Glide Freedom

Glide Freedom is a project undertaken by the Auckland Gliding Club to provide fun glider flying and glider training for the disabled.

The Glide Freedom project uses AGC’s Schleicher ASK-21 training glider. In addition to the standard controls, this glider is fitted with a hand control for the rudder. This means the glider can be flown with the hand controls by pilots that are not able to use the standard foot operated controls for the rudder. To date, we have taken disabled pilots flying at Drury, Matamata and at Norfolk Road in Taranaki.

On our first ‘Glide Freedom Day Up,’ we flew three disabled persons at Drury. All the participants had the chance to fly the glider under supervision of the instructor. This was very successful, so we took the glider to Matamata and followed that with a trip to the combined Vintage Kiwi and AGC Easter Rally in Taranaki.

It is a long drive to Taranaki, more than five hours by road. However we all felt the effort to bring AK and offer a flight to the disabled people in Taranaki was a worthwhile venture. On Good Friday we took six disabled people for a glider flight utilizing the hand flying controls. A lot of smiles were witnessed. It was a real Good Friday for the ‘Glide Freedom’ participants.