SoaringNZ Issue 42

NEW ZEALAND’S PREMIER SOARING MAGAZINE

WOMEN’S WORLDS EUROPEAN CHAMPS ANGUS ROSEBOWL WINNER GLoW • CLUB NEWS i s s u e 4 2 A u g u s t – O c t o b e r 2 0 15

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contents august–october 2015 features 11 The Kiwis Take on the European Championships Rieti 2015

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22

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Women’s Worlds in Denmark

22

1st FAI World 13.5m Class Gliding Championships

24 30 32 34 36 38 41

The Angus Rose Bowl awarded to Gavin Wills 18th FAI European Gliding Championships Gliding NZ AGM – Awards 2015 Sunseeker Duo Crossing of the Alps Aero Trade Fair 2016 GLoW Book Review The Soaring Engine Volume 1

regulars 6 Log Book 42 Instructors Corner Aerotow Launch Failure Demo

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43 44 45 46 47 48 50

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

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ISSNAugust–October 1178-4784 2015 3

from the editor august–october 2015 I HAVE TWO NEW HEROES

W

hen I was trying to track down photographs to go with the article on the 13.5m Class World Championships I noticed that something special had happened at that competition, and it seems to have gone completely unremarked. I thought it was extraordinary.

The championships (see page 22) were held in Pociunai, Lithuania. It was a small field for a Worlds, only 12 gliders, and so the Lithuanian Club Class and Mixed Class competitions were hosted in parallel. While the Club Class seems to have contained mainly Lithuanian pilots, the Mixed Class was competed for by pilots from Italy, USA, Japan, Germany, Australia, and the only Lithuanian in the contest, Darius Liaugaudas, flying in a Duo Discus XLT with Polish pilot Adam Czeladzki. When I was looking for photos of the contest it was Darius and Adam who caught my eye. Both of these gentlemen are paraplegics and use wheelchairs to get around. In a glider, only minimal modifications are needed to put them on the exact same playing field as able bodied pilots. In fact, looking at their scores, it seems they may have an unfair advantage, although maybe it was two pilots in the cockpit that gave them an edge. Darius and Adam won 10 out of 12 competition days. The days they didn’t win, they came 2nd. Over 12 days of competition they managed to be more than 1200 points ahead of 2nd placed Makoto Ichikawa from Japan and the rest of the field.

I want to point out that these guys aren’t a disabled pilot flying with an able bodied safety pilot, these are two disabled pilots flying together. It is an inspiring idea. I decided to do a little Googling and find out a bit more about these men.

Polish pilot Adam Czeladzki was injured in a glider crash in 2009. However, due to his sheer love of soaring, Adam never gave up on the sport. Following rehabilitation and therapy he came back to gliding, going through the incredible bureaucracy needed to fly solo as a pilot in Poland, and buying a Discus 2cT with hand controls to allow him to compete. He is the first paraplegic pilot in Poland. A year after his accident he was flying his new glider and competing in the Polish Nationals.

Adam then went on to do something most of his fellow countrymen couldn’t dream of. He joined a group of Polish pilots on a trip to Africa and in January 2012 became only the 8th Polish National to achieve a FAI 1000km flight. In 2013 he won a place

Darius Liaugaudas and Adam Czeladzki prepare for a competition flight.

in the Polish National team in a Duo Discus with hand controls and placed 8th in the European Champs that year. Using the Duo Discus, he has been working with disabled people and has trained at least one person to solo which he says gave his student “…regained confidence in himself and gave his father a new reason to be proud…” Adam works as a dealer for Rover and Landrover.

Like Adam, Lithuanian Darius Liaugaudas was also injured in a gliding accident, his in 2013, and he too became the first paraplegic in his country to get the certifications needed to fly gliders. Adam was a great help, support and inspiration for Darius as he recovered from his accident. All the difficulties he was having, Adam had been through them too. And Adam was flying in a hand controlled glider. Darius speaks of meeting Adam at the 2012 European Championships. “We talked. I saw him on the grass by his glider. When he was in it he looked as able bodied as anyone. He was inspirational. He was enjoying life; had not asked for a single moment of pity.” Adam offered to help Darius to buy a hand controlled glider. Darius’ friends came forward to help with the funds, creating a charity fund called “Give Wings.” At the same time, friends helped him purchase a

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WOMEN’S WORLDS EUROPEAN CHAMPS ANGUS ROSEBOWL WINNER GLoW • CLUB NEWS i s s u e 4 2 A u g u s t – O c t o b e r 2 0 15

4

Grant Shaw lands at Springfield after a winter flight.

Photo John McCaw

August–October 2015

Central Plateau and South Island Regional contests Grand Prix finals

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Volvo car and adapt it for hand controls. He says his rehabilitation was complete.

How to co-ordinate the rudder when operating it by hand was not the most important thing Adam taught Darius. There are tricks to getting disabled legs in and out of a glider and other problems that only someone who has experienced the difficulties really knows. The two men have become firm friends and obviously a team to be taken seriously.

In an interview before the Pociunai Contest, Darius said “It is not enough just to fly. I love the competition, the race. I’ve been gliding for thirteen years. It is a big part of my life. It’s shaped me. When I was first sitting in the wheelchair I constantly came to Pociunai and watched as my colleagues flew. Adam proved that gliding is one of the rare sports where people with disabilities can compete as equals with healthy subjects. Flying in the sky you forget that you are disabled and unable to walk the earth.”

Is this story inspiring you yet?

Two disabled guys just flew the pants off the rest of the field in an international contest. Think about your aspirations. If they can do this, what can you achieve?

As an aside, I know Auckland’s ASK 21 has the mod for hand controls and Greg Douglas has offered training flights to disabled people at various times. I assume that some of the rest of the Duos around the country could be converted as well. I really hope that the gliding community reaches out to the disabled community and makes gliding available to people who may never had considered it as a viable sport. Darius and Adam have shown that in gliding, there are no limits.

Aim high and put the steps in place to start reaching them.

Stay safe people.

Jill McCaw

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logbook august–october 2015 INSTRUCTORS’ COURSE To be held at Matamata 9–11 October 2015 Find Accommodation details on the MSC website This year, no meals will be provided so you will need to ‘BYO’ or eat out at Waharoa or Matamata.

There will again be a 50% subsidy of glider flying costs.

Those seeking new ratings will need to ensure they have a QGP certificate showing on the GNZ register. Individuals can check their own certificates and ideally should have undertaken some instructor training already with partial completion of MOAP Appendix 2E. The course is also available to existing instructors wanting to refresh their skills and is a great forum around the key role of instructing. Please bring your hard copy of the GNZ Instructors’ Manual. It would be appreciated if those coming on the course (including Instructor Trainers, Tow Pilots, Helpers) could register as early as possible. Registration is a short interactive online form on the GNZ website.

787 – New Type Rating for Roger Read Photo Chris Gee

Canterbury Gliding Club pilot Roger Read can add a fairly exclusive type rating to his log book. He has just completed the command check for Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 787.

Roger started 787 training in June and once type converted did 100 hours in the left seat under supervision of a training Captain in the right seat before completing the check. Roger says he really likes the crew bunks on the new aircraft.

IGC SPORTING CODE UPDATED The new version of the Sporting Code comes into effect 1 October 2015. This has many changes from the current version and is the result of three year’s work by the IGC Sporting Code Sub-Committee to simplify the Code and set it out in a more accessible fashion. This has led to some duplication of material with requirements for badges (Chapter 2) being separated from record requirements (Chapter 3). A copy of the new code can be found on the IGC website under documents.

If you’re planning any badge or record flights this season make sure you’re well aware of what is required to claim your flights.

Interislander Ferry special rates available to glider trailers for summer season.

If you’re thinking of taking a glider across the Strait this summer, see the GNZ website for details.

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August–October 2015

Solar Impulse made it to Hawaii When we went to print last issue, the Solar Impulse solar powered aircraft was in Japan, waiting on a weather window to allow it to make it to Hawaii on the next leg of its around the world flight. The Solar Impulse departed Nagoya on 3 July and landed in Hawaii four days, twenty one hours and fifty two minutes later (almost 118 hours), a huge feat of endurance for pilot André Borschberg and real proof of concept for solar power. There were no land out options for this epic cross ocean flight.

Unfortunately the batteries overheated, sustaining serious damage during the flight. This means the next leg of the flight, from Honolulu to the American mainland will have to wait until after repairs can be completed. The Solar Impulse team say: “The damage to the batteries is not a technical failure or a weakness in the technology but rather an evaluation error in terms of the profile of the mission and the cooling design specifications of the batteries. The temperature of the batteries in a quick ascent / descent in tropical climates was not properly anticipated.” They don’t expect the next leg to occur until around Easter next year.

METFLIGHT GENERAL AVIATION WEATHER AVAILABLE TO GNZ MEMBERS A link via the “For Pilots” section on the GNZ website will connect you to the MetFlight site.

You will need to enter your GNZ membership number as a User Name (e.g. GNZ1234) and DOB as the Password (e.g. 5/09/1977 or 30/11/1981).

GAVIN WILLS

M O U N TA IN SOARING SCHOOL Learn-to-Fly Post Solo to QGP Mountain Soaring Guest instructors: Uli Schwenk G Dale Justin Wills

ADVENTURE SOARING FLIGHTS

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We now have a complete system with Vario Display 5 and Display M coupled with an Air glide TRX 1500 Flarm / ADS-B / Mode C traffic warning systems for customers to evaluate here in Masterton.

Contact the NZ Agents for more information

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August–October 2015

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logbook august–october 2015

NEWS MULTI-SPORT EVENTS Air sports have been successfully part of several multi-sports events such as The World Games and the Asian Beach Games. FAI intends to continue participating in these largescale competitions which give extensive exposure to its sports worldwide. The Federation is also working on having air sports included in more of this type of event.

SPORTS MARKETING DEVELOPMENT PLAN The FAI World Air Games Dubai 2015 are a great opportunity to build a legacy, to secure the long-term development of FAI’s flagship event and to showcase what air sports can offer.

The Federation must also nurture its relationship with stakeholders such as FAI’s sponsors and partners, and progress should be made to enhance the management of world and continental Championships.

Other opportunities are to be explored further such as the participation in pancontinental multi-sport games, the identification of potential to promote air sports with commercial partners and the modernisation of the FAI Patron Scheme.

FAI COMPETITION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM A presentation was made of this recently released tool that is offered to Event Organisers for their use. It facilitates the

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August–October 2015

management of registrations, the checking of sporting licenses and the approval of participants by FAI Members.

FAI OPENS DOOR TO DRONES Drones are aircraft of limited dimensions which are used for competitions, sport or recreational purposes.

UAVs (or RPAs) however, are aerodynes (aircraft heavier than air) with a means of propulsion and are used for scientific research for commercial, governmental or military purposes.

“Drone competitions are only in their infant stage, which means that it is up the Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM), to shape up a bright future for this activity.”

FAI Environmental Commission very active THE ANGELO D’ARRIGO DIPLOMA Is awarded to the individual or organisation considered by the Commission to have contributed most to the defence of and respect for the environment affected by air sports.

The 2015 winner was the Ultralight Aviation Club based at Moscow Technical University of Civil Aviation (UAC MTUCA), who are the aviation part of a project to regenerate the white

logbook august–october 2015 It’s only in the event of a

CL A IM

that you really find out who has the best policy!

crane or ‘sterkh’ population on the Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia.

Sterkh nestlings have to travel long distances for their winter migration to India. On the way they become hunting targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The ‘Flight of Hope’ project aims to escort the sterkhs, over West Siberia and Kazakhstan, to south Uzbekhistan, where, for the first time in the world, alternative wintering for the sterkh has been established.

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

“Kiwis providing Glider pilots with aviation insurance for over 30 years”

TELEPHONE 04 473 5593

For the ‘Flight of Hope’ project, birds in flight are led by motorised ultralights known as “SEARCH-06 STERKH”.

Angelo d’Arrigo – in whose honour this Diploma was created and who had personal contacts with this group of ultralight pilots - took part in initial experiments in 2002, trying to teach the cranes to follow the ultralights. Today, the operation of escorting crane flocks along waterways over a distance of more than 1,200 km has become a regular practice and more sterkhs are already being seen at Yamal.

Another finalist for the award was the Pavullo Aero Club in Italy that has re-introduced to Italy the use of pulleys for launching gliders. This system uses a vehicle pulling a launch cable through a pulley instead of a winch. By using pulleys, noise and atmospheric pollution have been eliminated and there is a remarkable energy saving compared with the tow-plane system. In addition to this the Pavullo Aero Club has successfully fought proposals for urban development on the airport. The people of Pavullo can now enjoy the green space of the airport, which has been opened to them. This includes a four kilometre Nature Trail within the area of the airport, which is also used in winter for cross country skiing.

Food for thought for NZ gliding clubs.

Just studying up before flying. A future world champion.

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.

August–October 2015

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logbook august–october 2015

REDBULL X-ALPS RACE

The X-Alps race was an extraordinary running/ paragliding race, advertised as the World’s toughest race, along the European Alps. Starting in Mozartplatz, Austria and finishing in Monaco on the Mediterranean coast, the race took the teams from eighteen countries, twelve days to complete. Of the 32 athletes who started the race, 19 made it to the finish line. Competitors are allowed to race between the hours of 0500 and 2230 and may pull one ‘night pass’ during the race.

For information on the race and some excellent and very scenic video see: http://www.redbullxalps.com/

Nick Nyenens (NZL)

Nick Nyenens (NZL)

Event Dates & Venues for 2015-16 Soaring Season Contest Central Plateau 2015 South Island Regionals 2015 North Island Regionals 2015

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August–October 2015

Location Start Finish Taupo 31/10/15 7/11/15 Omarama 14/11/15 21/11/15 Matamata 29/11/15 5/12/15

Club Class Nationals 2016 Enterprise Omarama 2016 Nationals 2016 Central Districts

Omarama Omarama Taupo Waipukurau

3/1/16 3/1/16 23/1/16 13/2/16

13/1/16 9/1/16 6/2/16 20/2/16

THE KIWIS TAKE ON the European Championships Rieti 2015

BY JOHN COUTTS PHOTOS BEN HUGHES unless noted otherwise

I guess this adventure started back in 2013 when Dane Dickinson generously offered me the use of the family LS 8 “ZN” for the 2013 Mediterranean Cup. That turned out to be a very memorable two weeks and was covered in a write up by Dane back in Issue 38 of SoaringNZ. We had so much fun then, that the possibility was hatched of competing Hors Concours in the European Championships this year. Hors Concours would mean that we could compete in the competition but as we were not Europeans, we could not be officially entered.

August–October 2015

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EUROPEAN CHAMPS

Photo AeroClub Rich

S

o in late July this year, I arrived at Frankfurt Airport having taken the overnight flight from Johannesburg to pick up my car for the next 18 days. It was a new shape, VW beetle generously organised by my German friend, Benno Beeston. The loan came with strict instructions of a photo of the mileage on passing of 300,000 km! By 3pm that afternoon, I had already made my way to Grenoble in France to meet up with Dane and pick up the LS8 ZN. From there we travelled into France to make it almost to Rieti, before exhaustion got the better of us. An 11 hour flight followed by over 1500 km on the road had taken its toll. The next day was a little more leisurely, rolling into Rieti just after lunch, followed by registration and scrutineering ready for the competition. We were some of the last pilots to arrive and most had already a number of training flights completed.

The next day was our one and only practice day and a flight around the cabbage patch was the order of the day. Rieti has a fairly standard task format with a track first to the south and higher mountains, then to the north which is normally flown on the highest mountains to the east, followed by a bit of a ridge bashing to the north and a final glide through the infamous Val Nerina. The Val Nerina is best described as a tight little valley with a reasonable west facing ridge. There is basically nowhere to land, although generally it works well if there is any west in the wind. On the right day you can go in low, abeam a small village perched halfway up the side of the mountain. Little by

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August–October 2015

little you claw onto final glide and save valuable minutes. Get it wrong and you end up trying to land in the bottom of the valley which is not really possible, hence it has claimed a number of gliders.

We had a nice flight and the Val Nerina was working well for the final glide. At the time we didn’t realise that it was probably the best day of the two weeks. Standard Rieti weather is a 10,000 feet cloud base, a couple of convergences and the afternoon westerly to ridge soar home on and this was the only standard weather we would get. Late in the afternoon our crew, a British Junior by the name of Ben Hughes arrived, albeit late and without his luggage which was lost on route. A few beers followed in anticipation of the great racing lying ahead.

One thing that can make mountain flying a little tricky is an easterly wind. In the afternoon the sun shines from the west and in combination with a gentle west wind can make mountain flying very predictable and enjoyable. With an easterly wind the thermals still originate from the west sunward facing side of the mountains but then the face is in the lee side of the wind. This makes it a little tricky because generally you need to be where the thermals are, but now you are also flying in the down of the ridge. The entire contest period, except the last day, was uncharacteristic with easterly wind every day.

