problem is that visual inspection and load testing has been shown by CAA tests not to be reliable enough - stitching can become weakened over time, and load tests can even damage the harness.

This is probably why mandatory replacement of webbing every 12 years has come about. I was sharply reminded of this a week ago while being buffeted in wave rotor, as I tugged firmly on my newly-replaced straps. National Aircraft Interiors in Nelson does a good job at a reasonable price. I strongly recommend

that seat belt webbing be replaced every 12 years on all glider harnesses.

Documentation to be carried in the glider Did you know that seven different documents need to be carried in a glider on every flight? These documents are all checked at each Review of Airworthiness, but pilots and private owners need to be aware of this legal requirement. The first document is the manufacturer’s Flight Manual (FM), although an exemption exists if the FM is available prior to flight and all information likely to be needed during flight is placarded in the cockpit.

The second document is the Airworthiness Certificate, followed by CAA Form 2129 (Radio Station Approval), Form 2173 (Weight and Balance Summary) and the CAA Flight Manual Reference (the final two documents are both in the small yellow booklet), the signed daily inspection and Tech 19a - the latter being the blue page in the centre of the DI Book, which places a copy of the Release to Service in the glider.

of the control surface and possibly complete loss of control of the aircraft.

VNE is related to True Airspeed, which is not the same as the indicated airspeed (the ASI reading) except at sea level. At 15,000 feet, for example, the indicated airspeed needs to be about 10% below VNE. At 25,000 feet it may need to be as much as 25% below. If you have oxygen installed, you are strongly advised to have these speeds available in flight.

They will be shown in your flight manual.

Maximum Rough Air Speed, on the other hand, is an indicated air speed, and needs no correction for changes in altitude.

Velocity Never Exceed I hear of (and occasionally observe) even experienced pilots disregarding the maximum speed, sometimes called VNE or, ‘Velocity Never Exceed’.

Exceeding VNE risks the onset of flutter, which can rapidly lead to destruction

Remember that your red line is related to True Airspeed and changes with altitude.

a question of safety STEVEN CARE National Operationals Officer

Thank you to those that have taken up the mantle of making sure that OPs 10 forms are being completed. They are an important part of safety, so please make sure that they keep flowing in.

Threat and Error Management (TEM) has been around for gliding since Arthur Gatland’s articles in SoaringNZ in 2009 and 2010. By now, I would have thought that everyone would have good knowledge and understanding of it, but I am still finding the occasional pilot that has not really heard of TEM or to

64

February 2014

be practicing the principles behind it.

The articles are available on the GNZ web site under ‘safety information’ and if you have not looked at them for a while, please have a re-read, particularly if you have a BFR coming up.

The GNZ membership database is running smoothly. If you have not

had the opportunity, it’s a good idea to check your own records to make sure that your ratings, awards and details match those that should be there. It’s just a matter of going on to the web site and clicking on ‘membership database’ and setting up a password.

Lastly, most of you will be aware of the two gliding-related fatal accidents on Sunday 19th Jan. My heartfelt sympathy goes to the immediate families involved and the very close gliding friends that both of these pilots had. It was a very sad day for all of us.

Safe flying

NZ Agent Roger Sparks 0274 956 560 r.sparks@xtra.co.nz February 2014

65

gnz awards & certificates

december 2013 – january 2014

Edouard devenoges GNZ Awards Officer

QGP No. Pilot’s Name Club Date 3225 Melissa Jenkins Taranaki GC 19 11 2013 3226 Lisa Trotter Tauranga GC 19 11 2013 3227 Peter Trotter Tauranga GC 19 11 2013 3228 Daniel McCormack Glide Omarama 1 12 2013 3229 Bernard Eckey Glide Omarama 3 12 2013 3230 Ron Fox Wellington GC 4 12 2013 3231 Ole Marskar Taupo GC 4 12 2013 3232 Campbell W. McIver Auckland GC 5 12 2013 3233 Stefan Uher Omarama GC 14 1 2014 3234 Graham J. Cochrane Auckland GC 15 12 2013 3235 Fran Knowles Glide Omarama 24 12 2013 3236 Andrew Mugleston Omarama GC 14 1 2014 3237 Patrick T. Richardson Gliding Manawatu 25 1 2014 Silver Distance Glider

Neil Walker Canterbury GC 14 12 2013 LS4

Derek Wagstaff Tauranga GC 2 1 2014 ASW 20f Silver Duration Dion Manktelow

Philip C. Dunlop

Auckland GC Auckland GC

Now Available for sale

Latest Technology

gnzawards@xtra.co.nz 40 Eversham Road, Mt Maunganui 3116.

