Soaringnz Issue 53

NEW ZEALAND’S PREMIER SOARING MAGAZINE

PIAKO 60TH VK RALLY FLYING IN HAWAII HUMAN FACTORS • CLUB NEWS i s s u e 5 3 M a y – J u l y 2 0 18

JS1 REVELATION – the current world champion in both the 18m and the Open Class or the NEW cutting edge JS3 RAPTURE in the 15m or 18m class.

We have you covered

One delivery position available for each in 2018

The NEW cutting edge JS3 RAPTURE in the 15m or 18m class.

CONTACT BRETT HUNTER bhunter@kinect.co.nz or 021 927626

contents may–july 2018 features 11 My New Zealand Adventures 12 Piako’s 60th 17 Professor Gordon Alick Hookings 20 2018 Central Districts Gliding Championships 22 Vintage Kiwi Rally 24 Lessons from Nearly Landing Out 26 Auckland Gliding (Pan American) Club 30 The 12th Helli Lasch Challenge 34 Human Factors: The Ears, The Gliding

12

Environment and Passenger Flying 38

Complacency: What, Me Worry?

42

Flying in Hawaii

44

Auckland YouthGlide Mini-Camp 2018

46

Buying your First Glider

regulars 6 Log Book 27 Book Corner 33 ab-initio 48 Gliding New Zealand Club News 53 GNZ Awards & Certificates 66 Classified Advertising

32

20

30

42

UK $100 Europe $109 USA $109

Publisher

Advertising, editorial and subscription enquiries

McCaw Media Ltd

Editor Jill McCaw soaringnz@mccawmedia.co.nz

Annual Subscription Rates New Zealand Australia/South Pacific Asia

$75 $86 $98

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

Printer Spectrum Print Design RGB Design & Print Ltd Proof Reading Helen Cook SoaringNZ is a quarterly publication produced

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

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

All material sent to SoaringNZ will be assumed to be publishable unless marked not for publication.

SoaringNZ invites contributions but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material.

ISSN 1178-4784 May–July 2018 3

from the editor may–july 2018 Being with like minded people is good for you. There’s a whole new age thing about finding your tribe, but actually it’s true. People who share your interests tend to share your mindset as well. I’m writing this at Whitianga on the Sunday of Queens Birthday Weekend. It’s pouring with rain. It’s the annual rally of the New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation, or as most people know it, the Airwomen’s Rally. The weather’s been a real shame, but we did manage to get all the flying competitions completed on Saturday before the weather really struck. We had a fantastic social dinner and catch up last night and a more formal prize giving dinner is occurring tonight. I’ve dragged John along this year. He did attend one of these things with me once; 27 years ago, if I’m counting correctly. He’s discovered that there’s quite a few aviation minded men along as well and after being worried about being a spare wheel (or wing) he’s enjoying having a lot in common with most of the people here.

It is thirty years since I attended my first ‘Airwomen’s’ in Nelson, back in 1988. I haven’t been a regular attendee through that time but have become much more involved in the last few years and a regular rally attendee for the last five years. Back in 1988 I was a glider pilot pure and simple with no interest in any other types of flying. I was however in awe of the inspiring women who did fly other things – Ann Barbarich, Sue Truman (both airline pilots but also glider pilots and other things) and others. There was something about being part of a group of people who, even if they didn’t fly what I flew, had very similar experiences with everything surrounding the flying. But the appeal of the Airwomen’s is so much more than that. Over the years I have come to delight in the joy and celebration of aviation within the group. And I’ve come to have a much greater interest in general aviation.

My interests have expanded. Now I write stories about all aspects of aviation and have regular slots in a general aviation magazine. I am an aviation journalist. I was a nurse back then. My life has completely changed, but that’s a story for my memoirs. I write about air shows and events, about air forces and their aircraft, about people in the industry, about historic aircraft and about people who restore them. I write about gliding. My stories, always, even if they appear to be about aircraft, are about people.

Aviation people are good people. If I’m interviewing a jet pilot, I want to know about what that pilot feels when he flies. If I’m writing about the restoration of a WWII fighter I want to know

PIAKO 60TH VK RALLY

i s s u e 5 3 M a y – J u l y 2 0 18

4

May–July 2018

about the people who flew that plane and the love the restoration team feel for the aircraft. This is true for SoaringNZ too. I try to guide correspondents to tell us of the people who won the contest day, the most exciting flights, the most meritorious new comers over and above, and hopefully instead of, the blow by blow daily results.

By the time you’re reading this magazine the AGM will have come and gone and with it the vote that will decide whether or not SoaringNZ stays a print magazine. Regardless of that vote SoaringNZ is looking to the future and entering the online world. Having an online copy gives us an exciting opportunity to expand our subscriptions into the international gliding community without the drawback of exorbitant postal costs. We can expand our content to cover many more international events and happenings without worry about the cost of extra pages. It also makes us viable to overseas advertisers. I’m expecting the

next issue

NEW ZEALAND’S PREMIER SOARING MAGAZINE

FLYING IN HAWAII HUMAN FACTORS • CLUB NEWS

The Airwomen’s Rally involves competitions for pilots from pre solo to commercial.

Jonathan Wardman in his new (second-hand) Nimbus over Lake Coleridge.

Photo John McCaw.

Next Issue: A Shark FES GNZ AGM and National Awards

magazine deadlines Competition Deadline for Club News, articles and pictures is 17 July 2018 and 26 July 2018 for advertising.

subscription form Name:_______________________________________________________________ Address:_____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Postcode ______________ Phone _______________________________________________________________ Email_________________________________________________________________ Annual Subscription Rates – four issues a year (All GNZ members automatically subscribed)

online version be slightly different to the print one with most of the New Zealand specific content in the print version, but don’t worry – if you’re subscribed to the print copy you can also access the online version as part of your subscription. You’ll be getting even more value for your money.