The first few days went very well for us. We enjoyed a day win each and were both in the running. Unfortunately the first to stumble was Dane on day four. The unusual conditions made

Dane Dickinson and John Coutts.

it very difficult once you got below the mountain tops. Dane thought that he was being careful and going to a mountain range that was typically very reliable. Unfortunately this time it wasn’t working and Dane landed in a nice field at one of the popular turn points, Roccaraso.

It’s funny but over the years I have learned that local knowledge can be as much a handicap as it is an advantage.

With local knowledge, invariably you learn how the site works in typical weather and where you can cut precious minutes by perhaps going a little lower because you know the ridges work in specific wind and sun conditions. However this year, the conditions were really so different to what we had experienced in previous years that I think any capable pilot flying the clouds just as they should, could have fared much better, even though they had never flown in Rieti before. Dane has flown something like seven competitions in Rieti and more than 400 hours there. This was my third competition and I have maybe 120 hours there. I think this regimented thinking may have been his downfall on day four and it was certainly mine later in the competition.

The air mass was slowly getting more unstable as the competition continued and by the fifth and sixth competition days we had isolated thunderstorms. The fifth day in particular was quite exciting, as possibly the only storm in central Italy decided to form right over the airfield, just before we were due to finish.

Photo Ben Hughs

Photo Ben Hughs

Photo Ben Hughs

EUROPEAN CHAMPS

A bad day all round. Landed out, broke the beer.

The organisation had adopted the three kilometre finish ring and although I am not a great fan of them, it definitely helps when there are storms around. I was one of the first gliders in the last turn point area and found a nice climb on the edge of the storm. Having first-hand experience back in South Africa with how ugly these storms can get, I took the climb well over final glide all the way to cloud base. It was pitch black towards Rieti but intermittent radio reports indicated that the storm may have been moving off to the west. I tracked carefully around to the eastern side of the storm and managed to stay in good air until very close to the field. It was then an easy dash to the extreme left hand edge of the finish ring to record a good finish, while the airfield was still getting nailed by the storm.

I had a spare 3000 feet so was able to glide off to the east a little and wait for the storm to move further off to the north and then come in to land safely. After all the commotion the air was dead calm, although the airfield was very sodden after receiving many millimetres of rain.

During the last few days air had been converging over the spine of the Italian Peninsula. Air was flowing in from the Adriatic to the east and Mediterranean to the west. The humidity was increasing along with the possibility of storms.

We eventually had to wait three days for storms to clear. After six competition days, I had a narrow lead and was looking to consolidate this in the last remaining three days of the competition. The Polish pilot, Lukasz Blaszczyk, was flying very August–October 2015

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EUROPEAN CHAMPS

Photo AeroClub Rich

consistently and was only a few points behind. After Dane’s disastrous day four, a top placing would be a remote possibility for him and he was rather looking forward to some more conventional Rieti Racing.

I find when you are flying every day you get into a rhythm and sometimes after you have bad weather for a few days this rhythm can be lost. Perhaps this happened to me because the last three days fell apart.

My wife Caryn arrived with our youngest son on day seven, the third to last day, and an unlucky run of land-outs ensued.

The day featured the strongest easterly of the competition with a bit of easterly wave around. After three days of rain I thought that as the ground dried out, the weak conditions of the day may get a little bit better. I was very wrong, and should have employed an early start tactic. Instead I started quite late into a sky that was already deteriorating. I got drilled by the wave after the start and this set the tone for the rest of the flight.

Then indecision when I was on the lee side of the ridge looking for a thermal, resulted in me getting spat out of the mountains and I ended up low, close to Rieti, trying to claw back up in the valley thermals. The day was falling apart and I made a conscious decision to climb as high as possible in wave before the last turn point which was in a notoriously difficult area. The wave didn’t work properly and I probably wasted too long trying to make it work. In the end I just had to glide it out without getting as high as anticipated. I was left ridge soaring about 25 km from home at perhaps 700 feet above the valley floor. My beats took me right past a castle perched up high on the ridge.

A very pretty sight but as the sun receded to the horizon my fate was sealed and the local airfield, Terni, had my name on it.

I was a good 400 points down now but the 2nd to last day was going my way. A perfectly timed start resulted in catching up some earlier starters and a little luck at the bottom turn

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August–October 2015

put me up with the leaders. With the sky overdeveloping and turning a little stormy ahead, I felt confident to go big and left the lead gaggle to head for the sweet spot (or so I thought) way in the distance. I found the visibility to be considerably worse than previous years and this made routing decisions very difficult. Only after fully committing to going in one direction would you see further down track, that the other direction was in fact much better. The mountains and radio problems also prevented Dane and me from sharing important information with each other. A poor choice of routing sealed the nail in the coffin on this day with gentle outflow from a previous storm eventually wiping out the whole sky. Dane was already struck down with some 12 other gliders at the well-known airfield of Foligno. The airfield was some 50 km on the final glide from Rieti but soon after this, you needed to go through the dreaded Val Nerina and today, after the storm and high cloud, the ridge would not be working at all. So if you didn’t have height for final glide you would have to land in the valley. I worked the gentle storm outflow and tried every aspect but didn’t find the height needed for a safe final glide so eventually opted for the safety of landing at Foligno airfield. Two more standard class gliders were damaged on this day, adding to one damaged earlier in the comp. From 23 standard class gliders we were now reduced to 20.

The final day dawned with the prospects of a proper Rieti day. For the first time during the whole competition, the winds were finally out of the west, so the ridges and high mountains to the east should be working. Again the forecast was for storms on the high mountains so an early start would be the order of the day. The start gate opened and I started perhaps only 30 seconds later. The task was a short two hour Assigned Area Task and as always, was first down to the south then up to the north for the final glide. I was having a brilliant run, the sky

EUROPEAN CHAMPS

was starting to overdevelop, but I was still early enough to easily navigate the small showers and managed to make great progress and with only two thermals. On entering the final sector and perhaps because I was having such a super run, I overcooked things a little bit by turning a little late for home. I was expecting to get some good energy on the final glide in the Val Nerina. Unfortunately, I had a terrible glide to the entrance of the valley and entered much lower than anticipated. I passed a few clouds that had the promise of a top up but I decided to commit to the valley, after all, the sun and wind were in the right direction.

Perhaps I was just too low but it didn’t hold as expected. I was only perhaps 500 feet below glide and thought that I just needed a few good pull ups to be back on final glide but the further I went, the weaker it became. Also the lower I got, the further it was to go around the spurs. Eventually I just managed to flop into the Rieti basin, just 10 kms from the finish but at least I had reasonable out landing options now. A feeble attempt at a decaying cloud and I had to make a hurried landing in a less than ideal field over trees and wires and was really very lucky as it could have easily resulted in a broken glider.

And so I was left to consider what happened, as it really did seem like a competition of two halves. The first half went really well and the second half just went to worms. Perhaps work pressures and then having the family arriving, really meant I was over worked and I didn’t have my mind fully engaged in the flying. It’s difficult to get your mind into that space, but if you can get there its just bliss. The only thing on your mind is the days gliding ahead of you and how much you are going to love every minute. When you’re thinking like that, you don’t even have to try hard to do well. Furthermore the late Davie Speight said something to me many years ago at my first nationals. He said ‘you can’t force gliding, you just have to go with the flow’.

... what happened, as it really did seem like a competition of two halves. The first half went really well and the second half just went to worms.

And he’s right, you can’t make that next climb 10 knots just because you need 10 knots. You can only do the best with what you have and no more. I think that advice was clearly lost on me in the last few days!

However, overall it was still very enjoyable with great flying and great company. It would not have been at all possible without the generous loan of the LS8 from Dane and his Dad Warren and the mighty blue VW beetle organised by my friend Benno Beesten. Thanks also to Ben Hughes who really worked very hard, especially later in the comp getting Dane and myself retrieved.

Results 15M CLASS

1 2 3

Didier Hauss Peter Hartmann Christophe Ruch

FRA AUT FRA

Ventus 2 ASG 29 Ventus 2

7188 7112 7086

CZE CZE SVK

Std. Cirrus Std. Cirrus LS 1 f

7341 7302 7256

POL NED RUS

Discus 2 Discus 2 Discus 2

7408 7293 7071

CLUB CLASS

1 2 3

Ondrej Dvorak Jan Louda Josef Kozar

STANDARD CLASS

1 2 3

Lukasz Blaszczyk Sjaak Selen Dmitriy Timoshenko

August–October 2015

15

WOMEN’S WORLDS in Denmark

BY JO DAVIS

WAIPUKURAU AIRFIELD 15 – 21 FEBRUARY Two Australian pilots, Kerrie Claffey and Jo Davis flew in the Women’s Worlds in Denmark.

Jo reports on representing your country, mastering flying quite low (all the time) and the art of underestimating things that are important.

I

n 2012 I ran though one of those mental checks of the future and worked out that, all things being equal with my job, in three years’ time I would have accumulated 10 years of continuous employment and would therefore qualify for long service leave. Time. Something that is just a rare, precious commodity for me. There’s never enough of it, is there? Gliding competitions are my main consumer of the stuff. I buy it, squirrel it away.

Even then, there’s not enough to go around. But in 2015, I would

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August–October 2015

have more of it than I’ve had in my entire working life to date!

So what to do with eight more weeks of leave? Naturally, the first thing to check was what was going on around the world’s gliding community. In 2015, it would be the year for the women’s and junior worlds, and the ‘in between year’ for the gliding worlds. I’ve been lucky enough to meet the selection criteria for the Aussie women’s team before but have had to set it aside. It took too much time and resources to head to Europe for a comp. I wondered if I should put more effort into having a crack at getting on the team for the ‘real’ worlds to make the investment ‘worthwhile’. It was a rainy day at Benalla during the club class nationals when I had a conversation that tipped the scales. Tobi Geiger, Swaantje Geyer and Mike

It was an experience of a lifetime, it did wonders for my flying and I met amazing people.

This article is also being published in Gliding Australia

Codling were nagging me. “Why don’t you do the Women’s (aka Women’s World Gliding Competition)?” they said. I trolled out my reliable excuses and surprisingly they snorted at them.

Representing your country is not something to be missed, they told me. “You’ve got the opportunity to have the experience of a lifetime, it’ll do wonders for your flying, you’ll meet amazing people and we’ll help you organise the logistics”. Seed sown.

The next three years were a blur but the idea had been seeping into everything. Cross country flights in marginal weather had always been fun but suddenly they had a potential purpose. I found myself doing well enough at the Nationals to hit the magic selection numbers and all of a sudden, Arnborg, Denmark would be seeing me soon.

Preparing for a comp at the other side of the world, with reportedly unworldly flying conditions is a ‘challenge’. To be fair, there’s really no way of truly preparing for flying in Europe without doing just that - fly in Europe. There’s no way of really simulating the conditions there. Condor is great for terrain and general locality but the weather and experience is something else. So my go-to technique was to collect together everything that had worked before. I needed to get fit enough so I could think clearly when under a bit of stress and the endurance of a comp, and I need to fly when no one else thought it was worth getting the aircraft out. The latter is something that I’ve seen some of our best pilots do as a matter of habit. Rubbish weather? Oh look, there goes Gerritt Kurstjens on ground roll.

Allan Barnes had probably launched an hour before. So winter flying and 1/2 marathons were to be my friends.

Winter flying at the Darling Downs Soaring Club (my flying home) tends to be low(ish), weak, blue and windy. The low and weak are pretty much what was needed. But blue, not so much.

Luckily for me, we had an unusually Cu filled winter. So the practice was 200 km flights around a 3,000-3,500 feet AGL sky.

Great practice for Denmark I told myself. Well to be fair, it was good practice. It just needed to be a 1,500 feet or so lower.

The other challenging part of flying in Europe is usually the logistics. Cars with tow balls, gliders, accommodation are super easy to arrange – from the same continent. Fortunately Tobi was able to put me onto the German junior team who were looking around for gliders to hire in Narromine for the Junior Worlds. I loaned them my glider and they sorted one out for me for Denmark. Before I knew it, a glider swap was arranged for LB, the trusty LS4. Glider sorted. The car with tow ball was a challenge right up to the line. None of the English translated pages of the major hire companies have anything with tow balls. Just before I resorted to a German speaking friend to sort out a booking, Swaantje came through with a friend’s car, complete with tow ball. Apparently John Coutts used it for one of his comps in Europe. Apparently it had some problems then but they’d been fixed since. Apparently. Car sorted. Glider sorted. Team captain organised (aka Mike Codling), crew (aka Graham and Narelle Hennessey, Paula Lynch and my very own Richard Hoskings) and team mates (aka Kerry Clafffey) with her crew Tom – all sorted. I plodded my way around the half marathon at the Gold Coast a week before we fly out as a finishing touch to the preparation. We’re all set to take on the world.

After a couple of days in Amsterdam to set the body clock to Europe, we picked up the car from Rheine, Germany. It was a little worn around the edges but it was a VW and they go forever, right? Besides, a former world champ had also used it so what could possibly go wrong? So Richard and I headed off in the car

... we pick up the car from Rheine, Germany.

It’s a little worn around the edges but it’s a VW and they go forever, right? Besides, a former world champ had also used it

so what could possibly go wrong?

August–October 2015

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WOMEN’S WORLDS 2015

Photo of Jo used by contest publicity

when we arrived. It was a combination of overcast, drizzling (aka car with character (CWC), or the bloody green car as and cold for the entire week. So it was clear I wasn’t going to Swaantje now calls it) to Lubeck to meet up with the glider LB. get a lot of flying practice in. I was however lucky enough to Rolf, her owner, was there to greet us, together with half of the sit in on an impromptu lecture from Arne Boye-Moller (one of local gliding club who had come out to ‘translate’ for Rolf. A Denmark’s top competition pilots) on ‘How to fly in Denmark’. bunch of the nicest people ever.

This information was just priceless and compensated largely for The road trip to Arnborg from Lubeck started off well the lack of flying. With Denmark being flanked by ocean and enough. The CWC was towing LB okay and surviving the laced with fjords, understanding exactly when a maritime influautobahn. Albeit the heater seemed hardwired on to draw heat ence is going to come into play is crucial. Also included was away from the engine but aside from that, all was well. And the usual, where to pick up final glide, where the sand lenses then the battery light came on. This coincided with a need for are, what areas heat up quicker than others. And the list went fuel so into a service station we went. After parking, that was on. This lecture was worth its it. The CWC refused to start so weight in gold. we had a quick check under Fortunately, the official bonnet. Battery seemed okay.

I was however lucky enough to sit in on an practice days did have us in But, oh look, the belt for the impromptu lecture from Arne Boye-Moller (one the air. Ideally I would have alternator was shredded, and of Denmark’s top competition pilots) on competed in my own glider ah, that’s a pity, the bearings or one I’d spent a season or so for the tensioning pulley were practicing in, which would seized. CWC incident number have made the official practice one was unfolding. The first of days what they are intended for. many. Five or so hours later I found myself waving to Richard Both Kerrie and I had to fit in a little more during that time. as he left with the CWC on a tow truck and talking (via google The LS4 I had been given wasn’t exactly a competition ready translate), to a toothless Czech truckie who had decided to keep aircraft but it didn’t take long to settle in. They have a great me company while I watched over the glider. Fortunately Tom feel and thermal beautifully. Things to become accustomed to and Kerrie come to save us, in what turned out to be an epic remained 1) being waved off at 500 m and turning left off tow; retrieve before the competition had even begun. and 2) metric speed and altitude information. The release height While the CWC was being repaired, I turned my attention to was what it was. Low. But then it had to be low to fit under making the most of the week’s practice period I had set aside the cloud base, which on many days wasn’t a great deal higher. prior to the competition beginning. It was cold and drizzling

‘How to fly in Denmark’.

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August–October 2015

WOMEN’S WORLDS 2015

Team Aus outlanding (Jo, Kerrie, Swaantje – honorary Aus!)

Preparing for scrutineering (in the rain)

Team Aus at final dinner

the opening ceremony, at the daily briefings or seeing an Aussie So I settled into that pattern fairly quickly. Metric information shirt being swapped with someone from other country. There’s also was fairly easily assimilated. I surprised myself by keeping just something special about your country colours. It also so it metric. The way I saw it, thermal and landing speeds were great to see flags of all countries staking out camping areas, indicated anyway and easy to feel, cruising speeds I converted on top of radio antennae, being waved by kids. It’s just a really, and then left. The height was best left in a unit I didn’t readily really cool part of competing overseas and one of the things I’d recognise. There was also no point breaking it into height underestimated. bands as there wasn’t room. Basically you were at or near to The first comp day was an auspicious start for my comp in cloud base, or you were in trouble.