6 10 2013 Kestrel 6 12 2013 Std Cirrus

Silver Height Neil Walker Canterbury GC 14 12 2013 LS4

Jonathan Wardman Canterbury GC 14 12 2013 LS4

Sunlight Readable PNA Device

> Suitable for running SeeYou, XC Soar, LK8000 and other soaring software. > Latest GPS technology – precision less than 2.5m > 5" Sunlight readable LCD touch screen Brightness 800 - 1000 nits. More than twice as bright as the best PDAs or Oudie > Operating system: windows ce 6.1 Or 6.5

Will be supplied ready to use fully loaded with software and maps Contact Jerry O'Neill jerryo@xtra.co.nz for more information

Silver Badge 1161 Philip C. Dunlop

Auckland GC

24 1 2014

Gold Duration Dion Manktelow

Philip C. Dunlop

Auckland GC Auckland GC

6 10 2013 Kestrel 6 12 2013 Std Cirrus

Gold Height Jonathan Wardman Canterbury GC 14 12 2013 LS 4

Andrew Mugleston Omarama GC 22 1 2014 Discus CS Gold Distance Hadleigh Bognuda

David Hirst

Philip C. Dunlop

Auckland GC Auckland GC Auckland GC

31 12 2013 LS 8a 31 12 2013 Discus CS 11 12 2013 Std Cirrus

Gold Badge 324 Philip C. Dunlop

Auckland GC

24 1 2014

It’s only in the event of a

CL A IM

that you really find out who has the best policy!

Diamond Height 412 Jonathan Wardman Canterbury GC 14 12 2013 LS4 NZ Record 100 km, O&R, Speed, D-O, G

Peter Chadwick ASW20c 100 km, O&R, Speed, D-15, G

Peter Chadwick ASW20c Air NZ Cross Country Championships Pilots Name Glider

Northern Division

Steve Foreman LS4

Ian O’Keefe Grob 102

Gary Patten Grob 102

Craig Hunter Open Cirrus Southern Division

No Claims so far

66

February 2014

3 1 2014 267.85 km/h 3 1 2014 267.85 km/h Distance Points 1055.12km 542.54km 332.71km 196.98km

1086.03pts 533.12pts 369.23pts 183.68pts

Contact your broker or ring Brian or Arden and talk to the people who specialise in aviation insurance.

“Kiwis providing Glider pilots with aviation insurance for over 25 years”

TELEPhone 04 473 5593 admin @ aviationcoop.co.nz w w w. av ia t io n c o o p.c o.nz

Photo John McCaw

Summer gliding 2014

NEW ZEALAND WIDE

DEMOnstration tour

Drake Aviation Ltd is proud to announce the impending arrival of the

Dynamic Turbo Tow

estimated to arrive early April.

We are planning a New Zealand wide demonstration tour.

If you are interested seeing this exciting aeroplane in action, please contact us at drakeaviation@hotmail.com February 2014

67

gliding new zealand CLUB news

CLUB DIRECTORY

Link for club info www.gliding.co.nz/Clubs/Clubs.htm Auckland Aviation Sports Club Club Website www.ascgliding.org Club Contact Peter Thorpe pbthorpe@xtra.co.nz Ph 09 413 8384 Base RNZAF Base Auckland (Whenuapai) 021 146 4288 Flying Weekends, Public Holidays

Norfolk Aviation Sports Club Club Website http://www.geocities.com/norfolkgliding/ Club Contact Kevin Wisnewski wizzbang@xtra.co.nz Ph (06) 756 8289 Base Norfolk Rd Flying Weekends and by appointment

Auckland Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingauckland.co.nz Club Ph (09) 294 8881, 0276 942 942 Club Contact Ed Gray info@glidingauckland.co.nz Base Appleby Rd, Drury Flying Weekends, Wednesdays, Public Holidays

Omarama Gliding Club Club Website http://www.omarama.com Club Contact Yvonne Loader loaders@clear.net.nz Ph (03) 358 3251 Base Omarama Flying 7 days a week by arrangement

Canterbury Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingcanterbury.co.nz Club Contact Kevin Bethwaite kevin.bethwaite@airways.co.nz Ph (03) 318 4758 Base Swamp Road, Springfield Flying Weekends, Public Holidays

Otago/Southland (YouthGlide Omarama) Club Website www.youthglideomarama.org.nz Club Contact Tom Shields tom.shields@century21.co.nz Ph (03) 473 1721 Base Omarama and Dunedin Flying By arrangement

Central Otago Flying Club (Inc) Club Website www.cofc.co.nz Club Contact Phil Sumser phil.sumser@xtra.co.nz Base Alexandra Airport Flying Sundays, and by arrangement

Piako Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingmatamata.co.nz Club Contact Steve Care s.care@xtra.co.nz Ph (07) 843 7654 or 027 349 1180 Base Matamata Airfield, Ph (07) 888 5972 Flying Weekends, Wednesdays and Public Holidays