If you want to see what an online magazine looks like, this issue of SoaringNZ and the previous one are available online at ISSUU.com. These are free for anyone to view but in the future issues will be restricted to those who have a paid subscription or those who wish to pay to read one as a stand-alone. Spread the word. Readers will be able to buy a single digital issue or sign up and pay for a year’s subscription by clicking on the latest SoaringNZ magazine at ISSUU. A gliding magazine may seem to be about gliders, but really it is about the community of gliding people, that tribe of people both within New Zealand and around the world who share a love of soaring and know the feeling of pitting themselves against the energy in the sky. Our magazine is the place to share those stories: to celebrate successes, first solos, first cross-countries, high flights, long flights, happy flights, scary flights, contest flights; weddings, and obituaries. It’s all about staying in contact with our people, our tribe.

Stay safe Jill

One Year Two Years

(not available to GNZ members) New Zealand $75 $130 Australia/South Pacific $86 $142 Asia $98 $177 UK $100 $179 Europe $109 $198 USA $109 $198

Payment enclosed $ (All cheques made payable to McCaw Media Ltd) Credit card facilities available

Post today to McCaw Media Ltd, 430 Halswell Rd, Christchurch

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

Card Expiry Date____________________________

Name on Card_______________________________________________________

logbook may–july 2018

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.

Flying Taxis?

As well as the recently announced development of flying taxis in New Zealand, Pipistrel, in partnership with Elan is also working on the concept of a vertical take-off and landing electric air vehicle (eVTOL) for urban transport. The new group of aircraft will use a dedicated propulsion system for both cruising and vertical lift

and will be able to carry between 2 and 6 passengers. Elan’s ability to develop ultra-lightweight and super-strong composite materials will contribute to longer flight times and heavier payloads for the eVTOL , therefore improving not just the vehicle itself but also the users' experience with it.

The WE Expedition (Women Empower) Two Indian women (names yet to be confirmed) are planning to fly around the world in a Pipistrel Motor Glider (dates not yet announced).

The WE Expedition website says: A circumnavigation of the Earth in a motorglider is a feat so difficult that it has only ever been accomplished five times before, and never by a woman.

Once completed, the WE Expedition and its all woman team will be breaking barriers and records and creating a series of firsts: > World Record for the first motorglider circumnavigation by women pilots > World First for an all-woman, non-commercial, civilian expedition > First motorglider circumnavigation by Indian pilots, man or woman Taking off in 2018, touching 3 continents and covering more than 40,000 kms in 90 days, the WE Expedition is a flight into history.

6

May–July 2018

SoaringNZ wishes them well and hopes that they do get off the ground and have a successful flight.

Soaring Avionics, Radios and Transponders

AIR GLIDE – A new take on soaring avionics!

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

Contact the NZ Agents for more information. Now with an online shop at www.nzsoaring-solutions.myshopify.com/

NZSoaring Solutions

Paul Buchanan, Hood Aerodrome Masterton www.nzsoaring.solutions info@nzsoaring.solutions

M 021 073 0021 Ph 06 370 8090

GAVIN WILLS

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

ADVENTURE SOARING FLIGHTS

Inquiries and Bookings phone +64 3 438 9555 | www.glideomarama.com

May–July 2018

7

logbook may–july 2018 Faulty Lock SOS button on Delorme/Garmin InReach system SoaringNZ has been made aware that there can be a problem with the lock on the SOS button of the above devices. As some glider pilots have moved from SPOT to the Delorme/Garmin InReach system this is a problem that may affect our members.

Please be aware that even with a properly locked button, it is still possible to press hard enough on the button to trigger the device and send out a false alert.

Please google SOS Lockswitch problems InReach to find out more.

Antenna

81 LESSONS FROM THE SKY – NEW BOOK

BY FLETCHER MCKENZIE Learn from the experiences of others so that we ourselves may live longer.

81 Lessons From The Sky focusses on learning from the mistakes of others within the aviation industry, encompassing 81 stories from around the world. Stories from the General Aviation community on their own near misses and their learnings. Stories from the USA, Australia and the United Kingdom. All 81 stories have been selected and republished with permission from NASA, CASA and CHIRP.

Status Light

“Everything we know in aviation, every rule in the rule book, every Micro-USB Port Quit/ Preset Messages Shortcut

Power/Enter

procedure we have, we know because someone somewhere died….

We have purchased at great cost, lessons literally bought with blood that we have to preserve as institutional knowledge and pass on to succeeding generations. We cannot have the moral failure of forgetting these lessons and then having to relearn them.”

CHESLEY SULLENBERGER

Directional Pad SOS

Pre-order, for release on Amazon on June 22.

SOS Button Lock

FAI NEWS Calling all drone enthusiasts Are you – or do you know – someone who is using drones for the good of humanity?

The FAI is on a quest to find an inspirational recipient worthy of the Prince Alvaro de Orleans-Borbon Grant – a $20,000 cash injection for air sports pioneers involved in research and innovation.

Open to both individuals and institutions, the theme of the 2018 grant is: Drones for humanity. See the FAI website for more information

Drone racing and parachuting canopy piloting at The World Games 2021 The World Games 2021 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, will include two FAI air sports. Drone racing and canopy

8

May–July 2018

piloting – a spectacular form of skydiving that combines precision and speed – will be on the programme of the multi-sport event.

"Having air sports competitions at these large-scale sporting events brings vast media attention, and is an excellent opportunity to show off our athletes’ skills" said FAI President Frits Brink. "We are especially proud to have drone racing, a totally new sport which is particularly appealing to a young audience, for the first time at the Games".

“Our thanks to the IWGA for its continuing support of air sports. We are already looking forward to joining them in Birmingham in 2021 for the next World Games.”

Held under the patronage of the IOC, The World Games are held every four years for sports or disciplines not included in the Olympic Games.

logbook may–july 2018

DG AIRCRAFT WINNING AT RED BULL AIR RACES

In recent years the maker of DG gliders have been expanding their market and expertise into products as varied as wind vanes and racing aircraft.

Australian Matt Hall, flying a DG Flugzeugbau aerodynamically modified aircraft won the Red Bull Air Race in Cannes in April.

Cannes was the second round of racing in the season and after this win, Hall is in second place in the overall placings.

The next round of racing begins on the 26 May in Chiba in Japan with another five series of races in different locations throughout the year to find the overall winner.

Moved house? Changed email?