Denmark. Fortunately all my well wishes for the farmers paid It was time to check the area out. The first couple of days off and they managed the harvesting I was hoping for. That flying had me fairly concerned. Being on the ground for the first in turn accommodated my first out landing in what I can only week I’d had plenty of time to drive around and see exactly how describe as the world’s softest unlandable the fields were. An straw paddock. Out landing on unusual summer meant that the Out landing on the first day at any the first day at any competition farmers were harvesting later. competition is upsetting. is upsetting. But this was the This in turn meant that basiWorlds, so it was an order of cally every possible field stood in either very, very tall wheat so it was an order of magnitude of upsetting. magnitude of upsetting. This day was my first major flying(I think), rapeseed or potatoes. in-Europe lesson. The art of Naturally the potatoes were the distance day. The sky was ruled out. They had furrows barely soarable. So unsoarable, standard class didn’t get a valid that made cotton look landable. Rapeseed is like tall canola, so day in. I waited out the rubbish weather (700 m, 8/8 clag) that that was ruled out too. That left me hoping the weather allowed took out standard class but still started too early. The effect of farmers to do a whole lot of harvesting, quickly! this was having a great run flying through the rubbish weather In between wishing good harvesting conditions for the but catching up to where the weather was more rubbish. Into locals, there was the international flavour of the comp to enjoy. my lovely paddock I went, with the gaggle grinding their way It’s difficult to describe how heartwarming it is to see an Aussie over and landed further along the task. No one made it home. flag marking a tie-down area in between an Italian flag, Danish But then, looking back on it, it was clear no one was ever going flag and Lithuanian flag. It’s also hard to describe how heartto make it home. Patience, disregarding what average task warming it is to see the Aussie team in their green and gold for

But this was the Worlds,

August–October 2015

19

WOMEN’S WORLDS 2015 The camaraderie of the aviatrix is a well known phenomenon and this competition was no exception. I was adopted, inducted as a fully fledged witch and made great

friends I hope to see again ...

Jo being indoctrinated into the secret coven by Swaantje

speed I was doing and accepting that the day was about how far to get, rather than racing, was the aim of the game. All very different, very non-Aussie flying.

To my credit I did recognise the next time a ‘distance day’ came around. Even then, throttling back to a point of not caring about speed was still something akin to nails down the blackboard. It’s different to distance flying where just making it home is what matters. After all, comps are about racing.

And it requires a mental switch that is very unpractised in our competitions.

The competition highlight for me was during a day when we had a clear 3,000 feet AGL. Sheer, unadulterated luxury. I waited out the gaggle of lower performance gliders to compensate for the LS4 handicap, then set the task of chasing them down. Fortunately I did manage to chase them down. Having hold of the gaggle, the last remaining trick was how to get rid of them towards the end and beat them in. I had two allies in that task. One was the standard class gaggle which intercepted our track and the other was that the last leg and a half was entirely blue. I’ve no idea how Kerrie managed flying with her class but frankly I think they were a bundle of madness. When the standard class gaggle ‘passed through’ our track there were mini contra-rotating thermals and pilot pairs doing ‘egg-beater’ thermal entries (i.e. one turns one way the other turns the opposite direction) through 15-20 gliders. I managed to stay alive and the bonus was losing the bulk of the club class gaggle. A trip through the blue, which the Europeans aren’t fond of, saw me home and second for the day.

The competition for me was pretty much: doing okay during conditions I had practiced for and having my backside handed to me during conditions I hadn’t practiced. There’s not a lot of mystery of why, I guess. The question really is how to do better preparation. The answer to this really is to fly in Europe if that’s where the competition is. So, sorry all the budding World Champions out there. If you want a silver bullet, this is it. Pack your bags.

While the pattern of the results weren’t a mystery to me in the end, what did take me by surprise was the impact of flying in an all female competition. After high school, I went to university and finished a couple of male dominated degrees, got a job in a male dominated industry and then found myself in gliding - a male dominated sport. Most of my friends are

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men. I’m completely comfortable and happy competing in that environment, to the point that if someone had asked how I was feeling competing with all women, I’d have to say I was a bit uncertain about it. Until I met the women there. These were not your average women. They were not at the gliding field because they had to be. They were there for the exact same reason I was - because they love the sport and being in the air. They were beautiful, bright, sassy, capable women who were day on day looking at a fairly unsoarable sky and being calmly determined to take it on. Looking down the flight line at them, I couldn’t have loved them more.

In the end, we had a successful competition. The requisite number of days were met and there were no mid-airs. The organisers were awesome. That said, each day we flew would have been cancelled in Australia. Yep, all of them. Every. Single. One. I think I had the support of a team that matched the ‘professionals’ and can’t thank then enough for their massive contribution.

It’s no small thing to travel to other side of the world for a comp.

We were the only representatives of the Southern Hemisphere, and the Northern Hemisphere was under represented. Even the Brits didn’t come. A pity, given how well the event was run and the great challenge the competition turned out to be.

The camaraderie of the aviatrix is a well known phenomenon and this competition was no exception. I was adopted, inducted as a fully fledged witch and made great friends I hope to see again in Europe, or even better in Aus., should we be successful in our bid to host the WWGC in 2019. Never again will I look at an Aussie sky and think it’s not worth pulling the glider out. Nor could I say that any of my excuses of why I haven’t represented Australia before stood up. It was exactly as Tobi, Swaantje and Mike had said. It was an experience of a lifetime, it did wonders for my flying and I met amazing people.

The pilots were worth travelling to meet, just in themselves. I’ll forever be safe in the knowledge that there is a world of women out there who love to fly every bit as much as I do. And as for it not being a “real” worlds? Well, all I can say is, you try take them on.

Results STANDARD

1 2 3

FRN CZE CZE

Aude Grangeray Dana Novakova Jana Veprekova

4,967 4,957 4,938

GER GER LITH

Sabrina Vogt Christine Grote Edita Skalskiene

4,464 4,422 4,408

Anne Ducarouge Marilyne Abadie Bérard Katrin Senne

5,464 5,184 5,021

CLUB

1 2 3

15 METER CLASS

1 2 3

FRN FRN GER

A brief outline of the

INSURANCE MARKET in New Zealand

BY ARDEN JENNINGS Managing Director of Aviation and Marine Underwriting Agency Limited

The Insurance Industry in New Zealand, like the Aviation Industry, has changed a great deal over the past 70-80 years. Early colonial New Zealand was a country full of risks and I reflect on the many stories told to me by my grandmother about her father John George Gilbertson, who was a ship captain sailing early steam vessels around the coast of New Zealand. Many of the early wrecks were apparently the result of wagers between Captains as to who could be first to reach a particular port.

Shipwrecks and fire at sea were common and life on shore was just as hazardous. The mainly wooden built early colonial towns often caught fire and since there were many people working in mines, mills and other hazardous workplaces, accidents and deaths were frequent. In this raw society, insurance was valuable and the insurance industry grew quickly. It is interesting to note the many Insurance Companies that opened their doors in New Zealand, with names such as British Traders, Liverpool London and Globe, South British, Commercial Union, Century, National, Standard, Royal Sun Alliance, General Accident and many more.

General insurance began with Marine and Fire Insurance and now includes insurance against loss or damage to all types of property, motor vehicles, aircraft and goods in transit or storage.

General insurance also offers protection from loss of profits and includes travel and health insurance.

Many of the 19th Century insurance companies had their own fire brigades to fight fires in buildings they insured. The first duty of a brigade captain called to a fire was to inspect the metal plate on the buildings that certified the company it was insured with. If it was not his own company the brigade returned to their fire station.

Insurer’s signs are still seen on some very old buildings today.

Life as an insurance clerk was not easy in those days and the Manager of the South British Insurance Company was not impressed by the modern office furniture appearing in 1921. “Flat topped tables look well but I do not approve of them for counter staff. A good counter clerk, in a busy office, really requires to stand most of the day. Chairs have a tendency to make one too comfortable. Quicker work can be done on ledgers standing at a table than sitting at a table.”

Gross written premium in New Zealand last year was over NZ$5 billion and the NZ aviation component of that was about NZ$26 million. At the moment, with the large capacity in the world insurance market, rates are very competitive, however the insurance market seems to work in cycles and although no one can predict when the market will change, it will change.

You will note that the Aviation Coop has rebranded and is now known as Aviation and Marine Underwriting Agency Limited.

This is due to the acquisition of a Lloyd’s Marine binder. Rick Johnstone, with over 30 years marine underwriting experience joins the company.

GLIDING INSURANCE Our company has looked after most of the glider insurance in New Zealand over the last 30 years.

Insurance rates on gliders are determined on the following information:›› Type and value of the glider ›› Use of the glider, i.e.

a) Private flying

b) Private and competition

c) Gliders used for training

d) Experience of the pilot(s) etc. ›› Claims history of the glider owner or the gliding club, organisation etc. ›› Glider trailer › The amount of Liability cover needed and if competing in National competitions.

In most cases the rate includes the fact that the glider will not be flown for a period of the year. When advising your broker or insurer of the value of the glider to be insured, make sure you list the glider and trailer separately. They have different individual rates and deductibles. Ask for rate options for higher deductibles.

Liability cover on the trailer whilst being towed by a motor vehicle on the road should be discussed with your motor vehicle insurer.

August–October 2015

21

1st FAI World 13.5m Class

GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS Pociunai, Lithuania 2-15 August 2015 AS TOLD TO JILL MCCAW

BY STEFANO GHIORZO

The winner flew a modified Diana 2 with new wing profile

Here in New Zealand there was little interest in the new short, short wing competition held in August in Lithuania. Small, light gliders have traditionally been poorly received in NZ where they often struggle for penetration in the strong winds we can get in mountain areas. However these small, lightweight gliders are taking off in Europe where they are classed as microlights in many countries, thereby avoiding a lot of bureaucracy and the need for heavy safety features. There are several companies creating entirely new aircraft with various self-launch capabilities.

See the article on the GLoW on page 38.

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August–October 2015

P

ociunai in Lithuania is a site that proclaims itself to be the largest aviation sports club and gliding club in the Balkans and will be hosting next year’s Standard, Club and 20 m Worlds. Twelve pilots from seven countries lined up for this inaugural 13.5 m World contest, although contest winner Stefano Ghiorzo from Italy explained that another three pilots were unable to attend as they were already committed to Grand Prix flying. The line-up of gliders is mostly unfamiliar to NZ pilots. Half of the field were flying the Silent 2 Electro, with one Silent 2 Targa, a SparrowHawk, mini LAK, AS-5M, AC-4DY, and Stefano’s winning glider, a modified Diana 2.

Stefano, who is a manager of the Italian company Alisport which makes the Silent series of light sailplanes says that he wanted to show the market that the company is continually innovating and creating new aircraft. He would have liked to have had an entirely new glider, the next generation of the Silent, for the contest but that was not possible in the time frame. One way to create a new glider was to modify an old one, so he took his Diana 2 and cut the ends off the wings. “It

Photo Petras Beta Photo Petras Beta Photo Petras Beta

Kathrin Woetzel and Stefano Ghiorzo

was very difficult to do this,” he said. “I worked with the home builder association, engineers and designers and we made new winglets designed for climbing at speeds of 170 to 180 kph. We used computer software, of course, and had 25 different designs to choose from.” He made the glider lighter by removing all extraneous equipment, even stripping it back and revarnishing it. Ultimately this glider will have a Front Engine Sustainer (FES) installed but he didn’t have time before the contest. It will be fully self-launching, something he wants to see compulsory in this class, with a light weight twin battery pack. “I wanted to show the world that Alisport can make a glider that is very good and very good looking.” He certainly proved it can fly well, winning the contest with 10,879 points, 400 ahead of 2nd place Vladas Motuza from Lithuania in a mini LAK. The contest managed 12 flying days with tasks ranging from 250 to 350 km and glider speeds often between 90-100 kph.

Stefano reports that the weather was very nice and tended to be stable. He knew the contest area, having flown there previously and felt he didn’t make many mistakes. He thinks the

“They are something new and an opportunity for microlight manufacturers to create new aircraft that are not as expensive.” future of this class is very good as the gliders are easy to rig and handle, many are self-launching, making them ideal for people flying where and whenever they want, and as microlights, they are cheaper and easier to own in many parts of the world. “They are something new and an opportunity for microlight manufacturers to create new aircraft that are not as expensive.” It is possible that these light sailplanes could revitalise the sport.

Results 13.5M

1 2 3

Stefano Ghiorzo ITA Vladas Motuza LTU Francois G Pin

USA August–October 2015

23

GNZ’s Premier Award

THE ANGUS ROSE BOWL Awarded to Gavin Wills

Presented to the NZGA by Bill Angus, one of the original pioneers in aviation in New Zealand, the Angus Rose Bowl is awarded in recognition of outstanding services to the sport of gliding in this country.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY GAVIN WILLS

The following is the citation for the award read out at the Award Ceremony at the AGM.

G

avin Wills is a worthy recipient who began his involvement in gliding at the age of nine. He has since amassed well over 6,000 gliding hours, mostly in mountainous areas of the world.

He loves to share his joy of soaring by taking pilots on adventure flights deep into the mountains. So much so, he founded a mountain soaring school so he could lift gliding operational standards and showcase NZ to the international gliding community.

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August–October 2015

He also has a passion for documentary film making about gliding, producing several stunning titles over the past 20 years or more. Many of them have appeared on TV, giving our sport a good boost.

More recently, he has taken a keen interest in developing our young pilots through active involvement and sponsorship of Youth Glide through significant administrative and financial support as well as instructing. His favourite treat for many a junior pilot is to take them on a flight to Mt Cook and back – giving them an unforgettable shot in the arm that is sure to launch them into an aviation career.

For the more established pilot, even a fellow competitor at a contest, he is always willing to have a friendly chat to explain how a particular weather system is working.

Recognition of his outstanding service to the sport of gliding seems long overdue.

These days Gavin is known all around the world as the owner of Glide Omarama, the mountain soaring school based in Omarama. Gavin loves mountains and he loves gliding. Teaching people how to soar in his magnificent Southern Alps is providing an immensely satisfying career.

But Gavin never set out to make what he calls ‘glider guiding’ a career and he never wanted to be a business owner. Jill McCaw spoke with Gavin to learn a little more of his background and how he came to be a glider guide.

Gavin Wills grew up with gliding. His father was Mathew Wills, one of the pioneers of wave flying in New Zealand. Philip Wills, UK soaring pioneer was a first cousin and honorary uncle.

Also cousins were two other life-long glider pilots – Jon Hamilton, son of Hamilton Jet founder Bill, and Jon’s foster brother, Dick Georgeson. Jon and Dick were twenty years older and Gavin spent a lot of time at Irishman Creek, he says, “Part of it all, but not.”

Gavin logged his first flight at age nine but was actually seven when he first flew with John Messervy in a Kookaburra with side by side seating, at a Canterbury Club camp in Hanmer.

Gavin had his little brother on his knee who threw up and coated all three of them. When they landed the canopy was opened by Sir Peter Scott. Gavin jokes that he was introduced to the whole smelly, dangerous and plutocratic side of the sport, all in one go.

Gliding wasn’t all that was happening in young Gavin’s life.

His mother, a passionate outdoors woman, was a mountaineer

August–October 2015

25

THE ANGUS ROSE BOWL

Gavin took Geology at university, because that was about rocks and mountains and he liked mountains, a lot. He worked as a mountain guide at Mt Cook during holidays to support himself.

and an ice skater, at one stage even performing with the Ice Follies in Canada. Mountaineering became a passion for Gavin too.

Gavin took Geology at university, because that was about rocks and mountains and he liked mountains, a lot. He worked as a mountain guide at Mt Cook during holidays to support himself. Geology set him up for a job with an American corporation where he was part of a Kiwi division that liked going to wild places; and he worked in some really wild places – Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and areas of Australia.

In 1972, in Mt Cook on leave and working at the climbing school, he learnt that the company running the school Alpine Guides (Mount Cook) Ltd was going broke. Gavin could see huge potential in it and ways of doing things better. He had enough money to buy the business and to buy something else which became dear to his heart, his 180 hp Piper Cub. His first cross country flight was from Christchurch where he bought it, to Mt Cook. Gavin learnt to fly properly (trained by the Mt Cook ski plane pilots) at the same time he was learning how to run an outdoor recreation business. Both required an understanding of and respect for the weather and a knowledge that Mother Nature is in charge. Mother Nature’s rules, he says, are far more rigorous and unbending than CAA’s.

The things Gavin learnt in his mountain guiding business run true with Glide Omarama too. The people you hire, what you expect of them and they of you are crucial. The two situations are completely different from other workplace environments. There is an enormous amount of trust and it runs both ways. The guides can make or break the client’s experience. Everyone needs to have fun, enjoy the experience and be safe. He says there are three important rules that apply to both: respect Mother Nature, look after your people, and when everything else goes wrong, the food had better be good.

During his years at Mt Cook Gavin married, started raising a family, and came back to gliding. Gavin had been a member of the Canterbury Gliding Club most of his life, gaining valuable soaring experience and skills from people like Roger Harris and Jerry O’Neill who trained and sent him solo. In 1976

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August–October 2015

Bruce Drake talked Gavin into buying a Hornet and he realised that he already owned a tow plane. His first flight in the Hornet was a tow up the Jolly by his Piper Cub, which was flown by his wife Vicky. He was dead scared to fly over the Mackenzie country because that was flat land and he didn’t understand that at all.