Glide Omarama.com Website www.GlideOmarama.com Contact Gavin Wills gtmwills@xtra.co.nz Base Omarama Airfield Flying October through April 7 days per week Gliding Hutt Valley (Upper Valley Gliding Club) Club Contact Wayne Fisk wayne_fisk@xtra.co.nz Ph (04) 567-3069 Base Kaitoke Airfield, (04) 526 7336 Flying Weekends, Public Hols., Mid week by arrangement Gliding Manawatu Club Website www.glidingmanawatu.org.nz Club Contact Ron Sanders Resanders@xtra.co.nz Base Feilding Aerodrome Flying Weekends, Public holidays Gliding Wairarapa Club Website http://www.glidingwairarapa.co.nz/ Club Contact Diana Braithwaite Ph (06) 308 9101 Base Papawai Airfield, 5 km east of Greytown Ph (06) 308 8452 or 025 445 701 Flying Weekends, or by arrangement Hauraki Aero Club Club Website www.flyhac.co.nz Club Contact Ron Bergersen d.rbergersen@xtra.co.nz Ph (027) 277 4238 Base Thames Airfield Flying Weekends and Public Holidays Hawkes Bay and Waipukurau Gliding Club Club Website wwww.glidinghbw.co.nz Club Contact David Davidson, 027 2887 522, info@glidinghbw.co.nz Base Bridge Pa Airfield, Hastings and Waipukurau Airfield December & January Flying Sundays and other days by arrangement Kaikohe Gliding Club Club Contact Peter Fiske, (09) 407 8454 Email Keith Falla keith@falla.co.nz Base Kaikohe Airfield, Mangakahia Road, Kaikohe Flying Sundays, Thursdays and Public Holidays Marlborough Gliding Club Club Website http://glide_marl.tripod.com Club Contact bmog@paradise.net.nz Base Omaka Airfield, Blenheim Flying Sundays and other days by arrangement Nelson Lakes Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingnelson.co.nz Club Contact Frank Saxton franksaxton@gmail.com Ph (03) 546 6098 Base Lake Station Airfield, St.Arnaud Ph (03) 521 1870 Flying Weekends and Public Holidays

68

February 2014

Rotorua Gliding Club Club Website http://www.rotoruaglidingclub.blogspot.co.nz/ Club Contact Mike Foley roseandmikefoley@clear.net.nz Ph (07) 347 2927 Base Rotorua Airport Flying Sundays South Canterbury Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingsouthcanterbury.co.nz Club Contact John Eggers johneggers@xtra.co.nz 33 Barnes St Timaru Base Levels Timaru & Omarama Wardell Field Flying Weekends, Public Holidays & by arrangement Taranaki Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingtaranaki.com Club Contact Peter Williams peter.williams@xtra.co.nz Ph (06) 278 4292 Base Stratford Flying Weekends and Public Holidays Taupo Gliding Club Club Website www.taupoglidingclub.co.nz Club Contact Tom Anderson Tomolo@xtra.co.nz PO Box 296, Taupo 2730 Ph (07) 378 5506 M 0274 939 272 Base Centennial Park, Taupo Flying 7 days a week Tauranga Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingtauranga.co.nz Club President Alan Belworthy a.belworthy@xtra.co.nz Ph 0274 960 748 Base Tauranga Airport Flying Weekends and Public Holidays, Wednesday afternoons and other times on request Wellington Gliding Club Club Website http://www.soar.co.nz Club President Philip Milne milnelaw@gmail.com Ph 021 803 37 Base Paraparaumu Airport Bookings Ph 04 297 1341 (clubhouse) Ph 027 618 9845 (operations) Flying Weekends and Public Holidays 7 days a week December through to March Whangarei District Gliding Club Club Website www.igrin.co.nz/~peter/gliding.htm Club Contact Paul Rockell rockelkaym@xtra.co.nz Base Rockelkaym Ridge, Gibbs Road, Puhi Puhi Flying Weekends and Public Holidays

Guidelines for the compilation and contents of club news articles are now available on the new SoaringNZ website.

Visit www.mccawmedia.co.nz for all you need to know.

The club news is your chance to share with the rest of the country and abroad, some of what makes your club the best gliding club in the world. Club scribes, please watch the deadlines (but we'll make allowances for special circumstances so contact the editor before you panic) and likewise, the word count is supposed to be 300 words to allow everyone to have a say. If you need more words than that, you probably should write a real article about that special event.

Deadline for club news for the next issue 31 March 2014.