Stay in touch Please update your details on Gliding NZ’s database. http://gliding.co.nz/ – About – Online Membership It’s important we have your correct address to ensure you continue to receive your SoaringNZ magazine.

Recently Gliding NZ sent out emails to all members,

FIRST FRONT ELECTRIC SUSTAINER (FES) IN NEW ZEALAND JUST IN TIME FOR WINTER

but we had quite a few bounce backs – please check your email address is correct on the database.

Why not log in now and check your entry; you can also view your ratings and awards.

Any problems, contact membership@gliding.co.nz

Laurie Kirkham Central Register Manager

Canterbury members Peter Taylor and Grant Shaw are very impressed with the build quality and flight performance of their new Shark FES. At the time of press they have had a couple of flights each. Peter says, “The electric propulsion system works just as advertised and is really easy to use.” SoaringNZ will have a full report in the next issue.

May–July 2018

9

logbook may–july 2018 European Soaring Season underway New Zealand’s contest possibilities seem very small when you compare them to the number of contest occurring in just about any European country during their season. As I write this (24 May) Soaring Spot shows 11 contests currently occurring in: The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Finland, Belgium, three in Italy, and two in Lithuania. Competitor numbers range from six (Campionato Italiano Standard 2018, Voghera-Rivanazzano, Italy) to 35 (Internationaler Hotzenwaldwettbewerb 2018, Hütten, Germany – in two classes). The previous week there were ten competitions across Europe. That’s a lot of gliders in the sky.

It’s only in the event of a

CL A IM

that you really find out who has the best policy!

Contact your broker or phone Zandra and talk to the people who specialise in aviation insurance.

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.

10

May–july 2018

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

TELEPHONE 04 473 5593

MY NEW ZEALAND ADVENTURES

BY HUGO CORBILLE

After a summer season instructing, first for the Canterbury Gliding Club at Springfield and then for the Auckland Gliding Club at Drury, French instructor Hugo Corbille has a lot of New Zealand adventures and memories to add to his log book. With his infectious enthusiasm for soaring he made many friends and inspired many Kiwis to spread their wings.

Au revoir Hugo. It was great flying with you.

T

oday (15 February 2018) is the second time I crossed the Manukau harbour in the air. The first time was in a glider out of Auckland Gliding Club’s Douglas Road site. Today was in a A380. This last take off marks the end of my New Zealand gliding experience.

After my trip in the South Island to the Canterbury Gliding Club where I discovered a great mountain soaring place, I spent the other three months of my trip in Drury. In charge of crosscountry training there I discovered that it is an ideal gliding spot, particularly for cross-country training.

I arrived in Auckland in mid-November and have flown nearly every day from then until mid-January, sharing cross-country experience as much as I could. The end of spring weather was great, with a lot of interesting weather configurations. Every day I learned a bit more about soaring. Drury is a place with a huge aerological potential, a lot of convergences, and other phenomena.

The influence of the sea plays an important role and makes the

place challenging, because the weather changes quickly. This creates suspense every flight, and making it back home is a great sensation. Of course, we sometimes land out. I did, and more than once. But it is part of gliding, and a good reason to share a beer in the night. At Drury the gliding days start early, but the bar closes late. It is a very social bar which contributes to the energy and the magic of the place.

From Drury I made a few memorable flights that I will remember all my life. I have learnt a lot about sea breeze convergences. They set up quite regularly and gave amazing soaring rides to come back home. I also discovered the coastal flying out of Douglas road.

THIS, is something to do!

The Drury Enterprise Contest was a great gliding event, well organised. We flew six days out of seven. The principle of the competition, which rewards the distance achieved more than the speed, allows creativity and original flights. I had never flown this type of competition before, but I found it really exciting. I wish I could come back next year.

To wrap up, I can say that my first season’s gliding experience in your country has been a complete one. The South Island is stunning, the North Island surprising. You might see me around again before not too long. I have had a lovely social, human and gliding adventure. Many thanks to all the people that helped me to feel welcome and made my trip even more enjoyable. If there is one thing I'll remember more than all, it is your hospitality.

I wish you all the best. If the winter turns too wet, you still can come and catch the sun in Southern France.

May–July 2018

11

PIAKO’S 60th Anniversary Celebration

BY GENNY HEALEY

THE BEST LAID PLANS As glider pilots we are used to looking at clouds and finding the silver lining of lift. The silver lining of an 8/8ths cloud cover with a base of 800 feet on the 60th Anniversary of Piako Gliding Club’s first flight from Matamata in 1958, was no one else was operating in those conditions. We compete for use of the field with many, including Skydiving, the Matamata Aero Club (which had organised a fly in for the same day), two commercial flight schools, agricultural pilots, gyrocopters, modellers and microlights.

While the conditions meant some planned events did not take place including the mass photo of the 32 Gliders hangared on the field or some of the display of Vintage Gliders and towing by BFF (one of our original Tiger Moth tow planes), it did mean than instead of a 1:30pm – 2:30pm agreed window for any aerobatics we could have the whole day.

For many, the highlight of the day was the aerial display by the modern fleet of Gliders. First there was Brett Hunter in his JS3 Rapture ZK-GXB and David Jensen in his JS1 ZK-GVR who after discussion with our CFI Bob Gray, did two breath taking displays to show the raw speed that these gliders are capable of with the assistance of a jet engine. View videos on Piakos or GNZ's Facebook page. Julian Elder self-launched his Antares, ZK-GDE, doing a much slower fly by, followed by Julian Mason selflaunching in his TeST TST 14 Bonus M, ZK-GUL that he owns in partnership with Chris Money and Paul Castle. With the Elliotts Baby Eon ZK-GAF of John Currie and Don Grigg in the foreground it made a splendid sight. Like the dinner later that night the best was saved till last. Arthur Gatland did not let a low cloud base stop

12

May–July 2018

him from performing a magical aerobatic display in Piako's single Discus ZK-GXP. The weather meant that Tiger Moth BFF didn't make it across the Kaimais until Sunday (when I was treated to a 30 minute local flight) before she towed Brian Ruddle's Slingsby Dart ZK-GDW flown by Rae Kerr. John then had to scamper back to Tauranga in front of the approaching rain.