He was a founding member and CFI of the Mt Cook based Aorangi Gliding Syndicate which bought a Blanik and operated as a club. “I found myself running a little club. We trained five or six people through to solo. By then they were already soaring pilots. We built a hangar on Glentanner airfield. We used to have Sunday picnics, using the Cub and Blanik to ferry people and food to a strip in the Dobson.” Gavin tells of doing loops over Glentanner in the wave, gaining 500 feet in each loop.

Mountaineering was his job and gliding was his hobby. He also started Heli-skiing (ahead of Queenstown) and rafting on the Tasman River.

Other adventures called. The Aorangi Syndicate moved to Omarama and Gavin passed his Cub into the temporary care of Malcolm Walls and sold half the Hornet to Phil Galloway. He and the family moved to Canada and the States for most of the eighties. As these things happen, he started a heli-skiing business in Colorado and was a rafting guide during the summers.

Back in NZ in 1989 Gavin became an avalanche controller on the Milford Road. “It had bombs, helicopters and snow. It was a perfect job.” During the six years in Te Anau Gavin was a member of the Southland Gliding Club at Five Rivers and CFI for a time. The sadness of the death of his mother in this period had an upside. A small legacy was enough to let him buy twothirds of a Duo Discus.

The Duo was the genesis of the Mountain Flying courses that Gavin has become well known for. After running a few courses for club members he spent a year running courses under the umbrella of Doug Hamilton’s operation at Omarama.

The concept worked really well and when Doug decided he could run a course without him, Gavin decided to set up his own organisation. He was passionate about the idea and some fantastic people were behind him and willing to come

THE ANGUS ROSE BOWL

“I didn’t want a gliding organisation. I’d had a mountaineering business. I’m not a nuts and bolts manager. I’m here for the gliding and I’ve tried to maintain that.” on board. “Lemmy Tanner turned up and he’s been there ever since. I’d met G Dale at Lasham, UK. He was truly a professional glider pilot who was very good at looking after people. He was reluctant about the mountains but I talked him and Annie into coming out and did lead and follows with him and he kept coming back. Lemmy kept coming back.

“I didn’t want a gliding organisation. I’d had a mountaineering business. I’m not a nuts and bolts manager. I’m here for the gliding and I’ve tried to maintain that.”

Gavin credits his background in climbing and guiding to the flavour of the company. Gliding as a professional business has the same principles as mountain guiding did in the ‘70s. “You need a core of good staff who really want to be here.

People who have Northern Hemisphere gliding jobs are flying two seasons in a year and that level of experience can’t be beaten. They simply do a lot more flying.”

New Zealand clubs could do a lot more to use the experience levels that Glide Omarama has, Gavin says. “We could run ab initio and cross country courses and this year we are running Jerry’s Cross Country course. I see it as giving back to the gliding community. We can help and support clubs in areas we’re good at and they’re not.”

Considering that GNZ is encouraging people to fly cross country to increase member retention, clubs could well consider contacting Glide Omarama to see what they can offer.

Gavin has 6,000 plus hours gliding and loves to share his joy of flying in the mountains. He has created an enterprise that has opened up the mountain skies to thousands of pilots. Gavin Wills was one of the instigators of Youth Glide Omarama, the first group from which all others grew, and later Youth Glide NZ which could be a whole article on its own. Gavin says he is “quietly chuffed,” to receive the Angus Rose Bowl on behalf of Glide Omarama and in recognition of what the company has achieved.

Gavin Wills is a very worthy recipient of this award.

Gavin says he is “quietly chuffed,” to receive the Angus Rose Bowl on behalf of Glide Omarama and in recognition of what the company has achieved.

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

August–October 2015

27

Sunseeker Duo beside a could capped Matterhorn.

Photo Eric Raymond

28

August–October 2015

August–October 2015

29

18th FAI EUROPEAN

Gliding Championships – Őcsény, Hungary 2015 18 METRE CLASS, 20 METRE MULTI-SEAT CLASS AND OPEN CLASS

Wellington Gliding Club pilot Ross Sutherland was hanging out in Szeged Hungary with a bunch of glider pilots when his mates started packing to head to Őcsény to compete in the European Big Wing Championships. Rather than be left behind with no-one to play with, Ross decided to tag along and offer his services as crew. He was the only Kiwi there and gives a rather unique view of the contest.

T

his was my first high level contest and so it was very interesting, especially through my club flying eyes.

Everything was really well thought out and organised and the field had onsite chalets, a beach on a lake, great camping spots in a poplar plantation (great shade) and professional catering. It was interesting to see what can be developed at a well thought out site.

They had an entry list of around 80 gliders from all over Europe competing in the 18 m (JS1s , ASG29s in prominence) 20 m two seater (Arcus’ and a smattering of ASG32s and Duos) and open class (JS1 21 m and various EBs ASH25s, Nimbus and a New Quintus).

At briefing it was reinforced that extra care was needed, especially at the tie down areas after a long hot day flying or hanging around. There had been a few ground damage incidents. It was 39°⁰C some days in the shade so any wing was fair game to shelter under when waiting, the Pawnee was the best. I soon learnt to not go out to the launch point until the

18th FAI EUROPEAN CHAMPS

ET Tail and wing – mirror tape

Tony - the Hungarian team cook making breakfast. Certainly not low fat!!!

Sign at local Tesco advertising the event (in Hungarian)

sniffer flight reported good climbs and an absolute launch time was announced (i.e. follow the crowd rush out). One day the whole sky was covered in a building thunderstorm so the day was cancelled and everyone enjoyed the clearing air. Luckily the storm stayed a few kilometres away.

The airfield beach and lake was a godsend, water nearby when there is heat works wonders. Likewise the hammock amongst the poplar trees overlooking the action. I will now pack and carry a parachute style hammock/ropes everywhere.

An after launch swim followed by a siesta was great when waiting for the returning gliders.

Towing was interesting. They had a Pawnee and four or five big yellow, Eastern bloc, turbine crop dusters. A Pawnee is pretty powerful. However the turbines did two launches to every one of the Pawnee. Four and a half minutes turnaround with really fast climb then super steep descent under “reverse thrust”. Very impressive. The talk was though that they were super expensive to operate so they start up only once (turbine

starts), haul the grid up and then they’re away. The best thing was that they had a very loud horn. It was used often, especially if they were overtaking a slow, self-launch glider (it was a bit like Greek drivers). I reckon they put them to good use in crop dusting, scaring the mosquitos or any locals in the way.

The club had the obligatory TOST and an even older, I think, Hercules winch for normal club ops – and a group of guys tinkering. It seems normal for most of the clubs around here – old winches = guys hanging and tinkering. A bit like a kiwi shed club.

The Hungarians can certainly after fly party. Beer seems to be just to quench the initial thirst. I learnt to take the 0% alcohol beers to start with and politely refuse anything in a bottle named Palinka. I’m sure that in the old Eastie days it powered rockets. It’s nail in the head next morning otherwise.

On field pricing was fair (10€ camping, €8 meal, €2 a 500ml handle). Wandering to the local village pub you were then amongst the local economy which was great for the budget.

Stretching a fine meal for 5€ and a Bier handle for €1 certainly helped the kiwi ETB (estimated time till broke).

Every night or so activities were organised. Bands, Hungarian dancing or one night a bus trip to a local winery for tasting (important memory note – twist tops haven’t impacted the Hungarian market so don’t forget your corkscrew) and dinner. It was very good quality and super ambience.

The returning crop dusters at twilight put on an impressive display, especially the giant AN2 biplanes just overhead. Loud and big! I think the lads saved the last of the mosquito spray in the tanks for a couple of low runs over the field as a previous night’s problem disappeared afterwards.

High visibility sticker schemes were a big thing noticeable on all the gliders – not surprising with the volume of gliders around some sites. I saw an interesting hologram mirror tape on some gliders that reflected in the sun from many angles.

The main thing is everyone, whether pilot, crew, families or just groupies like me, seemed to be having a great time and enjoying each other’s company, and there were plenty of local things to do when the gliders were away. English is now really the second language for the world, especially in flying so it’s quite easy fitting in. It was a great experience, even just as an everyday glider pilot visiting. If you have the opportunity to go to one of these high level comps (even for a few days) I don’t think you would be disappointed... Cheers Ross

Results 18M CLASS

1 2 3

POL CZE GBR

Sebastian Kawa Roman Mracek Andrew Davis

7,885 7,642 7,606

20M MULTI-SEAT CLASS

1 AUT HC JPN 2 POL

Andreas Lutz Wolfgang Janowitsch Makoto Ichikawa Akemi Ichikawa Jakub Barszcz Christoph Matkowski

7,671 7,670 7,644

Lukasz Wojcik Adam Czeladzki Jeroen Verkuijl

7,886 7,767 7,619

OPEN

1 2 3

POL POL NED

For more results and other ‘serious stuff’ on the contest see https://egc2015.hu August–October 2015

31

GLIDING NZ AGM –

AWARDS 2015

Nicholas Oakley

Nick White

AIR NZ SOARING AWARD Nicholas Oakley This trophy is awarded to the pilot who has shown the most significant improvement in their personal standard of competition or record flying during the year.

Nick Oakley is a young pilot rising fast and he will definitely be a name to watch in future.

Four years ago, at the South Island Regionals he won the Club Class. Then the following year he was a creditable 5th in the Standard Class. In the following two regionals in the Standard Class he put the breeze up the established guns by winning 2013 and coming runner-up in 2014.

In the season just finished he was 4th in the Junior pre-Worlds at Narromine in Australia. He followed that with a win in the Standard Class at our Nationals here in Omarama, against some very experienced pilots.

He has well and truly earned his place in the NZ Team to contest the Junior World Championships in Australia next December.

CWF HAMILTON TROPHY Not awarded this year This trophy is awarded to a New Zealander operating in New Zealand for the most meritorious flight that is a New Zealand gliding record.

No NZ records were broken during the year.

John Robinson

Steve Foreman

Pilots who have previously achieved a Gold distance flight are not eligible. The winner is determined by the highest total handicapped distance from three flights.

North Island Division Ray Burns Auckland Aviation Sports Std Astir 380 pts South Island Division Nick White Nelson Lakes Discus 2b 304 pts

BUCKLAND SOARING AWARD This is awarded annually to the highest scoring New Zealand national in the New Zealand division of the Aerokurier Online Contest (OLC) for the previous season. OLC rules and handicaps are used. There are two divisions; one for soaring flights commencing in the North Island and the other for soaring flights commencing in the South Island. The winning pilots stand down for the following two seasons.

South Island Division 1st John Robinson Central Otago 2,450 pts 2nd Philip Plane Glide Omarama 2,426 pts 3rd Frank Saxton Nelson Lakes 2,022 pts North Island Division 1st Steve Foreman AKL Aviation Sports 3,099 pts 2nd Steve Wallace AKL Aviation Sports 2,752 pts 3rd Tim Bromhead Piako 2,338 pts

THE FRIENDSHIP CUP AIR NZ CROSS-COUNTRY AWARDS These Awards aim to stimulate cross-country flying from club sites and particularly encourage those new to this aspect of the sport. Flights during Championships are not eligible. It is a decentralised competition, being a distance event extending over the whole year and run in two divisions; one for flights originating in the North Island and one for flights originating in the South Island.

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August–October 2015

Steve Wallace Awarded for outstanding contribution to the gliding movement during the preceding year.

Steve Wallace began gliding in 1989 and quickly developed an enthusiasm for the sport. He has passed this enthusiasm

NATIONAL AWARDS on to the many that have had the pleasure of sharing the sport with him as a competitor, mentor or volunteer over the years.

It can be said that Steve’s home club did very little cross country flying until he became a private owner and started exploring all the possibilities from the site. He has encouraged many others to take ‘another step’ and enjoy the thrill of cross country flying, with the club now boasting a very credible record for cross country miles on the OLC. His ‘can do’ approach in volunteer and administrative roles in his club and the Matamata Soaring Centre Committee over many years, and more recently the Sailplane Racing Committee and the Gliding NZ Executive, embodies the qualities that the Friendship Cup recognises.

TISSANDIER AWARD

GNZ HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP George Rogers Rule 6(f) HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS comprising persons elected to Life membership by the Annual General Meeting in accordance with Rule 7 in consideration of their special qualifications for such membership. An Honorary Life Member shall be entitled to attend General Meetings but shall not have any voting rights. Honorary Life Members shall not be liable to pay any subscription.

Rule 7(f) The Annual General Meeting may elect Honorary Life Members, on the nomination of the Executive.

George Rogers has been a glider pilot since 1968 (47 years!), starting with the Otago Gliding Club at Taieri. The bug must have bitten George pretty hard, because he has since dedicated his life to all aspects of our sport. For 30 years, he has worked tirelessly in almost every administrative capacity for his club, at one time being both President and CFI of the Wellington Gliding Club at the same time.

At National level George has been a member of the GNZ Executive Committee for 20 years, holding the position of President for four years. He has also held the top operational position for Gliding New Zealand, that of National Operations Officer.

George was also GNZ’s representative on the Council of the NZ Aviation Federation for many years, being Vice President then President before retiring only a few months ago. George’s wide experience, institutional knowledge, and quiet achievements have all contributed enormously to the administration and management of the sport of gliding in NZ. Accordingly, the Executive Committee nominated George Rogers for Honorary Life Membership.

Life Members Previously elected J R (Ralph) Court G A (Gordon) Hookings W D (David) Jones R J (Russell) McDowall J C (James) Harkness A B (Bruce) Cunningham J H (John) Roake D P (Dennis) Crequer R G (Robert) Henderson R J (Roger) Harris

GNZ is pleased to announce that Edouard Devonoges, our current Awards Officer, has himself received a prestigious FAI award, The Paul Tissandier Diploma.

This Diploma, established by the FAI in 1952, is named after Mr. Paul Tissandier, Secretary General of FAI from 1919 to 1945. It shall be awarded to those who have served the cause of Aviation in general and Sporting Aviation in particular, by their work, initiative, devotion or in other ways. Edouard joins an illustrious list, which includes fellow NZ glider pilots: Roger Read, Yvonne Loader, Roger Harris, Ralph Gore, George Rogers, Peter Thorpe, Ross Macintyre and John Roake.

Edouard and his wife are currently holidaying in Europe and he will be collecting his diploma in person at the FAI General Conference. He will be writing of his experience for our next issue. The citation for Edouard’s award is below.

Edouard Devenoges has been a glider pilot for more than 30 years. He has been very active at local and regional levels; frequently helping out in running competitions as well as competing himself and also instructing at his home club.

At National level, Edouard has been a member of the Gliding New Zealand Sailplane Racing Committee with a particular interest in the Sports Class, where he has represented the interests of newcomers to competition flying.

As the National Awards Officer for several years, he has made an outstanding contribution to the administration of the sport under Gliding New Zealand’s Recreational Organisation Certificate and delegations from the Civil Aviation Authority by managing the issue of Qualified Glider Pilot Certificates. But it is the administration of the Official Observer Register and the challenging role of processing hundreds of FAI badge and record claims as the NAC representative that is particularly noteworthy, where Edouard’s diligence and assistance to claimants has been highly valued.

August–October 2015

33

SUNSEEKER DUO Crossing of the Alps

BY IRENA RAYMOND

August 12, 2015: Another major milestone for the Sunseeker Duo has been achieved. Eric and Irena Raymond repeated the 2009 Crossing of the Alps adventure of the Sunseeker II, this time going in both directions in the Sunseeker Duo. SoaringNZ has been following Solar Flight’s Sunseeker programme and is delighted to bring you stories of the ongoing adventures of this very glider like solar aircraft.

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August–October 2015

‘’Going to the north can be a goal for our

next flight to Switzerland’’

The Aletsch Glacier

T

he mission was to fly from our home base in Voghera in Italy, stopping and showing the aeroplane at different airports. MünsterGeschinen airfield in Switzerland was chosen as our final destination, which would be a perfect point to explore the Swiss Alps and visit the highest peaks and glaciers. On August 2, 2015 Eric and Irena started the trip by flying to Torino Aeritalia airport in Turin in Italy. From there they would continue to Switzerland. On the way to Torino there was a smooth air up high so the crew was able to cruise with a slight climb on power from the solar panels. The distance flown due to restrictions of the airspace was 171 km (about twice the distance if a straight line had been allowed).

The next day, August 3 2015, was long and hard as Eric and Irena had to climb up the foothills with low clouds at the base of the Italian Alps. Getting higher in the mountains, it became very difficult and there were big downdrafts a few times.

Eric, who is the founder of Solar Flight and designer of the Sunseeker Duo, explains, ''Eventually we were at the base of the Matterhorn on the Italian side, looking up at an impassable wall of ice. We needed to climb several thousand feet more, just to slip into Zermatt, but the batteries were low from all the motoring. We flew back south and soared in difficult conditions until the batteries were fully charged.