Auckland Aviation Sports Club Our summer is in full swing but it is certainly not the great weather we enjoyed last summer. There is a bit more rain and wind. Several of our members attended the Northern Regionals in Matamata and, buoyed by that experience, decided the Nationals were just the thing. Steve Wallace, David Todd and Steve Foreman all entered and competed well. A number of our members went down to enjoy the experience, to be retrieve crews and just to fly there. The social life, seeing how the big boys do things, listening to the briefs each day and just the general tips and tricks we learnt, all made the time a worthwhile experience. The retrieve crews got to see lots of the Waikato countryside, with free food and beer from those who called them out. Steve Wallace showed his class, winning the 15metre, while Dave Todd was well placed until a landing mishap curtailed his competition.

Steve Foreman, on his first Nationals, grew in experience with each competition day. A great effort from all involved. Well done to the Piako club and the Matamata Soaring Centre for hosting a great event.

Youth member, Enya McPherson, and instructor Ray Burns attended the Youth Soaring Development Camp at Omarama before Christmas and both came away enthused by the experience. Our OOs have to brush up on the rules, as club soaring has a number trying for badge flights. One just missed a 50km and Steve Foreman is after the 300km to Kaikohe and back. He got within 17km but the high overcast from the approaching storm killed the lift so he came home, passing his pre-positioned retrieve crew on the way.

zealand chance to get into the air.

Since we have moved to our new site, we have been very aware of the noise created by the tow-plane and a determined effort was made by a few members both here and overseas to resolve this. Eventually, the Executive decided that the Eurofox would suit our needs and we are now assessing its capabilities. It is VERY quiet.

Stewart

Central Otago Flying Club

Auckland Aviation Sports Club: Robert Forster solo.

Another of our students, Robert Forster, has soloed and is working towards a single seater rating. We all hope for a summer as long as last year.

Graham Lake

CANTERBURY Prior to Christmas a small group of members made the annual pilgrimage to the Darling Downs Soaring Club in Queensland and enjoyed the fantastic thermals to be found whilst flying from this site. Most made flights of several hundred km’s each day.

So many in fact, that a few of them even

had to have a rest day to recover. The heat wouldn’t have helped.

Jerry O’Neill’s Cross country course was again a success and this was followed later by the Youth Soaring Development Camp, organised by Roger Read. This annual event is very popular, with folk attending from all over the country.

Very few members attended New Year, which was a shame. A shorter than usual camp had been arranged and we returned to home base and many members enjoyed a week of soaring. It was nice to see some of the hard-working members getting a

We based our Twin at Omarama for most of November, allowing members to enjoy a change of venue. Jerry’s cross country week was fun, and Brian did well at the Regionals (2nd in Club Class).

We had some good soaring out of Alex over the start of summer. On December 3rd, (mid-week!) Pete McKenzie and John Robinson flew north to the Mackenzie Basin, where cloud base was 11,000ft. Unstable NE conditions on the 28th and 29th allowed us to explore south of Alex, somewhere we seldom go in thermal conditions. Members flew down as far as the Blue Mountains, just making it back after dodging active thunderstorms.

Over the Xmas break we did the annual airfield mowing. This is a huge task and takes well over a day. Tow pilots Gary, Russell and Richard each drove tractors and the rest of us shifted the many marker boards and tyres.

To date, we’ve had little soaring locally

Central Otago: Takeoff.

February 2014

69

club news during January, but Pete has achieved a couple of long (nearly 800km) flights out of Omarama over the holiday period.

JR

Gliding Hawkes Bay and Waipukurau Last year saw the passing of three of our life members – Gerry van Asch, Wynn Craven and Geoff White. Various past and present members have been asked to compile suitable tributes for these pilots, to be placed in SoaringNZ. Summer has arrived in theory but not in practice, with rain and/or strong winds forcing flying to be cancelled on a number of club Sundays. Mid-week flying has also been restricted due to aircraft being out of the air for various reasons, with the major limiter being no towplane on site.

On the positive side, we have been fortunate to obtain a grant from the Eastern and Central Community Trust to allow us to offer Youth Trial flights at subsidised rates. Various schools in the area will be approached with the view to encourage students to come and try gliding. Ryan Maney, at 12 years old, is currently our youngest member and our goal is to attract other youth members through this scheme.

There have been some good wave and convergence flights, though the typical summer thermals have been somewhat elusive to date. The local newspaper published a photo and brief details of one cross country wave flight, which has given the club some free publicity.

A small local triangle competition has been established for members, to encourage them to try cross country flying, starting with a small task. While the weather

Hawkes Bay: Takapau plains from 12,000ft.

70

February 2014

has not been ideal, the Hastings based task has been completed at 179.7km/h and the Waipukurau based task at 85.8km/h, with both flights being ‘test runs’ and completed outside the rules, by starting above 3,000ft.

Planning continues for February’s Central Districts Gliding Championships and we look forward to hosting another successful contest this summer.