A GRAND DAY WITH DISTINGUISHED VISITORS AND REMINISCING With 167 registrations for lunch, including 25 farmers whose paddocks we had landed in, and 81 for dinner, we always knew it would be a busy and fun day. The weather was worse in Auckland and we received a few apologies on Saturday morning from Aucklanders and eight of the farmers. Rory Gordon (a Piako Member 1965 -1982 and the first New Zealander to win a day at the Worlds in Australia in 1974) travelled from Aucklands’ North Shore to enjoy the camaraderie and reminiscing. Rory, Bruce Fowler and Ian Finlayson, all Piako Members, represented New Zealand at the Worlds in France in 1978. All three are enthusiastic for Piako's plan to purchase a higher performance two-seater trainer. Gareth Cartwright and Sarel Venter are overseeing fund raising and had information available on the day.

Tracey Gore made a wonderful wall display of photos of the past and present that was a focal point in the Club Rooms. Others sat around tables and viewed the albums Pam Gore had spent many hours updating. Lew Hale (Life Member) who first put an advert in the local paper in December 1955 seeking people interested

Tow Pilots, past and present.

Long term club stalwarts, Mavis and Harold Oates.

in forming a Gliding Club, spoke to the press. There is an article on Stuff or see the GNZ Facebook page. That advert was in 1955, however it took until 1958 to purchase a Schleicher Rhonlerche, ZK-GBO (the little stinker) and tow plane for us to fly. Peter Layne from Auckland Gliding Club compiled a book for the Matamata Soaring Centre 50th Anniversary "The Foundation Years" which makes for interesting reading. Harold Oates (Life Member) with Lew Hale, our only surviving Founding Member, was our first tow pilot and continued towing till 2011, doing over 17,000 tows.

Harold and his wife Mavis remain active in the Club, with Mavis in the radio room for the Nationals Championship at MSC earlier this year. At dinner Harold got to cut a cake honouring ZK-BZA 50 Years in the club. Our beloved Pawnee tow plane is now in parts and Tony Davies our Tug Master will write her history up for the next issue of SoaringNZ. Roger Brown (Life Member) joined Piako in 1967. Back then they were the Waikato Gliding Club, flying out of Gordonton, until asked by the landowner to leave after they had finally cleared his paddock of rocks which until then had made it unsuitable for farming. Piako has benefited hugely from both Roger and Godfrey Larsen from Gordonton; as instructors, current working-bee stalwarts (yes there's bird proofing to be done again boys), and photos and knowledge of the Club's history and contact details of past members. Roger, the organiser of Piako's 40th and 50th Anniversaries was able to organise many gliders for display due to his Vintage Kiwi connection and made the original contact with John Pheasant, current owner of BFF to tow these Vintage Gliders.

Sadly, the weather didn’t let this happen.

Rosemary Gatland, sister of Arthur, was both an Instructor and

Tow Pilot at Piako 1969-1978. Rosemary went solo at 16 and was instructing at 20. Some of our current Instructors remember being trained by Rosemary at Piako and then travelling to Auckland for Instructor Training with Arthur and their father Frank. Both Frank and Arthur's books are excellent reads.

Another woman who duelled with Rosemary for records in the ‘70s and ‘80s was Ann Johnson. Ann flew her ASW 15 ZK-GGO from Matamata to Gisborne using an AA road map. A feat no one else, male or female, has repeated. She also achieved her 300 km in a K6. Both these women are so inspiring to talk to. Ann has recently celebrated her 80th birthday. Her son David is a current Piako member and would be leading the OLC table if only he entered his flights. Rosemary has meanwhile moved on to Kayak Racing and has won one World Masters Gold and three Bronze Medals.

Club President and tow pilot Iggy Wood was our MC. His talented wife Diana did the table flowers, morning tea and much of the behind the scenes planning to make it such a successful day. She has also compiled a book of Iggy’s tales from his time in the Airforce. Thanks to Marianne Devenoges for helping with the seating arrangements so 87 people could be accommodated in the Club House for dinner – a record number. Joan Wine worked efficiently and tirelessly behind the scenes throughout the day making sure the coffee was brewing, the urn full of hot water and the jugs full of cold iced water. It is always good to hear her laugh, you know those little things are being done with good humour.

Two 6 burner barbeques supplied by new member Patrick Lalor with Rakesh Allen cooked 21 kgs of sausages for lunch. Patrick is flying through his A Cert. Rakesh is a YouthGlide member and has

May–July 2018

13

PIAKO’S 60TH

Founding member Lew Hale reminisces with Peter Blakeborough.

nearly achieved QGP. Thanks to Ralph Gore for supplying extra sausages when I thought 16 kg wasn't going to be enough together with the extra tables and chairs.

A SHOUT OUT TO THE CATERERS They were Linda Bryan, owner operator of Cottage Fare, Rococo Gifts and Rococo Cafe at 39c Cavendish Drive Manukau City, along with the help of her husband Nick and 8 year old granddaughter Mia, putting on a wonderful lunch and dinner at cost for the Club. I took Nick for his first glider flight in October last year and he is keen to learn now the sailing season is over.

In the best tradition, the crumbed mussels were left forgotten in the fridge but were able to be used for Sunday's lunch.

The rest were frozen and used as an addition to our monthly Wednesday night dinner prior to the Committee Meeting. Linda has generously agreed to do the catering for Piako's Midwinter Dinner and Prize Giving at the Club rooms – 30th June.

Many friendships were renewed, and memories relived on the day, even the Mayoress popped in to say Hello between engagements. With all the weather reports showing fine weather up until two days prior we could have been disheartened, but Piako has a huge heart with a strong foundation. Marion Moody (without power for six days after the Auckland weather bomb) spent two days chasing down the matching wine glasses, sending them down with Piako members Paul Castle and Chris Money on Saturday morning when she and David (the new Northern ROO), couldn't make it. Everyone who attended is to be thanked for the

14

May–July 2018

Sarel Venter.

effort they made and their contribution to a wonderful weekend, especially our club members current and past: Gerald Van Vliet, who helped with the setting up Friday and clearing up Sunday Sarel Venter and Derek Shipley, our new Bar Managers Robin Britton for hosting the guest farmers Tim Bromhead for running the videos and photos on the day and capturing some of the magic of the day in photos along with Pam Gore and Peter Mole.