Back at the wall of ice again and we were still looking at it from below, but I promised Irena that there was another world just on the other side when we started the motor again, less than 10 miles from Zermatt. Using less than half the battery

we crested the lowest point, crossing a few hundred feet above people skiing.''

In August, the warmest summer month, there is still a lot of snow in the high Alps.

With the goal airport made within easy reach, Eric and Irena detoured to the Aletsch Glacier and high mountains behind it - the top of Switzerland, the Jungfrau, Eiger and Mönch. ''Flying at 4000 m we could easily have continued to Interlaken, Bern, Lucerne or Zürich, but we followed our original plan to land in Münster, so we started a long descent into the deep valley.'' Irena, the second pilot of the Sunseeker Duo continues. ''Going to the north can be a goal for our next flight to Switzerland'' she added.

As Eric’s mother was Swiss, he always likes to visit his mother's native country, having precious memories of the mountain hikes they did together.

The distance Eric and Irena flew when crossing the Alps, was 384 km and the maximum altitude they reached was 4090 m (13420 feet). On landing the battery pack was completely charged.

The weather on August 5th, 2015 was very promising so Eric and his hang gliding friend Stefan made a flight over the Aletsch Glacier, meanwhile Irena, together with the ground crew, went to the top of the Eggishorn, with a long telephoto lens to take pictures of the Sunseeker Duo flying over the glacier.

In the late afternoon, Irena's daughter Janja, who was part of the ground crew, got a panoramic flight around the Jungfrau, Eiger and Mönch, as well as the Rhône Glacier.

On Friday August 7th, 2015 Eric and Irena took off for the flight to their home base, headed first to the Matterhorn and then south, toward Genoa. The flight was very easy in comparison to the crossing of the Alps in the opposite direction a few days earlier. The weather in the Alps was more than perfect. The Matterhorn was covered with a cloud cap when they approached it, however, the view of this giant steep mountain was spectacular. ''The maximum altitude we climbed was 4545 m (14912 feet). We could easily go much higher, unfortunately we do not have a dual oxygen system yet,'' Eric said.

Descending toward the Po valley the air became hotter and the visibility was poor.

After 230 km and less than four hours Sunseeker Duo reached her home base.

August–October 2015

35

Aero Trade

FAIR 2016

BY BERNARD ECKEY

Duo Ventus 3

Every other year, the first stop on my annual trip to Germany is the AERO trade fair in Friedrichshafen – a mecca for recreational aviators and a must for all glider pilots trying to stay up-to-date. Military hardware is totally absent and equipment for commercial aviation is also nowhere to be seen. That suits me just fine as my interest is mainly in the latest and greatest for gliding enthusiasts. As it turned out, three full days were hardly enough to become familiar with new developments and the latest trends in sports aviation.

A

s usual, exhibition hall No.1 was reserved for gliding.

Schempp Hirth dominated it by occupying the area right behind the main entrance. Two years ago the eyes of the visitors were drawn to the Quintus but this year this privilege was reserved for the Ventus 3. Again, it was suspended from the ceiling and therefore not available for a closer inspection. The wing is new and features a more swept back plan form but the fuselage borrows heavily from previous models. On display was the narrow fuselage version, which had to be slightly enlarged to make room for the installation of a sustainer engine or jet. A selflaunching Arcus and an electric powered Discus fuselage with FES system (Front Electric Sustainer) were also on display.

Other glider manufacturers had more modest stands.

Schleicher gave the prototype of the ASG 32 with electric

36

August–October 2015

sustainer engine center stage. This new flapped 20 m two-seater features an innovative electric drive system with a range of 100 km under power. The surprisingly small lithium battery is located in the engine bay and the engine’s 25 kW (34 hp) power output allows a climb rate of 1.5 m/s (3 knots) even with two people on board. Engine management could not be simpler. Moving the throttle lever a little extends the engine, which leaves the rest of the throttle movement for power adjustments. Closing the throttle retracts the engine fully automatically and turns this glider into a proper sailplane again. Pure simplicity! This power plant cannot overload even less experienced pilots. It might have taken a while but finally a motorised glider is available which is suitable for club use. Yes, you still need a tug or a winch to get into the air, but a 100 km range allows carefree cross country flying. Even the mind of the most conservative pilot can be at ease.

The unprecedented success of the ASG 29 did not stop Schleicher developing and displaying their new and upgraded version. An electric starter motor and a “Competition Package” are now available as optional extras. The new starter motor dramatically decreases the height loss for an engine start and reduces the pilot’s workload to almost nothing. Putting a switch in the “up” position extends and starts the engine automatically and when the switch is put in the “down” position, the starter motor puts the propeller into a vertical position and then retracts the engine without any further input from the pilot. The “competition package” includes a number of aerodynamic refinements that are said to further enhance the aircraft’s leading position in 18 m class.

Not a single glider manufacturer was missing. DG Flugzeugbau had a DG 1000 Club with winglets on display. The company’s policy to diversify and move into other areas was confirmed by

AERO TRADE FAIR 2016

ASG 32 electric sustainer engine

Flashlight intergrated into nose of DG100

ASG 32 motor in bay

ASG 32 switch for engine operations left side of cockpit

management but the DG 1000 remains the Company’s bread and butter line for the time being. An interesting feature of the aircraft on display was a flashlight, which is integrated into the nose of the aircraft. It is based on LED technology and activated by FLARM to provide an additional warning, especially in head on situations.

JS was represented by M&D Flugzeugbau, Germany. In future M&D will put the finishing touches on the JS1 and market the aircraft in Europe. A jet-powered 21 m version was on display but EASA certification is still outstanding. Stemme was showing their touring motor glider “S6” as well as their latest model, the “S12”, also called “Twin Voyager”. It features an increased wingspan of 25 metres and winglets are said to improve the glide ratio to 53:1. An increased MTOW allows the carriage of water ballast and a wider undercarriage provides additional stability on the ground. Best of all, their latest design comes with foldable outer wing panels and a 20 kg baggage compartment in the tail boom right behind the wing. Even an autopilot is available on request – where is it all going to end?

It was difficult not to notice a clear trend towards electrically powered gliders. All reputable manufacturers are taking advantage of the latest lithium batteries, which roughly provide double the power at half the weight when compared to older gelcell technology. Still, most electrically powered gliders were of the sustainer variety but a new self-launching single seater with 13.5 m wingspan was on display. The manufacturer claims that battery capacity is more than sufficient for a safe take off but adequate power reserves for self-retrieves after take off remain questionable. Still, the convenience of parking the glider next to a power point and recharging the batteries over night is appealing to many private owners. Also, engine management is simple

enough to allow even less experienced pilots to operate such gliders in absolute safety.

As in previous years, various Akafliegs (university student groups) were also represented and were happily informing inquisitive visitors about their current research projects. In the past, many of their ideas have found their way into series production but right now various electric drive systems seem to occupy the mind of the next generation of aeronautical engineers. Another research project worthy of a mention is a very interesting side-byside cockpit design.

This report would be incomplete without mentioning that we can soon say “Good bye” to predominantly white gliders. Owners of Schleicher’s new ASG 32 two-seater can already have their new glider finished in a range of colors. Load testing during type certification was conducted at greatly elevated temperatures. This proved that the structure can easily withstand the high temperatures regularly experienced when darker surfaces are exposed to direct sunlight in the hottest parts of the globe. The advantages for the worldwide gliding movement are considerable. First of all, future owners can let their imagination run wild in terms of colour and decal design but more importantly, safety is greatly enhanced through vastly increased conspicuity in the air and on the ground.

Should you be in Europe in April of 2016 make sure you include a trip to Lake Constance and a visit to the AERO trade fair. Nothing can beat a look across the lake on a day with a clear view of snow covered Swiss Alps. If that hasn’t wetted your appetite consider taking a ride in a Zeppelin over the border into Switzerland or a visit to the world famous Zeppelin museum right next to the town’s Jetty and Marina.

August–October 2015

37

GloW

BY DAVE UNWIN

Will British company ProAirsport’s innovative jet-powered UK Single Seat Deregulated class (SSDR) self-launcher transform gliding, or microlighting, or both?

Dave Unwin, Pilot magazine’s Flight Test Editor investigates. Dave has been flying for 30 years and has around 5,000 hours in about 300 different types, ranging from antique gliders and vintage biplanes to modern turboprops and jet fighters via WW2 bombers and fighters.

He has an FAI Silver C, BGA ‘B’ category instructor rating and a CPL/IR for SEL, MEL and SES. He currently owns a Jodel D9 Bebe and also flies the Buckminster GC’s Robin Remorquer and EuroFox (he is the Tug Master) and the Black Mountains GC’s Piper Pawnee.

This makes Dave eminently qualified to pass judgement on this new type of aircraft.

I

love soaring. Soaring flight exercises a fascination that is both difficult to explain and hard to resist. Often described as ‘three-dimensional sailing’, the ability to fly a heavier-thanair machine for several hours and hundreds of miles by using the atmosphere as the fuel and your intellect as the engine, possesses an undeniable attraction. Of course, two inevitable downsides of the pure sailplane are that assistance is required to get the thing airborne, and when you land out. Furthermore, we all know that gliding can be almost as frustrating as it is fun, aircraft serviceability, airspace and airworthiness issues,

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August–October 2015

licensing, and of course the capriciousness of the weather.

However, what I find really frustrating is when everything else is beautifully aligned and the gliding club is closed or distant!

Just like an ocean, the atmosphere is rarely flat calm; there are endless ebbs and flows, ripples and waves, and this means there is usually some energy somewhere that can be utilised.

Furthermore, from an aesthetic view point the low light of early morning and late evening can be stunning. These are two of the reasons why, although I live only 20 minutes away from the gliding club, I keep a Jodel D9 on a farm strip only ten minutes from my house. I’ve had some fabulous soaring flights but I do find the engine intrusive. Of course, what I really need is a sailplane that I can rig by myself, and then safely self-launch from a 500-metre grass strip. I’ve never really been a fan of the engineon-a-stick configuration, while the jet-powered self-sustainers just don’t have enough thrust to self-launch. In fact, I have no desire to go back to the performance offered by early motor-gliders, which were desperately underpowered and possessed two distinctly unattractive traits – a marked reluctance to leave the ground and a disturbing eagerness to return to it!

Consequently, when I heard that ProAirsport was proposing a new type of self-launching SSDR sailplane powered by a lightweight turbojet, my initial reaction was one of scepticism.

The history of flight is littered with the wrecks of ill-conceived aircraft, because trying to squeeze a thousand kilos of ingenuity and enthusiasm into eight hundred kilos of possibility almost always seems to end in tears. Subsequently, I must admit to being more than a little doubtful. Having flown a first generation jet fighter (a de Havilland Vampire) I know what it’s like to fly

... I studied the blueprints and CGI, inspected the fuselage plug and

marvelled at the small size of the jet engine.

an underpowered jet, and having taken a cursory glance at the specifications and weights, I doubted that this thing would have enough thrust to even taxi to the far hedge, let alone fly over it!

But then Roger Hurley, ProAirsport's CEO revealed that ‘project GloW’ sitting in his computer was a hybrid, and that the wheels would be driven by a powerful electric motor. Instantly my initial scepticism turned to enthusiasm, and I made an appointment to meet Roger at the ProAirsport factory. Here I studied the blueprints and CGI, inspected the fuselage plug and marvelled at the small size of the jet engine.

Designed to meet the requirements of the new UK Single Seat Deregulated (SSDR) class and the US Light Sport Glider, GloW will have a MAUW of 300 kg and an empty weight of about 180 kg, leaving a payload of 120 kg. If you fill the tank it's 27 kg, leaving 93 for pilot and parachute. Although many lightweight machines these days sport Ballistic Recovery Systems, there simply isn’t room for one in GloW. Both the methods and materials used in its construction are standard sailplane technology. The fuselage is essentially fibreglass with aramid and carbon fibre used only for local strength.

The wing is foam core and fibreglass sandwich construction from an existing, well known sailplane wing design. Modern composites are fantastically strong, and as the cockpit area also has local carbon/aramid reinforcement I would expect it to be pretty crash worthy. The acrylic canopy, also ‘standard’, is forward-hinged and features a ‘direct-vision’ panel.

The fuselage carries the wing, engine, fuel tank, batteries and the clever powered undercarriage. The shoulder-mounted wing gently sweeps at the tips and uses a modified NN18-17

laminar flow aerofoil with only a small amount of dihedral. Large Schempp-Hirth type airbrakes are fitted to the top surface of the wing at about 45% of the chord. The location of the Titan jet engine is particularly interesting as it is fixed internally behind the cockpit and features an automatic open/close intake scoop.

This very neat little turbojet is just 40cm long and weighs an astonishing 3.7 kg, yet produces a creditable 390N. This should be enough to produce reasonable climb rates at around 50 knots, while the 34 litre fuel tank should be good for several further climbs. Fuel quantity carried may improve, but current thinking is that only having a single fuselage tank is much simpler, particularly when rigging and de-rigging. As the engine can burn a variety of fuels, from Jet A-1 and JP-4 to diesel, kerosene and domestic fuel oil, it can not only be readily refuelled from a variety of sources but is incredibly cheap! I had a delivery of domestic fuel oil only yesterday, which was 50 p/litre. As it is expected that a take-off and climb to 3,000 feet will burn about eight litres of fuel, the cost of a relatively high go-where-you-want launch will still be less than the average winch launch, and a lot less than the average aero tow! In the cruise, fuel flow can drop as low as half a litre a minute.

GloW has been designed for easy rigging, and a special trailer that allows solo rigging will be an option. And as the complete empty weight is only around 180 kgs, rigging shouldn’t be too taxing.

Now we come to GloW’s most unconventional aspect, the undercarriage.

This consists of four wheels of three different sizes mounted along the fuselage centreline. There’s a small steerable

August–October 2015

39

GloW

BASIC STATS

pneumatic nose wheel, a tiny solid urethane wheel (more of a ‘tail bumper’ really) under the tail and dual retractable mainwheels, so the aircraft sits upright wings-level. And this is where GloW gets really interesting, as these wheels are driven by a powerful electric motor. Modern electric motors put out a lot of torque and this can produce incredible rates of acceleration, (check out the Tesla car on YouTube if you don’t believe me). Roger explained that this hi-tech, brushless motor is a standard commercial unit that has been customised for ProAirsport. Using the powerful electric motor to accelerate GloW up to take off speed is the design’s ‘secret sauce’ – and I am utterly convinced of its virtues.

For take-off, GloW can be wings-level taxied, even reversed into position, with the motor also acting in place of mechanical brakes (further advantages of electrically driven wheels) before starting the jet and setting full power. As the electric energy required for take-off is wanted for only a few seconds (the acceleration really should be outstanding, in fact wheel spin could be an issue if power is applied too quickly) then take-offs from farm strips should be an option.

The design certainly looked extremely professional (Roger has assembled an impressive team of pilots and engineers, including renowned aerodynamicist John Gibson, aero-engineer Vittorio Pajno and Finance Director Stephen Lynn) and Roger emphasised that although the SSDR class is not regulated or subject to mandatory airworthiness approval, ProAirsport decided from the start that the Light Sport Glider specification (ASTM F2564) would be adopted.

Span 13.5 m Length 6.3 m Empty Mass c. 180 kg MTOM 300 kg Load Limits +4 g -2 g Max L/D about 36 (estimated) Min Sink about 120 fpm (estimated) Turbine Titan, max thrust 390N Electric Motor Customised, Peak take-off output 7kW

Cost? A price of GBP 43,950.00 ex-works has recently been released. Further details can be found on the company's website http://www.proairsport.com/order.html. I have the impression that this experienced team has put together a very do-able project.

I came away from my visit to ProAirsport completely converted to the idea. Imagine owning a self-launching microlight sailplane, free from regulatory hassle and able to take off from any reasonable field or strip? It could revolutionise soaring for many pilots, particularly those who either can’t get to the gliding club as often as they like, or just don’t live near a club. As it says on their website, convenience, simplicity, independence and lower cost can make the 'Fly More, Fly for Less' idea a real possibility.

So taken was I with the project that as I left, I gave my card to Roger and said that if ProAirsport needed any help with the test flying programme I’d be delighted to help……..

Jerry’s Mountain Soaring Course, 2015 Skills, Judgement, Motivation

To further develop mountain soaring skills, an introduction to the Omarama soaring environment, to develop racing skills or practise for the following week’s Regional races, and meet pilots and old friends in an atmosphere of soaring, fun and learning.

OMARAMA Sunday 8 to Friday 13 November 2015 Enquiries: info@GlideOmarama.com

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August–October 2015

BOOK REVIEW

THE SOARING ENGINE VOLUME 1

BY G DALE

Reviewed by Alex McCaw

The Soaring Engine Volume 1 is the first book in a three part series written

by G Dale. Volume 1 describes the basic theory of soaring, including ridge flying, finding and using thermals and mountain flying.