Nelson Lakes We have just re-painted the hangar. Frank and Ken have done a great job. Frank was project manager. The hangar was water blasted, then Frank and many others fell upon it, smothering it with paint. It is looking good.

Flying has been a bit on and off, due to that run of westerlies that plagued the country over the Xmas period, but it appears that the weather is settling down, back to classic good ole sunny Nelson. That normally happens when everyone goes back to work. There has been some good flying though, with some of these days being quite busy, making up for the quieter periods. It should get a lot busier in Feb though, with the Ab-initio course being run the week before the Club Class Nationals & Flying week (from the 23rd of Feb to the 1st of March).

In other news, Kerry Greig took Adrian’s ASW 28 GSS for a trial flight down to Spring’s Junction and back and then he bought it. Apart from that, it’s fun gliding, the club ships are all in great nick, the winch is a trooper and we are really looking forward to up-and-coming events.

Captain Sink

Piako Since the last magazine, there has been flying at the club almost seven days a week.

First up was the Advanced Cross Country Course run by Peter and Lisa Trotter. Peter is Head Coach for Australia and demonstrated the real benefit of coaching and how it could improve the quality of cross country flying.

The course was limited to ten participants and involved in-depth analysis of everyone’s flying strengths and weaknesses. Peter and Lisa flew one of the three Duo’s with each of the participants, so some good one-on-one coaching.

The following week was the Regional Comp, with a good mixture of conditions. We even had a wave day, which is pretty unusual for a contest at Matamata. Great contest with 23 entrants.

A couple of weeks after this was the 2013 Multi Class Nationals, with 30 entries.

It combined with the Christmas camps for Piako, Auckland, Aviation Sports and Tauranga. Australian import Ralph Henderson very capably directed the event with his wife Helen. He was a member of Piako many years ago and did his first solo with us back in the 70’s, so felt right at home.

The contest finished on 9th Jan and on the 10th the club double towed the twins to Raglan for its annual pilgrimage and the Walsh moved into Matamata. We only planned to be at Raglan for nine days. Like last year, we had one day of solid SW wind. This enabled our PW6 to make five trips to Port Waikato and back with various club members.

Other recent events include Nigel Brinkworth doing his first solo and Bill Mace running a paddock landing session at the Hinuera spud patch.

SC

Hawkes Bay: Returning to Hastings.

club news

Rotorua: A bit of a sink. Photo by Rick Fleming.

Rotorua The Rotorua club has had a good lead up to summer and we are looking forward to more flying as the days get longer.

After months of no flying, during which maintenance was undertaken, it has been fantastic to be flying again and GED seems to be better than ever. We have been busy with regular club flying; while training and a steady number of trial flights (many by locals) have kept the club instructors hard at work. A regular part of our flying day now is welcoming the arrival of tow plane and pilot

Rotorua: Mt Tarawera in the distance. Photo by Ralph Price.

from Tauranga, whose efforts continue to be appreciated. Flying days seem few but we are flat out when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on.

Callum

TARANAKI As mentioned in the last Club News, Glyn Jackson and Tim Hardwick-Smith took part in the Omarama Regionals, where Glyn learned a lot and Tim placed about mid-field in the Standard Class. Not content with that, Glyn took part in the Auckland Regionals but it was our new member Melissa Jenkins

who cleaned up the Club Class field. Glyn had a go at the Club Class in the Nationals, also at Matamata, where he again learnt a lot. He was instrumental in organising our Junior member, Sam Tullett, being sent solo there in the Auckland ASK 21 by John Bayliss. Well done Sam! We are getting more and more organised with the winch and several good flights have been made off the wire. Glyn has been a good force behind this, getting the motor up to speed and a weak section of wire chopped out and better joins effected.

Saturday January 18th was a good day, with ten out of twelve flights getting away.

Will Hopkirk did the best, with a 90 minute flight and on his PW5 conversion flight too.

Congratulations to him and Sam Tullett for converting to that aircraft via winch launches. I believe Will is off to Ypuk for the competition there.

Our sympathies to the Auckland and Canterbury clubs, on their sad experiences on January 19th, and to the Groenestein family on the loss of Bill, who died recently.

Bill was a keen member of this club before moving north. During his time here he owned the Skylark CF of record setting fame at the hands of Dick Georgeson.

PJM

Taranaki: Will Hopkirk on the wire in the Taranaki PW5 on Saturday 18 January. He went on to have a ninety minute flight in the blue.

February 2014

71

club news

Taupo: Gordon over Taupo.

Taupo At long last, summer has arrived in Taupo and flying conditions have started to improve. Time seems to have gone so quickly since our last report, so what has been happening?