Every club member helped in some way, from our newest to our oldest. Even those that had prior commitments on the day and could not attend supplied photos, videos and helped in the preparation. Thank you all. Steven and I could not have organised and run the 60th Celebrations without your help. In the words of Winston Churchill

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.

But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Here's to the next 60 years of Piako Gliding Club.

PIAKO’S 60TH

RECOLLECTIONS

BY GODFREY LARSEN phens and Lindsey Ste , Lou Cadman, Sandy Norman u had many Lo II. rk yla sk of Lou’s under the wing in Catalinas urs instructing lo. thousands of ho sent me first so o als He 2. during WW

Neil Quigg refuelling the Gordonton winch. Neil was also a Piako member.

Togged up for a Diamond

Height in CO.

NZ 2-seat O/R record. The record stood for a whole 24 hours.

Preparing for a double tow at Matamata. The only certain identities are Tony Fowke in black jacket at the wing of FN, and Brian Webb (L) and Ralph Insoll (R) at wing of ED. About 1972.

As well as catching up with people you haven’t seen for years, anniversary celebrations are a wonderful chance to remember the stories and history of a club. Long term member Godfrey Larsen wanders down memory lane and shares some recollections and reflections of gliding in the Waikato, of the Piako Gliding Club in particular.

T

he PGC was founded in 1958 in Matamata; legend has it that it happened under a tree in Pohlen Park on the initiative of Lew Hale. When I joined in 1968, the club was going strong with a brand new K13 (FN), a Ka6Cr (CO),

a Ka6Pe (DI) and some very good pilots. Towing was by Tiger Moth and soon after by Pawnee (BZA).

I had joined the Waikato Gliding Club when it was formed in 1963 and had progressed through T31, Rhonlerche and EoN Olympia (ZK-GAA), winching and aerotowing. Our Instructors included Alan Irving, Lou Cadman, Barrie Morris, Mitch Begley, Ross Biggar, and Stu Rogerson. Ian Finlayson, having his eye on bigger things, had headed off to Masterton to get his C Certificate in a Skylark IV, and soon moved into his own Ka6E. The Waikato club operated initially from Rukuhia, then from an airstrip in Ballard Road Gordonton which had been levelled and stumped by club members. However, the club folded in 1967 after operating for its last few months at Matamata under the wing of the Piako Club. Several Waikato club pilots moved to the Piako club, including Roger Brown, Peter Ham, Vince Brown, Stu Rogerson and myself. Club member Rollo Beale

May–July 2018

15

PIAKO’S 60TH L-R

, Sandy Norman (in Brian Webb, Bob Craven

back seat), Morrie Bea

le (at wingtip), Ralph Inso

Marion Werhle and Mor

ll.

rie Beale.

Jeff Randrup (R) and Les Reisterer working on the wing of their Skylark IV.

Rex Waite

Peter deRenzy and Francis Le Cornu in FN

(Morrie’s father) had nearly completed a splendid two drum winch for the Waikato club at the time of its demise, and in hindsight, it is a pity the Piako Club did not obtain it.

There were excellent instructors and mentors in the Piako Club for us to learn from: Tony Fowke, Ross Carmichael, Peter deRenzy, Sandy Norman, Frank Buckley, Rory Gordon and Bruce Fowler among them. Under their guidance, us younger pilots gained confidence and experience in CO followed by DI, Ka6 EX (which replaced the aging CO) and, when it arrived in 1970, the ASW15 GF. ASW15 GE joined the fleet in 1971. GF was later lost in the Kaimais after sinking into the cap cloud; the pilot was rescued.

Ka6 DB was in the fleet in 1973. My logbook does not record later single seater changes as I had bought a share in Libelle GY with Tony Oldfield in 1972. I know the K13 continued to serve the club well until 1990 when the Puchacz PC arrived. Various other two-seaters were hired to fill the demand, including Rhonlerche, L13 Blanik, Ka7, and Bocian.

The club introduced winching in 1976, in response to the oil price shocks of 1972-74. It was built by Dick Hastings to my design. At Gordonton we had used single strand wire which kinked easily if not laid out carefully and broke easily. The PGC winch used stranded cable with much better results, but the lighter weight Dynema used today is better again. I had also unofficially launched the Libelle by car in June 1973, but heights of only about 1000’ were obtained before the car ran out of runway.

Auto-launching was not continued.

The club operated out of the defunct aeroclub’s clubhouse and

16

May–July 2018

Sandy Norman in the club ASW15

hangar until the early ‘70s when the new club hangar was built and the new Matamata Soaring Centre clubhouse was built. The old clubhouse, hangar, and petrol pumps were sited in front of the present Aviation Academy; the fuel pump concrete apron is still there at the side of the runway. The Soaring Centre was formed by the Northern North Island clubs to secure and promote Matamata as a premier gliding site.

Club pilots who represented NZ in World Champs in the ‘70s and ‘80s included Tony Fowke, Rory Gordon, Ian Finlayson, Bruce Fowler; and in the Tasman Trophy, Allan Eccles and Bryan O’Brien.

Several records were established at Matamata – in particular, Anne Johnson’s flight in her Ka6 FD to Gisborne in wave.

The club operated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Some keen young pilots (no names, Roger) would sleep over on the clubhouse floor or in a trailer so as to be first in the queue.

Breakfasts of mushrooms fresh picked off the runway were delicious. The launch point was run from a bright yellow suitcase, rather than a caravan, record keeping was laborious – especially for the treasurer trying to read handwritten timesheets – and pilots were billed if they didn’t pay on the day. The computer and EFTPOS have transformed the efficiency of the club.

So much has changed but the essentials of being a gliding club hasn’t. We’re still a bunch of folks who love to fly gliders.

PROFESSOR GORDON ALICK HOOKINGS Glider pilot, Administrator and Mathematician 28 October 1920 – 1 December 2017

BY PETER LAYNE

Margaret and Gordon with Ivan Reilly from the University of Auckland's Mathematics Department.