For those that don’t know G, he is a professional cross country gliding instructor and a great racing pilot who is part of the Great Britain Team. As I write this he is currently leading the European Championships in Rieti. When I heard G was writing a book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it in an attempt to absorb some of his wealth of knowledge.

As a junior glider pilot in New Zealand I have had the privilege of having some lessons from G, in which I learnt a huge amount in very little time. G did this by using his distinctive lesson style that involves breaking the theory right down and using great diagrams that help you understand and visualise the dynamic aspect of the atmosphere - ‘the soaring engine’. G has taken these great lesson plans and turned them into an excellent educational book that can help the glider pilot of all levels understand the phenomena we experience while soaring.

Similar to his lessons, the book breaks down the theory and builds an effective model that can be understood by even the novice pilot with the help of the great, hand drawn, diagrams. G discusses rules that allow the soaring pilot to effectively, efficiently and safely fly cross country. The book provides an insight into the knowledge that G has gained flying all over the world, experiencing countless different weather conditions.

As a racing pilot I was hoping to learn some of the tips that helped G become one of the best pilots in the world, but unfortunately I will have to wait as this comes in later issues.

While this volume doesn’t cover the more advanced aspects of soaring such as competition flying, it does provide a breakdown of the basic phenomena I knew took place but didn’t understand

Climbing up the hill in figure eights

Condensation above power station cooling towers

fully. I found this is a textbook, not a lie in bed and read book, but rather a useful resource full of practical diagrams that not only help the wannabe soaring pilot but also the instructor teaching the subject.

The Soaring Engine Volume 1 is an extremely worthwhile and educational read for the student pilot but also useful for advanced pilots and instructors.

Books are available from info@thesoaringengine.co.uk www.thesoaringengine.co.uk

August–October 2015

41

INSTRUCTORS CORNER

AEROTOW LAUNCH FAILURE DEMO

BY STEVE CARE, GNZ NOO

Over the years I have witnessed a number of GA accidents, where due to power failure during launch the pilot tried to turn back. I also read with interest the article in the latest CAA Vector magazine about the ‘Impossible Turn’.

In the article it highlights 18 accidents involving power failure since 2001, eight of them fatal.

H

ow does this involve gliding? Of the accidents we have had, it is reasonably rare that the pilot has had to turn back but there have been a number of incidents. One accident occurred during training where the instructor did the exercise as a surprise to the pre-solo student. Due to this, it has since been determined that all A Certificate aero-tow launch failure exercises are done as a demo only (particularly pre solo). No syllabus exercise should be more dangerous than the threat or risk situation it is trying to prevent.

The Vector article is titled the ‘Impossible Turn’, but in most gliders the loss of height is nothing like that of a GA aircraft so is in fact a ‘possible turn’. This is something to keep in mind if you are teaching a power pilot to glide!

In gliding there are often four options: land ahead in whatever might be available, land on another runway vector if available, if high enough do an abbreviated circuit or turn back. In teaching aero-tow launch failure all four options need to be discussed and in what situation each would be appropriate. We cannot safely demonstrate all of the options. There is also a danger that over emphasising one option could lead to that option being used over a safer one. A situation where I would be very reluctant to turn back is when low and there is a strong headwind. Landing with a tail wind much more than 10 – 15 knots could result in a loss of control on the ground. However if there are nothing but buildings ahead of you, your safe options may be very limited. I am also very reluctant to try a turn back with anything much less than 300 feet AGL on the clock (for most gliders).

I am fortunate that my club has a powerful Pawnee and a

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August–October 2015

very large airfield. When taking a student through this exercise I always choose a light wind day with no traffic and give lots of radio warning to any other possible traffic and also to those on the ground. I anticipate that the turn will generally be into wind, meaning a slightly less than 180 degree turn and less ground track (unlike a winch launch failure where you always turn downwind if not landing straight ahead). I discuss thoroughly with the student pre-launch and after an earlier full classroom type briefing on the subject has been done. At 300 feet AGL (usually a little beyond the boundary fence) I operate the release.

If happening for real, most pilots do nothing for many seconds, in stunned disbelief of what has occurred. On aero-tow the airspeed is about 60 – 65 knots (depending on the glider) and most will then fly into the slipstream of the tow plane. At this point there is a tendency for the airspeed to inadvertently reduce as multi-tasking kicks in and big decisions being made on what to do. Priority has to be to maintain a steady airspeed of 55 to 60 knots (depending on glider type), well above stall. The turn into wind should be a balanced turn of somewhere around 30 degree bank. Again there is a very strong subconscious tendency to want to get the turn really steep (and/or kick on more rudder) to get sight of the airfield, but this only serves to increase the stall speed, rate of sink and extreme risk of a stall/spin. Once the turn is complete it is possible that you might not be lined up with the runway, so might need to continue the turn until a final approach is possible. On final, the amount of airbrake needed will depend on the conditions and the type of glider. If the airfield is not long, you could end up overshooting, so again not a good idea if there is too much headwind on take-off.

After landing I do a good de-brief on the exercise I have done this exercise a countless number of times. My main aim is always to allay fear for the student and demonstrate how simple and easy it is, but also how important it is to keep the grey matter ticking over in any emergency. At low level there is always the potential for things to go disastrously wrong very quickly but hastening an action beyond normal could also be catastrophic.

Do I think all instructors should teach this exercise? No! If there are instructors that are uncomfortable, not particularly current at the exercise, the airfield is not large or a low powered tow plane

GNZ awards & certificates

MAY 2015 – AUGUST 2015

EDOUARD DEVENOGES GNZ Awards Officer

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

QGP No 3293 3294 3295 3296 3297

is involved, then it should not be done. It is the one exercise in the A syllabus that could be missed to allow a student to go solo, providing a very good briefing has been done and practice is done at altitude. It is also good to do it later in training when the opportunity arises, maybe at another gliding site. If the club has an instructor or instructors that are competent and current in this exercise and the airfield and tow plane are suitable, then it is an extremely valuable for the student to experience.

An abbreviated circuit is also a very real option at slightly higher altitudes, particularly if a reasonable head wind is involved.

I would turn downwind if the intention is to do a 360 degree turn.

Again in the sub-conscious mind of the pilot there is a tendency to try to do a full circuit. This brings about another set of dangers including gradient, stall/spin, running out of altitude and turning close to the ground. When doing this as an exercise, the object should be to clearly demonstrate the circuit has been abbreviated to avoid turning low. A downwind landing in light winds will show that a full circuit is not the only option and may be the safer choice.

The stats in the Vector magazine are very real, so making an emergency landing in the best available area has to be the primary option if too low to land ahead on the available runway. I am aware there are a couple of clubs that have no paddock options, making it really important that rope condition, tow plane maintenance is all good and tow/glider pilots are well-disciplined to not miss pretake-off checks.

The time to think about what you would do in the event of something going wrong is when you get to eventualities in your pre take off checks. What is the wind doing, which direction should I be looking for paddocks, which way should I turn if I am high enough? These are all questions that should be pre-thought before launching. It doesn’t need to be all consuming, as it is a reasonably rare event, but it just might save the day if you are prepared. At my local club I have put up some Google images of each end of the runway. This gives everyone a pre-view of what paddocks there are for particular wind conditions. It has to be accepted that paddocks can suddenly have stock or electric fences, so no guarantees but it at least gives the lay of the land.

Pilot’s Name David L. Dennison Peter Wooley Murray Philpott Bradley J. Scrivener William H. Kamp

Club Piako GC Auckland GC Canterbury GC Taupo GC Piako GC

Date 30 4 2015 30 4 2015 20 6 2015 3 8 2015 4 8 2015

SILVER DISTANCE

Robert J. Laskey

Gliding Manawatu

19 3 2015

SILVER BADGE 1172 Robert J. Laskey

Gliding Manawatu

13 5 2015

GOLD DISTANCE

Tony Davies

Piako GC

13 6 2015

GOLD BADGE 329 Tony Davies

Piako GC

18 6 2015

DIAMOND DISTANCE 150 William A. Mace

Piako GC

5 7 2015

Lak 12

Distance

Points

226.28 km

220.81

AIR NZ CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Pilots Name Glider Northern Division

Robert J. Laskey DG 1000 Southern Division

No claims so far

GNZ FIRST COMPETITION AWARD 043 Robert J. Laskey Gliding Manawatu

DG 1000

Discus B

13 5 2015

NOW AVAILABLE FOR SALE

LATEST TECHNOLOGY 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 August–October 2015

43

airworthiness the edge of the Ventus’ Flight Envelope.

Photo Celine Harrison

MARTYN COOK National Airworthiness Officer

Do you keep your glider within the envelope?

Adapt Your Inspection It’s always a good idea to adapt your inspection to the age and use pattern of the glider. This applies to the Daily Inspection as well as the Annual Inspection and Abnormal Loads Inspection (refer to Tech 22 Maintenance Schedule for Gliders).

A club aircraft flown by many pilots should be approached rather differently from a privately-owned glider with just one regular pilot.

If you are doing a Daily Inspection on the club two-seater, for example, then keep a lookout for damage caused by passengers getting in and out of the cockpit. Some older people do struggle to get in and out of gliders and easily push in the wrong places or kick the instrument panel accidentally.

Always check the DI book for minor issues that others have picked up, and confirm they are not getting any worse. Wear and tear mysteriously occurs a lot faster on club two-seaters.

Do You Keep Your Glider Inside Its Envelope?

The Flight Envelope is a graph of Load Factor vs Airspeed and defines the operating limitations and loadcarrying capability of the glider. For practical purposes, we know that airspeed needs to stay below Max

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August–October 2015

Rough Air when the glider is exposed to significant turbulence or full control deflections and below VelocityNever-Exceed (VNE) all the time.

But there are traps lurking in the hidden corners of this envelope, particularly where combinations of factors occur, such as high altitude + strong lift + turbulence. You should remember from your QGP lectures that Max Rough Air is an Indicated Airspeed, because it is related to the G-load that can be applied to the structure by the air, and pitot pressure measures this directly. But VNE is more closely related to True Airspeed because it relates to exciting a resonant vibration on the trailing edge of a flying surface, therefore is related to the speed of the air molecules. True Airspeed (TAS) in a glider instrument is a calculated value derived from Indicated Airspeed (as shown on the ASI), Altitude and Outside Air Temperature.

At the SI Regionals, I was confidently cruising home in strong wave at 15,000 feet. Airspeed and altitude were slowly increasing - I was cautiously ‘just a little above’ Max Rough Airspeed (which is calculated in IAS), and wanting to stay below 17,500 feet to avoid an airspace penalty. Suddenly I noticed the TAS on my new display showed 2 knots below VNE at FL170. I was unexpectedly at

Flutter can occur at only a very small margin above VNE in straight and level flight. It can be initiated by factors such as turbulence or brisk handling of the controls. If you are lucky you will feel a slight buzz in the controls at the onset of flutter, and gently reducing airspeed will stop the vibration. Even so, an inspection should be carried out on landing, as this vibration can create extra play in hinges, bearings and linkages, and lower the flutter threshold. If you are unlucky, then one or more of the control surfaces will vibrate itself to destruction.

Deploying the airbrakes at high speed is another murky corner of the Flight Envelope. The airbrakes destroy lift over a section of the wing, leaving the outboard panels to carry extra load.

Check your flight manual for your gliders’ limiting speeds and loads.

On long-winged gliders you might notice the outer wing section bend upward if the brakes are deployed at speed. This would be aggravated if you were also turning steeply - a 60° bank angle doubles the load on the wing compared to straight and level.

But wait, there’s more. If you are in a tight turn and decide to use the ailerons to reduce the bank angle, you might be dismayed at the poor roll response.

Because the inside wingtip is flying much slower than the outside, the down-aileron applied to lift the inside wing will increase the drag and could stall part of that wing. Again, this is exaggerated on longer-winged gliders but it applies to all gliders. The correct action is to apply rudder opposite to the turning direction and this could require a very firm push if the loads are high.

Many gliders require a little “out-aileron” to maintain a steady banked turn in a thermal. It is more energyefficient to apply a small amount of top (opposite) rudder and bring the stick back to neutral. This cleans up the wing and puts the glider into a slight slip into the thermal, which should improve the climb rate.

Generally the rudder is considered a ‘secondary’ turning control, but there are occasions where it becomes the primary control. Something to review with your instructor on your next BFR, perhaps?

a question of safety and incidents have happened in front of me and even after I point it out, there is still no report. An OPs 10 can take less than two minutes to complete and it really is for the benefit of the club.

STEVEN CARE National Operationals Officer

To Fly A Glider As PIC

Accidents and Incidents The reporting year for accidents and incidents is from June to May – the GNZ AGM dates to be exact. Last year we had 14 accidents (compared to 10 in the previous year). Seven were paddock landing related, which is significantly more than one in the previous year.

There were 64 incidents last year compared to 36 reported in the previous year. Most reports are from just a handful of clubs that have adopted a reporting culture, but the breakdown of types of incidents is quite interesting:10 5 5 5 2 2 2 1

Near misses Airbrakes open on launch Wheel up landings Ground loops Canopy open while flying Inadvertent tow release Heavy landings Aero tow upset

There are certainly more ‘near misses’ than I was expecting and this highlights the need for excellent lookout at all times. I am very definitely in favour of the use of FLARM if it can do anything that even slightly improves this significant area of risk.

In previous years, there have been some really serious accidents caused

by airbrakes inadvertently not being locked before launch. Mitigation is to avoid distraction during your prelaunch checks and be really methodical.

Other incidents include about three launches where release was slow due to not having the left hand near the release and a launch where the release was inadvertently operated at low level while holding on to it.

I am sometimes asked why I don’t publish exact details of every incident.

The fact is that people get sensitive about apparent mistakes or errors of judgement when the issues are really around procedure and processes that lead to the incident. Even without a name being published, it still doesn’t inspire someone to keep reporting. It gets even worse when someone is held to account, which should not happen unless there are wilful violations, gross negligence or destructive acts. It is far better to hear about the incident and address the organisational influences, than for nobody to know or do anything about it.

1.

You must be a fully paid up member of a club (or a Visiting Foreign Pilot, fully paid up to GNZ)

2.

You and your club must have a copy of your valid Medical Certificate

3.

You and your club must have a copy of your completed and current BFR and a BFR current endorsement in your GNZ or overseas gliding log book. Date of student first solo can be counted as a BFR if the completed A syllabus is held by the club.

4.

The glider you fly must have a Release to Service that is current and you must be rated to fly the glider.

There are other requirements as well, but the above is the ‘base line’ and if you have any one of the above missing, you should not be flying.

The club also has responsibilities to make sure that you meet the above.

Trial Flights While we have to make sure that our Trial Flights fit within AC 1-04, our endeavours are always to get new members. Some clubs seem to be having good success and it might be due to instructors presenting basic lessons, such as Effects of Controls, Look out, Turning, Straight and Level, in an extremely professional manner.

Nothing unusual about that, but the better it is done the more likely it is the person will come back.

Instructors Course To be held at Matamata on 9th, 10th and 11th October. Application to attend and details on the GNZ web site.

I often get clubs saying that they don’t have incidents. One was from a club that now has one of the highest reporting rates. It’s all too easy just to be oblivious to it. I have been at clubs, doing audits, August–October 2015

45

gliding new zealand news KAREN MORGAN GNZ President

TISSANDIER FOR EDOUARD Hearty congratulations to Edouard Devenoges for receiving the FAI Paul Tissandier Diploma. Edouard is our very respected Awards officer. By the time you read this, Edouard and Marianne will be just about due to attend the FAI General Conference in Rotterdam where the award will be presented. (See article elsewhere this issue.)

AGM AWARDS While on the subject of awards, the Executive would particularly like to congratulate Gavin Wills for receiving GNZ’s most prestigious award, the Angus Rose Bowl, in recognition of his outstanding service to gliding over a very long time. In addition, Steve Wallace’s magnificent efforts on a number of fronts in more recent times earned him the Friendship Cup. Congratulations, Steve WEBMASTER We are indebted to Hadleigh Bognuda for giving the GNZ web site a facelift and new menu structure while changing it over to a more user-friendly Content Management System about 18 months ago. However, Hadleigh’s growing business commitments mean that he has less and less time for further GNZ web stuff so he has handed the reins over to Tim Bromhead. Welcome to this role, Tim – we look forward to working with you. Meanwhile, we haven’t let Hadleigh escape altogether – he is now a trustee of the GNZ Umbrella Trust!

NEW ROO FOR THE SOUTH ISLAND After four years as Southern Regional Operation Officer, Jerry O’Neill has passed the baton to a fellow Canterbury member, Graham Erikson. When Jerry originally took on the job, he agreed to do two years – the fact that he did it for four attests to his dedication to gliding (as if we didn’t know that already!). The Executive really appreciated the professional manner in which Jerry carried out the quite diverse role of ROO and the competencies that he brought to it. Welcome Graham, you have some big shoes to fill!