We have our two regular resident guests, Sid Gilmore and Denis Filgas (over from the UK and Czech Republic) with us again for another season and they are both a great help.

We have a few of our members achieving goals. Our newest member, Bradley Scrivener, has joined the club, gone solo and is now working towards his ‘B’ certificate and QGP. Brett Cameron has gone solo and is also working towards his ‘B’ certificate and QGP. By the time this article goes to print, John Hudson will have completed is ‘B’ certificate and on the way to QGP. There have been a number of good cross country flights, with Joe Ward setting the pace. He has achieved good results as well

Taupo: Over the lake.

Taupo: Brett receiving 'A' certificate.

Taupo: Brad after first solo flight.

72

February 2014

Taupo: Jo in the Jantar.

club news

Taupo: Trev at Mangakino.

as making that phone call, more than once, for a retrieve.

Trev Terry and Trace Austin went to the multiclass Nationals at Matamata and both pilots were happy with their results and had a great time.

Dmitry Moroz has taken possession of his new toy, an ASW28, and he has been down to Taupo to do some flying.

Our Christmas camp was quiet this year, however Vintage Kiwi will be arriving in late January to spend a week and, with luck, they will have good flying conditions.

We have had a visiting pilot from Spain check out the local scenery and we have had a Canadian Student, Zoye Geekie, doing the ‘solo in a week’ course. Zoye has had some training in Canada and during her stay in NZ she decided that she would like to do some training here.

At Taupo Gliding Club things are going well. The weather is getting better and we should see more great flying conditions over the next couple of months.

Until next time – have fun.

Trace

wellington The summer has started like last year, with great soaring days then a run of rubbish unstable weather. No worries, this year’s summer crew of Bob Bowers, Peter Carter, Ilse Bergler and myself have been totally swamped on the fine days and often

on the wet days, using the full cockpit soaring simulator, built by Rod Ruddick, Mark Wilson and Alain Marcuis over winter, to full effect.

The simulator has been a huge bonus, in that some wet days are buzzing, with members and potential members lined up to fly the amazing Omarama scenery.

In fact, Peter Carter, our young English glider pilot out on six months O.E. and helping at the club, started contacting potential members and trial flights, offering simulator sessions on wet days. This soon translated to new members, with the extra time spent with people outside the bustle of flying days.

Peter’s instructional ability was soon noticed by the senior instructors and formal training to complete a C-Cat rating has now given us an additional instructor for the summer. Congratulations Peter.

The summer seven-day operation is planned until mid-April, weather permitting, so any glider pilots passing through are welcome to pop in and sample our Paraparaumu hospitality, and homemade apple cider after flying!!

Ross Sutherland

The new full cockpit simulator has been a huge bonus for generating interest – especially on wet days.

Wellington: Toeplane pictures are now the vogue in DG1000s.

Wellington: Last day of 2013 – Kapiti Wave at landing Sunset.

February 2014

73

f o r s a l e • w a n t ed • s er v i ce s • e v e n t s

We take our classifieds list from the GNZ website and from ads detailed with us personally. To update your ad, please go online or advise Hadley Bognuda, our webmaster. Ads notified to me will appear on this page but we are unable to make changes for you on the web page. Please contact the webmaster if your item sells.

Gliders ASK 13 • Seriously for sale. Can be delivered with fresh annual inspection. King KY97A com, Borgelt B40 electric vario with rear seat repeater.

New winch hook and tailplane fittings installed at last annuals. Make me an offer and fly away from Matamata. This glider will be sold!! Further details, please contact Alan, 0274 960 748 or a.belworthy@xtra.co.nz Libelle 201b, GIU • #579 out of 601 made. 2358 hours 1688 launches (20 August) O2, Transponder, 6 channel Tait radio, Borgelt B40 vario, Chute, Trailer. Good original finish. Annuals currently underway. $18K. Phone Paul 021 331 838 Cobra 15, ZK-GJE • In good condition with a refurbished trailer. Easy to fly and fully aerobatic with a 38:1 glide ratio, comparable with a Libelle or Standard Cirrus. Includes tow out gear, Borgelt B40 vario and a parachute. Price now dropped to $9,995! Contact Russell Jones on 09 575 9788 or email:prismconsult@gmail.com ASH 25, ZK-GXZ • Placed 1st and 2nd in Open Class at last two Omarama New Zealand nationals (with a little bit of help from the pilot) 1,700 hours.

Serial no: 25016, the lightest Ash to come out of the factory. Instruments: Glide computer Ilec SM10B, Becker radio, O2 EDS, 25.6 winglets, transponder, 4 water ballast bags, 1 parachute. Trailer: Aluminium Top Cobra Tandem wheel, tows extremely well. Cobra lifting tail dolly. NZ$150,000.