This obituary of Gordon Hookings by Peter Layne tells the story of not just a great man, but of the sport of gliding in New Zealand. We didn’t have room to run the article in the last issue but feel that it is an interesting and important story. Thank you to Peter for taking the time to find all the information to put this together.

W

hen Professor Emeritus, Gordon Hookings passed away recently the New Zealand gliding fraternity lost one of its champions; not only in the air but also on the ground.

Gordon’s introduction to gliding was in England in 1946 at the Cambridge University Gliding Club. At the same time, he was also learning to fly Tiger Moths with the University Air Squadron – an RAF Reserve Unit.

Let’s wind the clock back to the early days of World War II by which stage he was on a path to become one of New Zealand’s most outstanding and celebrated mathematicians. In 1941, he was awarded a Shirtcliffe Graduate Bursary, a Senior Scholarship in Pure Mathematics, the Sir George Grey Scholarship and the Cook Memorial Prize in Mathematics. He graduated M.Sc. with First Class Honours in Mathematics and was awarded a Post-Graduate Scholarship. The early war years saw Gordon as an optical munitions designer for the DSIR (and part-time lecturer in Physics at Auckland University).

In late 1943, he was one of a small group who were plucked from various services and positions around the country and spirited off to Britain to work as an aerodynamicist with Power Jets (Research and Development) Limited, a British Air Ministry firm. There, he was involved with the theory and practice of the then top-secret, Frank Whittle jet aircraft engines.

When the war ended, he was able to resume his academic

studies, as a research student at the University of Cambridge. He was awarded his M.Sc. for investigations into the flow of swirling water.

Gordon first flew solo in a glider on 18 March 1946 and achieved his PPL the same year. On 18 June 1946, at Long Mynd, Shropshire (just East of the Welsh border), Gordon stayed aloft for 5 hours 15 minutes to collect his Silver and Gold duration awards.

On 20 July 1947, he began a “love affair” with EoN Olympia glider BGA511 in which he discovered the joy of thermalling.

Taking off from Cambridge on 15 August 1947, Gordon climbed to 3,600 feet to claim his silver height gain. These two Silver badge legs were entered on the British Gliding Association Awards register. On arrival over an aerodrome at 1,600 feet, to complete his silver distance flight, he performed a victory loop and landed only to discover he had misread the map and was one mile short.

Success had to wait for another day. As it was, his Silver and Gold badge flights were spread over several years and locations.

In 1948, Gordon was appointed to a Senior Lectureship at Auckland University, and he became an Associate-Professor in 1967. By the time Gordon arrived back in New Zealand in late 1948, he had some 30 hours gliding experience including some on ‘modern types’. Although he had considerably more experience than almost all New Zealand glider pilots, there were no gliders flying in New Zealand. He joined the Auckland Gliding Club when the NZ Gliding Association (NZGA) was heavily involved in establishing with Civil Aviation the way to start post-war gliding operations.

In early 1949, Arthur Hardinge, along with family members arrived from Australia and stayed initially with Gordon. Arthur brought with him his Australian built Olympia named Yellow Witch in which he conducted a lengthy tour of New Zealand.

Soon after, Gordon and his fellow club member Ralph Court,

May–July 2018

17

"a successful glider pilot had to be an opportunist”

Gordon had a saying that

placed an order for an Olympia 2B direct from the Elliots of Newbury factory in England. On 3 November 1949, the glider was registered ZK-GAA; New Zealand’s very first post-war glider.

When the club’s T-31 ZK-GAD commenced flying in June 1952, Hookings and Court were the club’s first gliding instructors and with his Tiger Moth rating, Gordon became one of its earliest tow pilots.

On 15 February 1950, Ralph Court test flew the Olympia and so began post-war New Zealand gliding. About this time, Gordon was elevated to Secretary of the New Zealand Gliding Association where he discovered it was almost a full time job dealing with bureaucracy. For example, we have Gordon to thank in convincing the powers that be that gliders do not require fire extinguishers!

Convincing the authorities that the need for a fire axe in a glider, was not necessary either, took a bit longer. An article in the August/ September 1967 Gliding Kiwi magazine states Gordon decided to move operations to Ardmore (in 1951) “to give each other auto-tows away from official eyes”.

Gordon had a saying that "a successful glider pilot had to be an opportunist” and he proved it on 11 March 1951. Court later recounted, “I delivered him by aero tow to Ardmore where we intended to become squatters in one of the hangars. They were filled with War Surplus trucks. I waited until dusk for Gordon to land when a message arrived that he had pressed on to finish up at Waharoa (Matamata Aerodrome) to complete his Silver ‘C’.” On 29 November 1952, he took the Olympia to 10,250 feet over Ardmore to claim his gold height gain.

Hardinge, Court and Hookings realised that the Waikato appeared an ideal place to glide. In 1952 they hired an Auckland Aero Club Tiger Moth and towed the Olympia to Hohner’s paddock in the Kaimai foothills. Other bases were Paton’s strip and Mudford’s strip. From there, they would take a quick aero-tow and release to explore the range’s full potential.

18

May–July 2018

So impressed were they by the Kaimai’s potential they arranged for club members in October 1954 to attend a gliding camp at Waharoa. Court and Hookings assumed all the roles (in the air and on the ground). The camp was a great success, so another camp followed at Christmas time.

Hookings paid a return visit to his old Cambridge University club in 1955. After checking out in the club’s T21, he renewed his acquaintance with the local Olympia, BGA511. From there, he went to France where he attempted his 300km gold flight in a Weihe from La Ferté-Alais (52 km south of Paris), flying in an easterly direction to Lunéville. He set off late in the day landing 50 kms short of his goal at Champigny le Sec where he had to wait 24 hours for the trailer to arrive. Three days later, on 1 July 1955, Gordon took off once more from La Ferté-Alais before successfully landing at Lunéville. He covered a distance of 322 kms, in 7½ hours, enabling him to claim BGA Gold Badge no. 17 to add to his BGA Silver Badge no. 311. He also took the opportunity, while in France, to fly a Fauvel A36 flying wing, which impressed him. He found it impossible to spin. Back in England, he entered the 1955 British Nationals at Lasham flying the Cambridge club’s Olympia and was placed 24th out of 33.