46

August–October 2015

MARKETING Brian Sharpe, President of the Wellington Gliding Club, has volunteered to take up the newly established role of Promotions & Marketing Manager.

Brian observes that glider pilots are but a miniscule percent of the general population so it follows that the target market of those members of the public with a predisposition towards learning to fly a glider is correspondingly small. While public awareness of our sport is a necessary prerequisite to signing up, by no means does one lead to the other, and the chances of success should substantially improve if we can identify and focus our marketing activities on those who may already be predisposed to glider flying.

Brian’s is now developing a representative profile of existing flying members, so stand by for your invitation to take part in an on-line survey soon. Brian has already embarked on a series of visits to clubs to discuss their visitor and trial flight programmes, with a view to developing a Best Practice Guide aimed at helping clubs to attract trial-flight participants and to match their experience to expectations.

GNZ STRATEGIC PLAN 2015-2020 We have just refreshed the GNZ Strategic Plan in the light of the most recent planning sessions, particularly the desire to achieve a mind-shift in clubs towards cross-country flying. But it’s not just about cross-country. The Plan lists four ‘initiative’ areas with key performance indicators (KPIs): • Develop a cross-country coaching system and train coaches • Provide better tools for basic flight instruction • Profile participants to identify a target market, develop best practices for a gain in new members • Youth soaring development For all the detail, have a look at the Strategic Plan http://gliding.co.nz/wp-content/ uploads/2 015/07/GNZ-Strategic-Plan2015-20v3.pdf – or Google -Gliding New Zealand Strategic Plan.

SPORT NZ INVESTMENT After ten plus years of more or less fixed dollars from Sport NZ in support of gliding, Sport NZ is now in the process of moving to a contestable model. The $-pie is no bigger, which means we have to work hard to convince Sport NZ that we can deliver on a ‘value proposition’ in order to attract investment.

We will know in December how we fared in competition with all the other National Sporting organisations (NSO). If we secure the funding that we’ve asked for, we will be well placed to ‘walk the talk’ on our Strategic Plan.

ANTI-MATCH-FIXING & SPORTS BETTING Bureaucratic intrusion seems to be a way of life these days, the latest being that we now have to have a firm policy on ‘Anti-Match-Fixing & Sports Betting’, or we’ll lose our Sport NZ funding. Fortunately, Sport NZ has provided a model policy for National Sporting Organisations to adapt. GNZ’s version is in the form of a new Advisory Circular, AC 1-06, downloadable from our web site. Part of the deal is that certain people (like NZ Team pilots) now have to go to the Sport NZ web site

This column is intended to give readers an ongoing insight into the activities of the GNZ Executive and its Committees. Rather than a detailed report on matters currently under consideration, here are some recent items of significance.

every three years to do a short test on the subject. Expect more publicity/education on this over coming months.

AIRSPACE CHANGES Extensive changes to the Waikato/Rotorua/Taupo airspace are afoot, with the CAA having invited submissions. The GNZ Airspace Committee, led by the northern area rep, Russell Thorne, with input from Tim Bromhead, Trevor Terry, Trevor Mollard and others, has been working very hard to protect what we have and to achieve some significant improvements. Let’s hope all the effort they’ve put in bears fruit!

AIRWORTHINESS Martyn Cook, our National Airworthiness Officer, reports that all glider engineer approval holders on the register have now completed a course of home study at a depth relevant to their rating. There have been a few retirements, but this initiative has gone down well with most engineers. It certainly has with CAA. On the back of this, Martyn has also persuaded CAA to accept his proposal to simplify the way Airworthiness Directives are recorded in glider logbooks, which will be a big time saver for our engineers.

The Executive wishes to thank the retiring glider engineers for their efforts over the years on behalf of glider owners, both club and private, particularly those who have provided their services for little or no reward.

youth glide nz news ENYA MCPHERSON

Gliding New Zealand, Youth Glide needs you!

Whatever your age, we need your help.

Youth Glide New Zealand is really taking off, with more clubs across New Zealand getting involved. It is great to see what young people are achieving.

Congratulations to Fraser Mcdougall for achieving QGP and soaring to great heights, both on and above the ski fields.

The annual Youth Soaring Development Camp is quickly approaching us. With the dates set for the 7-16th December, Omarama is the place to be. If you are thinking about coming along, please do let us know. If you, your club or someone you know may be

interested, let us know too and we can send more information their way.

Our website is also taking off, thanks to Campbell McIvor on the other side of cyberspace. It’s a great way to find out more about the Youth Glide movement and get information about the upcoming Youth Soaring Development Camp and we are looking forward to following Alex and Nick in their Aussie adventures.

Alex McCaw and Nick Oakley are representing New Zealand at Narromine, Australia at the Junior Worlds and Youth Glide New Zealand is helping them get there. We wish them all the very best and we look forward to hearing how they get on.

Happy and Safe Soaring.

Tim and Enya

I always welcome your feedback – contact me if you want to discuss anything here, or indeed anything in previous editions of this column – from the home page, navigate > News > Executive News.

Photo Fraser Mcdougall

August–October 2015

47

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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 Hawkes Bay and Waipukurau Club Website www.glidinghbw.co.nz Club Contact E-mail: info@glidinghbw.co.nz, Ph 027 2877 522 Base Hastings Airfield (Bridge Pa) and Waipukurau Airfield (December & February) Flying Sundays and other days 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 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 Masterton Soaring Club Club Contact Michael O’Donnell modp@missionkayaking.com Ph (03) 473 1721 Base Masterton Aerodrome Flying By arrangement

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

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 1 November 2015.

AUCKLAND We are over the worst of the winter weather (I hope) and despite some fairly wet fronts that have pestered our keen aviators, the occasional weekend has provided some local soaring for a few hours. To fill the gaps we have had a few Saturday night BBQs, an excellent working bee day and several QGP lectures and exams.

So far our winter QGP lecture series has managed to get all the attendees through the law and radio exams with passes. Still a few to go but using our quiet period to get these lectures and exams done seems to be working well.

The working bee held in late July was a great success with a lot of work being achieved around our airfield. A significant event was an evening to show appreciation to one of our long time members – Graham Player. Fifty years of gliding for Graham and he is still as enthusiastic as anyone – congratulations.

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

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 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

48

August–October 2015

Grahame Player speaks at a dinner celebrating his 50 years in Gliding

CLUB NEWS

D

Auckland: Steve Wallace flies past our Airstrip at Douglas Road on the West Coast

Auckland: JS-1 (GKZ) on the West Coast at Douglas Road

five of our gliders go out to be joined by four or five from the Auckland Club launching from their Douglas Rd site and a further seven from Tauranga/Matamata launching from Raglan. Fifteen plus gliders out there, all on the glider common frequency and all following ridge procedure. Very well done with excellent communications all round.

On our home turf we have continued flying whenever the Auckland weather allows. We are blessed with excellent drainage so airfield condition, or more correctly, runway condition, rarely hampers Photo Steve Wallace

We have had to face some realities due to an unacceptable aircraft damage rate over the last five years. Our poor insurance record is causing some real and serious difficulties. The committee and others are doing their best to see what measures can be taken to mitigate our mistakes and hopefully, once again become acceptable clients for our insurance company. This is still a work in progress but we hope to have some workable solutions in place well before the new season starts.

We are again going to welcome a live in visitor/instructor for January and February.

Our guest is a young instructor pilot from Norway and we hope that he has a great stay, not only in Auckland but in New Zealand.

We welcome visitors, so even though we still expect to have some days when our field is unusable, we will be operating whenever possible.

RG

us. Training and trial flights are the order of the day with little soaring. English Club members Matt Ledger and Lara Sanderson had to return to UK but not before Matt managed to solo and achieve his A cert. Well done and we will miss you both. Well done to club member, Enya McPherson, who won the inaugural Anne Barbarich trophy. Our summer foreign member Christina Keil has returned to her native Germany and has been regaling us with stories and pictures of her soaring adventures in the Alps. Her photos make the scenery look amazing. Our customary mid-winter dinner organised by our Club Captain, Ian O’Keefe was another most pleasant evening attended by many members.

Our wee tow plane, the FK9, is still performing well despite not featuring in Glyn Jackson’s survey (we hope she does not find out and start sulking, especially if she realises Glyn took a ride behind BZA while

AUCKLAND AVIATION SPORTS CLUB Now is the time of our winter of discontent, rain, cloud, no lift, sled rides and childish delight at a flight that lasted more than 30 minutes. All has not been lost as we were blessed with several days where strong SW winds were in the right quadrant for a West Coast Run, Muriwai to Raglan and back. This has seen an upsurge in weather forecast watching, RASP and all that, and an unseemly scramble for the front seat of our twin. To be fair, everyone who goes with Steve Wallace comes back having learned an enormous amount, both about the Coast run and gliding in general. One such run saw

Auckland Aviation Sports Club: Aviation Sports Club CFI, Ray Burns in our clubs Single Astir off the west coast of Auckland at about 4pm as we waited for rain showers to clear so we could make the final glide home after a day on the coast.

August–October 2015

49

CLUB NEWS

Canterbury: Working on new clubrooms

ignoring our wee girl parked on the same grid.) We are now into our fourth year of operation and are very comfortable with her.

She performs better than the Cessna 172 we had but with much more control power.

Typical wheels off to wheels on tows of our twin to 2500ft averaged around nine and a half minutes on Sunday.

Daylight saving soon and the start of the soaring season. Bring it on.

GL

CANTERBURY As spring is springing, working bees have become a thing. We had snow damage to the gutters on the hangar and members have jumped into action to replace them and make them snow proof. We’ve also started work on stripping out the new old school house that will become the club rooms.

At our recent AGM some long serving members stood down. Of particular note is Yvonne Loader who has been club secretary for so long most people have forgotten when she started. I know it’s been a lot more than 10 years. Thank you so much Yvonne for all you have done over the years. Kev Bethwaite stepped down from the President’s role but remains on the committee. Kev has led the club through some major changes and we thank him sincerely for his efforts too.

Standing up to replace him as President is long time club member Terry Delore. David Tillman stands down as treasurer and he’s another person the club owes a huge debt of gratitude to. The out-going committee wish their successors all the best and will of course be around to help with the transition.

They’re all looking forward to having more time to actually go gliding.

There are plenty of events coming up on the calendar with a beginner cross country course here at Springfield, Jerry’s course and the SI Regionals at Omarama and discussions about seven day a week operations. We’ve already had some great flights into the mountains. Springfield really is a fantastic site. This summer is shaping up to be a good one.

JM

50

CENTRAL OTAGO It’s been a great winter of wave in the south this year. We’ve flown nearly every Sunday and are now all ‘waved-out’ and longing for thermals. But we shouldn’t complain as each flight has provided stunning views, often with a good degree of excitement. At times the lift has been extreme: several flights have seen over 10 knots of climb with full air brakes out, pushing forward searching for the sink.

We’ve also experienced some very rough conditions - July 19th was an unstable SW day with a scary layer between 4000 – 6000’.

It persisted all day and was an unpleasant

transition in either direction. But above the rotor, the air was smooth and we climbed high above the lennies into the sunshine.

We were pleased to provide a visiting pilot with his first wave experience. Philippe, an instructor from Belgium, had a wonderful flight in our Twin with John, quickly climbing to 13,000 feet’ to cruise along the Old Man wave.

Despite the short and cold days we’ve had some longish flights. The trip to Mt Cook and back has been achieved a few times. We found our first thermal in August and there’ll be plenty more soon.

Central Otago: Inside the Pisa wave (June 14th)

Central Otago: Philippe from Belgium gives wave flying the thumbs-up

Central Otago: Dan from Italy enjoying a winter wave flight above Alex

August–October 2015

Hawkes Bay: Returning to Hastings.

CLUB NEWS We’ve also been busy this winter with training (Wills Dobson), plus airfield and aircraft maintenance. Our Twin Astir sports a new nose hook. This was a very awkward job requiring all of Kerry Jackson’s skill and patience. We have also replaced the glider’s upholstery (thanks to club member Steve Whitren). Our Cessna is in great nick and has been quite busy with the longish tows required to reach the wave. The battle continues with rabbits on the airfield as they dig faster than we can fill!

JR

GLIDING WAIRARAPA The residents of ancient Egypt doubtless looked forward to the annual flooding of the Nile, bearing as it did the fertile silts and water that made the year’s crops viable.

Farmers around the Ruamahunga and Waiohine rivers probably view the annual floods with mixed feelings while glider pilots tend to have a negative view of such inundatory events.

Although the airfield at Papawai was about 80 per cent flooded, the water was shallow and drained away as quickly as it arrived, so we got back to the serious business of blaming the rubbish weather for our lack of flying.

Actually we’ve had many good teaching days, where the air is calm enough to teach good circuits and speed control, but with enough of a westerly to make a few gentle runs on the ridge. There has even been some weak low-level wave on occasions, much to the delight of some students.

Our hangar extension is nearly complete (just waiting for the building inspector to sign it off) so we’re looking forward to rigging another ASK13 and moving a few gliders out of their trailers and into more secure habitation. Guess we’ll just have to fly them next and hopefully before next winter’s annual unexpected flood.

DH

GLIDING HAWKES BAY AND WAIPUKURAU Late autumn saw some great flying conditions with thermal and convergence lift to over 6,000 feet during Easter weekend, followed by an early May day with local thermals and climbs to 4,000 feet. The thermals were smooth and unbroken up to 4 knots average and were no flash in the pan either. The last glider landed around 4:30 pm after having flown for just under 2 hours 30mins The social highlight was a club BBQ and the inaugural presentation of the Peter Lyons

Gliding Wairarapa:

Memorial Trophy for the most meritorious member to club president Graham White.

It was awarded, among other things, for the huge amount of work he has done for the club in maintenance, work on the Central Districts Gliding Championships and helping new pilots. Judy Lyons was on hand to present the trophy and many fond memories of Peter were recounted by various members.

Queen’s Birthday weekend saw the club operate from Waipukurau Airfield on Saturday and Sunday with the New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation (NZAWA) 2015 rally. After a minus 3°C start on Saturday morning, conditions were ideal with little wind and a calm sky. Women pilots competed for the Morrell Gliding Trophy in a blind circuit competition and the NZ Airwomen’s Gliding Cup. June saw a number of days of local wave.

This was working well enough to enable gliders to soar all over the local area from Tikokino in the south, to north of Napier and east to Havelock North at altitudes of over 10,000 feet. Too much cloud and pending darkness were the main inhibitors preventing pilots soaring further distances. For some of the club’s newer members, this was their first taste of wave and an experience to remember.

A blind circuit and spot landing competition were started in July in ideal conditions. The weather deteriorated within minutes in the afternoon with a mixture of random gusty winds rapidly developing.

Unfortunately the club tow plane suffered a prop strike after getting caught by a wind gust while taxiing, so will be out of the air for a period of approximately three weeks according to the engineer at HB Aviation.

NELSON LAKES At the start of winter we could only get up every second weekend but through June and July we had a great run with some great turn outs by the club. We had one cracking day that will go down in folk lore over beers, where everyone hooked into SW wave right off the winch and some could take it to over 11,000 feet.

We have had beautiful calm winter’s days with the typical winter inversion around the knee caps. These are great currency and training days. Our two youths, Ben and Jared, have both gone solo which is exciting and they are doing very well in their post solo consolidation. Well done boys.

We have flown a local school and when the weather plays ball, we’ll fly the local ATC groups as well which is always good fun.

We have had our AGM and there is a change of guard at the top. Frank Saxton is President again; Mark McCulloch is Secretary and George Scott the Treasurer.

We’d like to give a big thanks to retirees Nick and April for the marvellous job they have done. They are getting busy in their other lives so it’s only fair enough they have a breather.

We have a wee surge in members and dare I say it, a small growth spurt. It’s great.

We have been using a Three flight voucher system that seems to have a far better strike rate and by the time many do their third flight they can see a bit clearer whether they like this sport or not.

We have a great quiver of gliders and are looking forward to a great season. The club has some ripper students who will get stuck in this season. That will test Nick and Marc, our two new instructors.

Have fun

Captain Sink

August–October 2015

51

CLUB NEWS

Nelson Lakes: SW wave day

Nelson Lakes: Youth Glide

TWO KA6Es AT THE NLGC

By Marc Edgar After what is probably close to a combined 800-900 hours of painstaking repairing, sanding, filling, covering, doping, plus a lot more sanding, spraying and more sanding, Nelson Lakes Gliding Club has welcomed back two Ka6E gliders which have been beautifully restored by Mike Strathern (owner of GFM) and Marc Edgar (Owner of GET).

I finished GET in February and since then I’ve almost clocked up 100 hours in the old girl, my first flight in it (and first flight in a K6 ever) saw me doing my 5 hours silver duration, spending the day in ridge, thermal and wave up to 9500 feet.