Hangar space also available in Omarama to fit the ASH (35m) - right next to the airstrip. Contact Garry Wakefield, phone +64 3 357 8995, or email garry@investment.co.nz

Ka6-CR L/D max • 31:1 at 80 kph /43 kt. GLR annuals and new paper work completed on 20/12/2012. Basic instruments and excellent road trailer. $6,850 or near offer. Call Simon Lillico Phone 04 4797 123 or email slillico@gmail.com ASW15, ZK-GGO • S/N 15069. Microair radio and transponder. Cambridge 302 DDV and 303 nav screen. $15,000 ono. ph 0274972723, g_gaddes@ xtra.co.nz.

Sagitta, ZK-GDO • All wood & rags, built for performance not for comfort!

Keeps up with anything wood, plus PW's and Astirs on a good day. For the vintage enthusiast - $5,000 with current rego and annuals. Come on then, you know you want one, and I need to finance a Duo share, email robert@smits.co.nz ASH 25m, ZK-GYJ • $160,000 ONO. Extension wing tips, 26m Cobra alloy trailer, self-rigging gear and all tow out equipment inc 2 wing wheels.

All weather wing and tail covers, engine time 54hrs airframe 1350 hrs 15 ltr. wing fuel tank. Two parachutes, MH duel oxy system, standard instruments plus SN10 computer/vario 2 15amph batteries + 2 engine batteries. Leather upholstery, tinted canopies, always hangared at Omarama. Contact david.mairi@xtra.co.nz 034098380 Foka 4 Glider 15m • Polish built 1967. LD 34-1 VNE-141kts. 16/3/13 passed Annual Airworthy and Review. 10yr Wt.& Bal 24mths Avionics, Bore-scope inspection-2012 Total Hrs 1826 Based at Taupo Club $12,000 includes free hanger space until 2021.Seperate sale of glider if required Ph Colin Deeker @ 07-3784862 or codeek@xtra.co.nz Owner now past useby date!!

Sailplane Slingsby T41 Skylark 2b. GBX • Fresh annuals as of 30th September, basic instruments and Mode C transponder. Ready for the season and ready to go. Road trailer wof and reg'd. Offers. Contact Marc Edgar 0272062672 or 035422027 for details.

Glider DG 101, GNB • All or a 1/2 share of this glider is available. There is a hanger share at Matamata that can be included in the sale or negotiated separately. This glider will have a fresh Annuals completed in December 2013. This is a very competitive Club Class glider. Further details please contact Alan on 0274 960 748 or a.belworthy(at)xtra.co.nz Glider DG 300 Elan • GOZ Full panel. Road trailer. $45,000 or near offer.

Apply to Errol Shirtliff. Phone 03 526 8724 or email shirtliff@xtra.co.nz

Photo John McCaw

Standard Cirrus GJK, serial number 484G • Has three varios including a Borgelt B40. King aviation radio, Terra Transponder, colibri flight logger, oxygen, parachute and tow out gear. Trailer is well set up, glider goes into trailer in a raise/lower cradle that can be done single handed. Gel coat in very good condition, glider condition in general is good. Good club class glider that is cheap to run and has no parts register fees to pay each year. $24,000 ono. Phone Kerry on 035268584 or 0273344176.

74

February 2014

DG200 GLZ • 15 meter with wingtip extensions to 17m making 45.5:1 LD. Gel coat in good condition. Flies very well with new annual. Brand new Becker radio, EDS Oxygen (no transponder or parachute). Good solid trailer and ground handling equipment. Reconditioned tost hook and new rudder bearings this last annual. Priced to sell $28,000. Owner retiring from gliding. Contact Robert Wallace email robo@actrix.co.nz

GNz members are eligible for one free non-commercial classified advertisement per issue.

Deadline for receipt of advertising for our May issue is 10 April 2014.

ASW15B, ZK-GKB, #15425 • Very good condition, blue tinted canopy, basic instruments including electric vario, transponder and Becker AR 4201 radio. Two tow hooks – belly and nose, twin batteries. Excellent trailer with new galvanised chassis, will be sold with new ARA, and current trailer WOF and Regn Price – All reasonable offers will be considered Contact kloch@xtra.co.nz, 0274 953674

Hangar Two adjacent 18m hangar spaces in the Omarama Hangar • $30,000 each or near offer. Contact Mike Hamilton Phone 03 962 1530 email: mike.hamilton@hamjet.co.nz.

Hangar space, 15m, east hangar at Omarama • Asking $1500/m or reasonable offer. Contact Linda vindaloulou@gmail.com, 03 348 7009 or 021 0718 402.