Other passions he held were tramping and skiing. He regularly went skiing on Mt Ruapehu but those activities were curtailed after breaking his leg. He added to his hours in a hospital bed after a spectacular towing accident on 22 April 1956 at Ardmore when Auckland Aero Club Tiger Moth ZK-BBB did a carrier like landing from three hundred feet with its tail – skid fouled on a nearby auto tow wire.

Ever keen to promote gliding, Gordon would take long crosscountry tows in the Olympia to demonstrate the Olympia at air shows. In 1956, Gordon and the Olympia set off from Mangere on tow behind Morrie Green’s Auster ZK-AYO, heading to the Agricultural Air Show in Palmerston North. He delighted the crowd with his aerobatic display before commencing the return tow to Mangere.

In December 1956 Court and Hookings sold the Olympia to Auckland Sailplanes Ltd (trading name for the Auckland Gliding Club). In 1957, the syndicate, which now included Morrie Green, purchased Slingsby Skylark 3B, ZK-GAY from Dick Georgeson.

Spurred on by Georgeson’s recent Out and Return Gold C in lee wave off the Southern Alps in October 1957, the syndicate took the Skylark by trailer down to Masterton to explore the standing wave. They had realised the possibility of flying from the South of New Zealand to the North Island’s east coast. Green towed the Bergfalke ZK-GAQ with his Tiger Moth ZK-ALK. Wanting a fourth pilot, they selected a young woman glider pilot, Rene Thomson.

The gathering made many flights, even engaging in dogfights, often over 10,000 feet. Court completed his Gold C and Diamond height with a climb to 25,000 feet. One day, along with the Wellington and Wairarapa Rhonlerche ZK-GBC, they completed

PROFESSOR GORDON ALICK HOOKINGS

Gordon with Tony Timmermans.

Crewing for Pat Driessen in Sweden, 1993.

13½ flying hours. Days later, on 1 November Keith Wakeman flew Skylark 2 ZK-GAS from Christchurch to Palmerston North. About this time, Gordon climbed to over 20,000 feet to claim his diamond height gain and then on 19 Nov 1957 Gordon completed a 531 km flight from Masterton to Lake Tutira, Hawke’s Bay. Both flights are believed to have been done in the Skylark 3.

On landing at Lake Tutira he achieved the unique situation of winning his third diamond. Not only was he the first in New Zealand to have all three diamonds, what is all the more remarkable is, he held number one diamond for each of the three categories.

Now with all the diamonds safely in his pocket Gordon’s life took on a quieter pace in the air.

Also in 1957, the Piako Gliding Club was formed by Lew Hale thereby beginning the wonderful association the Auckland club shares with neighbouring clubs. It is significant to record that it was the vision of Hookings and Court which led to so many upper North Island clubs focussing on Waharoa. Eventually this led to the formation of the Matamata Soaring Centre in 1964.

In 1965, he was awarded the Sir Henry Wigram Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society and invited by that Society to give the first George Bolt Memorial Lecture. In that same year he was also an invited speaker at the Symposium on the Physics of the Lower Atmosphere at the eleventh New Zealand Science Congress.

Court and Hookings’ next glider, in which they shared ownership with Morrie Green, was Bolkow Phoebus A1, ZK-GFT, purchased in April 1968 from Peter Heginbotham. Of significance, this particular glider was the first fibre glass glider in New Zealand.

He entered and performed well with it in numerous competitions.

He also took on more administrative roles proving himself a reliable task setter and contest director. Outside of competitions he regularly played a role of (A Cat) instructor and tow pilot.

In February 1975 Gordon purchased his last glider, Molino Pik 20, ZK-GJP, and sold it in February 1977 to Maurice Honey.

In the 1989 New Year’s Honours Professor Gordon Hookings was awarded an MBE for services to education and aviation.

He was elected as the Auckland club’s Secretary on 23 January 1991. No matter how long the meetings went on, he was renowned for condensing it all down to one side of an A4 sheet. He was bestowed Life Membership of the Auckland Gliding Club on 25 September 1991.

Ruth Pryde and Gordon crewed for Pat Driessen at the World Gliding Champs at Borlange in Sweden in 1993 and he subsequently crewed and/or became engaged in the administration of many international contests, sometimes as a steward.

For outstanding contribution to the gliding movement in the previous year Gordon was awarded the Friendship Cup during the NZGA’s AGM in 1998. In 2005 he received the Angus Rose Bowl award and was also elected as a Life Member to Gliding New Zealand (former NZGA). In his gliding career he had been a pioneer, A Cat instructor, tow-pilot, administrator and a good friend of the New Zealand gliding community We salute you Professor Hookings; thank you for your immense contribution to our sport. We extend our condolences to Margaret and family.

Gordon provided to the Auckland Gliding Club some years ago a list of types flown however research has shown it is incomplete.

His list includes: Bergfalke, Blanik, Cambridge, Eon Baby, Ka6, K7, Kite II, Milan, Olympia, Prefect, Puchatek, Skylark II, Skylark IIIB, Skylark IV, T31B, Tutor, Twin Astir.

To this we can add: Capstan, Diamante, K13, Phoebus and Pik 20.

May–July 2018

19

2018 CENTRAL DISTRICTS Gliding Championships

BY JASON KELLY

Waipukurau, 18 – 24 February This year’s event was organised by Gliding Hawkes Bay & Waipukurau and held from Waipukurau Airfield. This event is run as a friendly low key regional championships and used as a training ground for new competition pilots.

T

he final entry list was 22 pilots over the Open, Racing and Sports classes. The Sports class was competed in with two PW5s and a K6CR with a wide range of gliders in the Open and Racing classes. There was a good mixture of regulars and new faces for the competition period of Sunday 18th to Saturday 24th February inclusive.

John Etches kindly volunteered to act as Contest Director and scorer. Graham White was again weather man and task setter.