After this great flight I decided oxygen was a must, and since installing a ‘borrowed system’ I have used it a couple of times, having one interesting flight up to about 12,000 feet in wave with about 40 odd knots on the nose. It’s fair to say that pushing up wind to the next wave bar was good fun!

Mike has just completed GFM in the last couple of months and has only had one good wee convergence flight in it with me, all spent at low level. He came down beaming from ear to ear and muttered some comments about the ASW20 needing to go.

The last time he flew a Ka6E was in 1988 and it looks like he has fallen in love again.

I’ve found flying ET a delight and going cross-country is great fun as you know you can park it just about anywhere as it stops on a dime.

These two gliders were formerly owned by the late Ray Sharland and Ray Boss, both former members of Nelson Gliding Club. The stories I have heard of Ray Boss in ET are a laugh, the glass guys would always see him WAY down near the ground,

way up the head of a valley or in the middle of nowhere, just skirting along, hardly stopping for a climb.

There are a few 300k flights in the

logbook noted and comp after comp flown.

So look out you guys, as there may be a couple of hot ships turning up to a comp or two in the future!!

Marc in the ET

ET listening to FM

52

August–October 2015

August–October 2015

52

CLUB NEWS

Taranaki: The equivalent of the 100 hour maintenance and then the annual inspection of Eurofox ZK-TGC have both been done early so as to line up with our other club aircraft which are done during the winter period.

The total cost to the club for doing this work as a class 2 microlight was NZ$218 for parts and consumables plus our time.

PIAKO The club has been running a Thursday winching operation from 3pm for a group of nine Hamilton Boys High School students.

3pm in winter doesn’t give us many launches but never the less, most of them are getting pretty proficient.

While we have had quite a few days of no flying we did have a Saturday where there was no lift, but did 26 launches - 14 winch launches and 12 aero-tows.

16th June saw Bob Gray, Dave Dennison, Tim Bromhead and Tony Davies head to Raglan for some West Coast flying.

They all managed to get a couple trips to Muriwai and back, with Tony completing his Gold 300 km distance. It was a very strong wind day and there were also groups from Tauranga and Aviation Sports flying, so a lot of gliders. Our tow plane flown by Dion Manktelow made the early morning trip and was back at Matamata by lunch time for club flying.

We also had a big ridge day on the 5th July, with a couple of pilots declaring 500 km. Unfortunately the wind was pretty unpredictable low down and generally a bit off to the south. Bob and Tim ended up in Te Aroha racecourse while a race day

was on. Bill Mace however managed to complete his 500 km diamond distance. It was a great achievement on a challenging winter’s day. For many years we only ever had one or two club members who had a 500 km Diamond, but now we have six.

Coming up, we have our annual dinner on the 19th September and the following Saturday 26th September is our compulsory ‘Start of Season Briefing’. Presentations run until lunch (which is provided). It’s a good way to get people to think about safety issues at the beginning of the season.

SC

WELLINGTON Our winter flying activities have been dominated by rain, rain and more rain!

Paraparaumu’s grass runways have been closed by NOTAM’s on an unprecedented six occasions.

The time has however been put to good use.

Tony van Dyk recently organised an evening visit to NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre situated in Lower Hutt. This was quite an eye opener in terms of both the professionalism of the staff and the technology used to manage and monitor

air, marine and in some cases, land search and rescue operations. The area this Centre covers is the third largest in the world with vast areas of the Pacific within its purview.

You come away understanding just how fortunate we are in having these people watching over us.

If you are in Wellington and perhaps needing to update your PLB Registration, why not pay a visit? The contact details for RCCNZ can be found at: http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/About-us/ RCCNZ-profile.asp On the field preparations for our coming shift to Greytown are picking up. Under the direction of David Jones, renovations to our Checkers caravan are well underway and we should see this in operation in the new season.

Off the field, we have been more than busy locking down the myriad details surrounding airfield leases, a hangar, a clubhouse, a new winch, operating procedures for a new airfield….

Needless to say, we are all very much looking forward to the thermals of summer!

WGC Ed

August–October 2015

53

F OR S A L E • WA N T E D • S E R V IC E 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 LS 3 ZK-GLK • 3240 hrs. Cambridge LNav & GPS Nav 20, Oxygen, National parachute, wooden trailer. Hangar space Auckland, Drury. Open to Offers.

Peter Himmel, email: HimlP@xtra.co.nz 09-4791192 or 0210768805 Nimbus 2b ZK-GIW • Next ARA due Dec 2016 1857hrs, 533 flts. PU Paint, Fixed Tail plane, All Surfaces Sealed and Mylared, Tabulator Tape, Mask Winglets, Double Bladed Airbrakes, Tinted Canopy, Adjustable seat back, L-Nav, GPS-Nav, Oxy, C Mode Transponder, National Parachute, Tow out gear, Trestles, Electric wing rigging cradle. Trailer refurbished and New Trojan Axles fitted. Glider located at Auckland. $45,000. Marc Morley. morleym27@gmail.com. Ph +64274626751 Libelle 201b, GIU • #579 out of 601 made. Approx 2400 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 P_Marshall@xtra.co.nz 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.

DG 300 Elan • GOZ Full panel. Road trailer. Excellent full capacity water bags made in the USA bring glider up to all up weight of 250kgs. Near new electronic oxygen system and good sized bottle. 750 channel Dittel Radio. Very good with 4 pre-set channels. Borgelt Vario with average and glide computer.

Winter Vario and Altimeter and excellent compass.$45,000 or near offer. Apply to Errol Shirtliff. Phone 03 526 8724 or email shirtliff@xtra.co.nz Lak 12. ZK-GRR • 20m Glider. $35,000. Open/18m class flapped glider.

50:1 performance with a wide range of wing loadings. A nice glider to fly with no bad vices. Always hangared, no crashes. Price includes trailer, Australian Parachute, Tow out gear. Just had 1000 hr and 20 year check done and came through perfectly. Contact Bill Mace Phone: 0275410948

SILENT IN • Self Launching Sailplane $55K. Alisport (Italy) self launching sailplane with retracting Alisport 302efi FADEC 28hp engine driving a monoblade propeller. For full details, Google ‘Alisport Silent In’ or alisport. com. Airframe 890hrs, engine and propeller less than 4hrs (new 2013) Removeable winglets, tinted canopy, usual instruments plus Trig TT21 transponder (with Mode S). Wing wheel, tail dolly and one man rig gear.

Excellent open trailer with current reg. and WOF. Currently registered as Class 1 microlight. Neville Swan - nswan@xtra.co.nz phone 09 416 7125 Nimbus 2 ZK-GKV • A well known glider and glider type. I am sad to have to part with this wonderful glider but needs must so I have reduced the price.Brand new PU paint on the fuselage and wing PU only 5 years old.

Double bladed air brakes. New Schempp Hirth canopy, new mylar seals on wing, good road trailer. Steve Barham - barham@xtra.co.nz - 021 642 484 – Price Reduced. $35,000 Ventus 2cT 15/18m – ZK-GRY • Finished in PU paint from new and has every factory option available at the time including 15m Wingtips, Mountain High 02 system, Nose and C of G hooks, On board refuelling system, Tail tank etc with Anschau Komet trailer. Full panel including 57mm Winter Altimeter, ASI and vario, Microair radio and Txpdr, CAI 302DDV with Oudie2 flight computer and Tru Track A/H with GPS heading. Alan Belworthy- a.belworthy@xtra.co.nz - 0274 960 748. $195,000 Tauranga Gliding Club Puchacz and PW5 gliders • Puchacz two seat trainer good hours left all ADs completed polyurethane finish, transponder, electric vario, no trailer. PW5 low hours with transponder electric vario and total energy probe with good clamshell trailer. The Tauranga club is looking to refresh its fleet and wishes to sell these aircraft. Adrian Cable ph 027 473 8321 email: adrian.cable@xtra.co.nz Grob 109 Motorglider + Hanger 1/8 Share • The Grob 109 is a comfortable two seat side by side touring motor glider. It has recently undergone airframe refurbish inside and out which includes leather seats, rebuilt instrument panel, new seatbelt webbing etc. Normal cruise is between 85 - 100 knts, burning 13 -15 litres and hour. 80 litre fuel tank. Gliding performance angle 27:1. Equipment includes a 720 channel Becker comm, Terra transponder, Cambridge audio vario, Kennard fixed ELT plus the usual set of analogue instruments. Nominally a glider, with a very reasonable gliding performance,

Janus ZK-GSH • Very tidy two seater training, cross country, completion glider. 3164 hrs. Built 1977. Retractable undercarriage, water ballast, winch or aero tow. Tow out gear, wing covers and trailer. Reluctant sale due to lack of use. For sale from the Hauraki Aero Club, gliding division. $50,000 Ph 0274708915. Hauraki-ac@xtra.co.nz Grob Speed Astir 2B, ZK-GUB. Flapped 15metre; 40:1 glide ratio; approx.

2300hrs; oxygen (A8A); Terra Transponder; 2 varios; good trailer plus tow-out gear; gelcoat in amazing condition; slim-pack parachute; excellent first glider and competitive club-class machine, hangared Omarama, reluctantly selling her after 20+ yrs of fun, best value per LD point glider in the country. $25,000. ph03 3181331 (evenings) paullinda@xtra.co.nz

54

August–October 2015

FOR SALE

Ventus ct ZKG-OP • Excellent condition. C302/PNA , EDS oxy , 4 x sets of tips from Maumuer 15m winglets to 18m wingtips with winglets. All towout gear. Good trailer. $105,000 Price Reduced. Contact Patrick Driessen Phone: 0274866441 patdriessen@clear.net.nz

DG 400 SELF LAUNCHING GLIDER ZK-GOM first flew in December 1984 and has completed 1,793 hours and 247 hours on the engine, spare motor available. Comes with 15 and 17, tips, tow out gear, wing and tail plane hangar covers, 2 canopy covers, EDS and A8A oxygen with quick connect refill. Cambridge GPS and Winter mechanical vario. Dittel FSG60M radio and Terra interior lights and ability to charge batteries via an external socket while glider is in the trailer.

This glider would be ideal for a syndicate, finance can be discussed if necessary. $89,000.

Contact: Mark Aldridge 0274 508 505 or email mda@308.kiwi.nz

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

Deadline for receipt of advertising for our November issue is 10 November 2015.

it has a beefy ninety horses up front to push it along at over 150kph. I’m selling my one eighth share, including the hangar space to store, for $10,000.

Contact Michael Furniss email: jnmfurniss@gmail.com or 022 611 4565 Ka6CR Glider GEH • Excellent condition, with Borgelt vario, average and speed to fly. Terra 760D radio. PLB. Wing walker, fuse stand, clip on tail wheel. Parachute. Recent Annual. Recently painted trailer, spare wheel, new registration and warrant. Based Nelson. Offers considered. April Rumsey email april_rumsey@yahoo.com or phone 027 220 3306 Duo Discus X • ZK -GRW presently at Omarama. Serial No 541 (2007 build, first in service 2008) 1070 hrs and 232 launches. Immaculate condition.

PU finish. Never watered. Cambridge 302/303. Front and rear. Cambridge LNAV. Winter mechanical vario front. Becker Radio, Funke TRT 800 Transponder. Flarm. Mountain High oxygen system. Four fuselage batteries. 2x Turn and slip. Jaxida Covers. Always hangared in her covers. Accident free history. Superb COBRA trailer (single axle) with one man tow out gear.

Serious enquirers may inspect the glider at Omarama by prior arrangement with Justin Wills. Rod Witter email: Rodney.witter@btinternet.com or phone 0044 1244 325 730 $210,000

HANGARS 18m hangar spaces in the Omarama Hangar • $20,000 each or near offer.

Contact Mike Hamilton phone 03 962 1530 email: mike.hamilton@hamjet.co.nz Omarama 20M Locked Hanger Space (first row) • with water, power and painted floor. Great neighbours and very secure. Contact D P Laing – david.p.laing@gmail.com $52,000 Omarama Hangar space • 15m hangar space available in the western hangar on the side near the terminal building. Long/short let available contact Annie Laylee / G Dale annlaylee@aol.com

TOW PLANES Eurofox Tow Plane • Aeropro Eurofox 3K Tow, Advanced Microlight. 100 hp Rotax 912 ULS engine, DUC Windspoon 3-blade propeller, tricycle undercarriage, tow hook, Dynon D1000 Skyview glass cockpit, Flarm display, Transponder, Garmin Aera 500 GPS, SL40 VHF Comm, Aircraft is only 2 years old with 180 hours TT and in “as new” condition.Will be sold with new annual and a 200 hour inspection. Asking price NZ$103,000 plus GST ono. Warwick Bethwaite. Email: warwick.bethwaite@gmail.com 027 374 1059

OTHER FOR SALE Winter Variometer • Bought new in 2000. Model 5 St VM 5-3. This Winter vario has the small hole diameter of 57mm. Complete with capacity flask and is in perfect working condition.The face is in pristine condition and it’s about half replacement cost. Top right corner modified to fit a tight panel. $490 Roger Sparks 0274956560 r.sparks@xtra.co.nz Sailplane Instruments • For Sale due to panel re-organisation; offers sought. LX100 vario, 80mm, serviceable, A8A Oxygen regulator, adjustable constant flow, servicable, 200 bar max inlet pressure, certified to FL25 by Avox, 12V Gyro Turn and Bank, servicable with new release note from Liviu Avionics, Terra Mode C Encoder, status unknown, purchaser can inspect and trial with no purchase obligation. All items in Auckland, can take photos on request. Contact Andy Mackay - andymacfly2002@yahoo. com or phone 021 174 4719

Volkslogger 1.0 Make an offer • Contact Laurie Kirkham email: laurie. kirkham@xtra.co.nz Selection of Instruments from a wooden Glider • Altimeter, Vario – Winter, Vario – Electric Altriss, Airspeed Indicator-to 130 Knots. Compass, Radio, Microair M760 with boom microphone – can switch between frequencies during flight. All the instruments were removed in working order from glider that had current ARA. These units are all being sold separately so any reasonable offer for each of them will be considered. Contact Paul Clarke email: paul_clarke@clear.net.nz Selection of Instruments • Oudie with Sunlight Screen Update. Like new well looked after, never dropped. This has the upgrade to the sunlight readable screen. Includes Carry case, Ram mounts, USB to Serial cable, etc $600. 80mm ALT. Selling due to upgrade. Make an Offer. 80mm ASI. Removing due to upgrade. Make an Offer.

Borgelt B2000 • This came in the glider and worked for 2 flights, now does not. Not wasting any time or effort on it replacing with LXNav Flight computer. So if this is any good for parts or if you want to try and get it working contact me. Includes serial port, GPS, Remote control etc. Contact Douglas email: doug@waipapaeyecare.co.nz or phone 021 118 5797 Caravan • 25 ft fully equipped for comfortable superior semi permanent living.

Awnings, H/C water, elec with WoF, gas, plenty of storage, TV. If you are a regular visitor to Omarama & want a base that takes just 30 mins to set up or pack away incorporating sensible security & with touring options consider this as the ultimate. Always well maintained and easy to road WoF, inside winter stored. I have had my fun - is it time for yours. Location: Christchurch. $25,000. Phone (+6427) 450 8505 email mda.308@xtra.co.nz

PARACHUTES ‘Strong’ cushion style long parachute (new June 2005) • Top of the range with all the extras – quick release fittings, Sheepskin. $1,000. Contact loaders@ clear.net.nz 1996 Irvin Great Britain, Type EB86 S/N 540351 • Owned by me since 2007.

Just repacked by Wayne Holmes at Skydiving Kiwis in Ashburton. Excellent condition, looks unused. It is comfortable but a bit long in the body for me.

Offers. Contact Richard Johnson johnsonra@xtra.co.nz or phone 027 614 0348 Sale or Swap • I’ve inherited this parachute with a glider, but due to my height need something slimmer. Labelled “Southern Parachutes Service Fleet Hants”. Made March 2002. Supported weight 254lbs/115Kg. Blue cover and carry case. Built in blow up lumbar support. Sheepskin liner. Well looked after, and clean. About 4 inches thick. Very comfy to sit on. No bulges or uncomfy bits. Tested on a 4 hour flight. I’m happy to have it re-packed before sale to ensure canopy is in good condition. Willing to swap for a good condition slim parachute (2 to 2.5 inch would be ideal). $2,500 ono or swap.

Contact Tim Bromhead email: gliding@pear.co.nz or phone 021 217 904

WANTED Wanted good serviceable parachute, needs to be good for 100Kg. Havelock Nth. Email jason.price@nz.hjheinz.com – 021977240

August–October 2015

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SAILPLANE SERVICES LTD Specialist Composite Aviation Engineering

NZ agents for Schempp-Hirth Sailplanes, LXNav Soaring Equipment and Trig Avionics all state of the art equipment for soaring aircraft.

Ross Gaddes email ross@sailplaneservices.co.nz phone +64 9 294 7324 or +674 274 789 123