Hangar Space 15 m at Omarama • We need the cash for new toys so here's the deal, $1500 per metre. First in gets a bargain. Call Paul on 021 1622 396 or Nigel on 027 2741 624 or email pchisnall@xtra.co.nz Hangar spaces for sale in Omarama • 20m and or 15m next to the runway. $1,800pm ONO. Both in the most eastern hangar. Contact Garry Wakefield, phone +64 3 357 8995, or email garry@investment.co.nz 20 Metre space in latest and greatest private lock-up hangar on Omarama Airfield • Secure (complete lock-up), convenient (nearest space to Kahu Cafe). Water. power, painted floor. Great neighbours. Absolutely one of the best slots at Omarama. Contact david.p.laing@gmail.com, 0274 340 074 Hangar Space - right to occupy, for sale • A space in the Canterbury Gliding Club’s new Springfield hangar. This state of the art hangar is in a prime position on the field, giving easy access to the main vector. Springfield has been developed as the long term home of the CGC and provides access to some of the best soaring in NZ and is active all year round.

The purchaser will need to maintain membership of the club, one of the strongest and most progressive in NZ. Contact John 021 223 4911.

Other For Sale Second hand Accusat MT410 406/121.5 Mhz Personal locator beacon • (Non GPS type) Battery due replacement July 2014. $350 o.n.o. Contact Lionel Page, Aviation Sports Club, 021 333031 Metric Winter ASI and Altimeter • Both in excellent condition. ASI=$300.

Altimeter=$600. Both=$800. Contact Matt Findlay sgt_findlay@hotmail.com Multi-stage lead-acid battery chargers • 2 channel from $100, 4 channel from $400, 12 channel rack mount and customised versions. Price by negotiation. Information at www.avon-tech-solutions.co.nz. Contact Neil 021 765 884.

Pawnee C PA25-235 ZK-RWS • Engine 250HP out of hours (can be ground run), total airframe hours 5558, fuselage stripped, repainted and rebagged September 2010, as is located at Stratford. Offers. For any further details contact Les Sharp 06 753 4227 lesue@ihug.co.nz.

For Sale

omarama chalet

Get a syndicate together – make it more affordable – enjoy a rental income when you are not using it.

Under construction now – Act fast to choose your layout

Available as completed shell to allow buyer to finish or completely finished to buyer specs.

No more sites available

phone 0274 774 885 Cambridge 302 and 303 set • Both instruments are in great condition.

GPS Antenne, handbook, and all cables included Price $2300 including postage R.Drake@inbox.com 2x Redbox Flarm devices • including SD card readers, Antenne and all cables needed to mount. Both devices are IGC certified $1200 including postage. R.Drake@inbox.com Cambridge LNAV and GPS-NAV logger both at the latest upgrade versions • Good condition, unmarked instrument faces. Complete with capacity flask, antennae, all necessary cables. Only changing as I now have the Clear Nav agency. $1200 the lot. Roger Sparks phone 0274 956 560 or email r.sparks@xtra.co.nz Blood Oxygen reader • A little finger tip one. Take the guess work out of hypoxia. A modern must-have for wave flying. This one is a hard to get Liquid Crystal Display unit which means it is really easy to read in bright sunlight. Runs off two AA batteries. See pictures at http://tinyurl.com/ nx2lwtt Bran new. $80 incl gst and freight. Contact Frank at franksaxton@gmail.com Ilec SN10 Vario and Glide Computer and Oz Flarm for sale • SN10 is complete with GPS for accurate final glide, wind direction and speed, ground speed and airspace plus many more features including height required to nearest strips in your database as well as thermal averager.

Great for AAT and racing tasks. Complete with excellent Ilec vario. Perfect replacement for old L Navs or first time glide computer for your glider without costing a bomb. Oz Flarm is reliable and picks up gliders from up to 4km away. Has saved me from many low scrapes when picking up other thermalling gliders as well as a few close encounters when I never saw the other glider. Both are still in working order in the Ventus. About to upgrade and spend a fortune on LX. Only $1,500 for the lot (or sell separately). Contact Grae Harrison 0274 429 337 or grae@letsgotravel.co.nz

WANTED WANTED by Omarama Gliding Club Ventus 2b, Ventus 2c, ASW27, ASW28, Discus 2, Discus CS. If you know of something let us know. Please contact Chris Streat streatcg@]xtra.co.nz or ++64 (0)3 442 6789, don't dial 0 if international!

February 2014

75

QUINTUS BETTER BY

design

Sailplane Services Congratulate the winners of the NZ Nationals: Grae Harrison, Champion in Open and 18m Class in his Ventus 2cxT, George Wills, Champion Std Class in Discus 2c and Vaughan Ruddick, Champion Std Class in the LS6.

Please contact us for servicing onsite at our Omarama workshop.

Sailplane Services Ltd email sailplaneservices@xtra.co.nz phone 09 294 7324