Chief tow pilot was Neil Faulknor who flew the Lexus powered Skylux tow plane being trialled by the Gliding Hawkes Bay & Waipukurau club. He was supported by Hugh de Lautour in TZB, Phil Gray in the Citabria CPD and various Gliding Manawatu pilots in the Pawnee CIG. The club secured sponsorship from Centralines (the local power lines company) along with Marisco Family Winemakers, SBS Bank and Wrightsons for daily prizes. Publicity was gained with reports and an interview on the local radio station with the local newspaper publishing the results and a photo of the winning racing class pilot and glider.

While the initial forecast for the week was not great with the possibility of a cyclone ruining the event, pilots ended up flying

20

May–July 2018

on the Saturday practice day along with four contest days for a total of five days flying out of eight.

Flying had some of everything with good thermals, convergences and wave on various days. Unfortunately, the wave on the Wednesday was difficult to get into and short lived which made soaring a challenge. The airspace limitation of 9,500 feet in the main task area dropping to lower levels to the south west and north east added to the difficulties and pilots needed to be wary of the boundaries to avoid penalties.

Mike Lennard improved from landing out to completing his first task and then repeating a task completion on the final day. Allie Thompson completed her first solo task on the last day in a Libelle.

Landouts were few and far between so the plenty of safe land out areas, including some suitable for aerotow retrieves, were barely used. Mike O’Donnell landed out at the Kowhai airstrip and also a farm airstrip and was retrieved both times by aerotow.

The Open class was dominated by Patrick Driessen with Stewart Barton and Tony van Dyk in a close tussle for second and third places. Local pilot James Foreman won the racing class over fellow Hawkes Bay pilots Jason Price and Jason Kelly. In the Sport class, reigning champion Richard Keir took an early lead but was beaten by Richard Penman on the last two days to relinquish his title.

After a good thermal day on Friday, in his jet powered JS1 Revelation, Patrick Driessen gave a demonstration of its ability with low level passes with the jet going. It was an impressive and noisy sight.

Photo Jason Kelly Photo Phil Craig

Briefing

Photo Phil Craig

Photo Phil Craig

Jason Kelly 3rd in racing class

On the social side, BBQs were organised on the airfield for the Sunday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. With flying not finishing until early evenings, these were appreciated with a good variety of steaks, salads and desserts, including fresh Hawkes Bay strawberries, provided to hungry pilots under the organisation of Brian Kelly. Donated fresh Hawkes Bay apples were again popular and consumed almost as fast as delivered.

Hugh de Lautour entertained with his limericks which included: What's that noise? From whence is it coming?

Is there something amiss in the plumbing?

No – settle down, boys, We call that "White" noise – It's Graham – he's started his humming!

Hugh thought the wave day looked fine To put a Gold Badge on the line.

"Today is the day I'll do three hundred K" But he missed it by two-ninety-nine!

Michael Cooper wasn't so bold, He just wanted Silver, not Gold.

He got Silver all right – Not for distance or height, But endurance, turning 50 years old!

The birthday cake for Michael’s 50th was cut, eaten and enjoyed after the Wednesday evening BBQ. Full details of tasks and results can be found on Soaring Spot at https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/central-districts-regionalsfebruary-2018-waipukurau-2018/results Thanks to all who helped make the event a success.

Next year’s competition is scheduled to be held from Greytown and all pilots are most welcome to join us for a fun, friendly contest.

In a post script, Tony van Dyk advises that the Zulver Trophy for the Racing Class that had been mislaid has been located and is being engraved to make it up to date.

May–July 2018

21

VINTAGE KIWI RALLY (or whiskers on display)

Papawai – Greytown This year Vintage Kiwi decided to hold its Annual National Rally at Papawai, Greytown, in support of the Wellington Gliding Club’s move there from Paraparaumu and of course to support the formation of the new Greytown Soaring Centre at the site.

T

he original Bicknell farm site, which is also the home of Gliding Wairarapa, is now owned by the local council.

The airfield section is leased back to the Greytown Soaring Centre which at this stage comprises the Gliding Wairarapa and Wellington Gliding clubs. However, it is still a working farm where stock control is successfully managed around the flying operations of the day. The original main runway is 03 – 21, but a new cross vector, 29 – 11, has been since developed. The club operates a new Sky launch winch which was imported from the UK. With some 2 km of runway available, it has been possible to achieve a ‘Silver C height gain’ before one pulls the release at the top of the launch. For the rally a 160 HP Super Cub was also used, loaned to us by the Upper Valley Gliding Club.

New friends were made. Some arrived straight from a wedding whilst others came by plane and train.

Being a farm environment the runways were well grassed but were rough under foot in a number of places but where the main operations were carried out, the runway was relatively smooth.

As time moves on, I have no doubt that the overall airfield will be knocked into shape and become a very spectacular site.

However care needed to be taken when moving sailplanes from the picketing area to the main operational launching site on 03 – 21, as we had to negotiate a narrow culvert.

On the plus side a lot of good flying was done. In conjunction

22

May–July 2018

with Vintage Kiwi's arrival, the Wellington Gliding Club ran a successful ‘Task Week’. The Vintage Kiwis group consisted of two Schleicher KA6cr, one Slingsby Dart 17R, two Standard Libelles, one Open Libelle, one Schleicher KA8, one DG101 and a HP18. The local Wairarapa Gliding Club also operate an ASK13 which looked right at home mingling with the visitors. It was also a bit of an unintentional Glasflugel rally with five Libelles flying.

The airspace requirements are minimal at 9,500 QNH as far south as Cape Palliser and as far north as the northern sector of Mount Bruce. With today's over regulated airspace, this is a great chunk of the available airspace to play in.

The weather was fine with a couple of 35°C days which were energy sapping. In fact, one day the locals gave up at 2.00 pm, shutting down the winch due to heat exhaustion with the tow plane carrying on until everyone had launched. It was even hot in the air, but you quickly cooled down after climbing through 5,000 feet or so (either by running the sea breeze over the East Coast or just the end result of a good thermal). Both the Tararua and Rimutaka ranges got ‘discovered’ by a number of the Vintage Kiwi sailplanes with only one land out. Russell Jones out landed in the VK Syndicate KA8 – LE and had to prise his crew from a wine trail activity. Such is life.

The Rally was a great success. Everyone partook of some good flying, good food [the on airfield BBQs by the local club now have to be classed as ‘World Famous in NZ’], some great beer and good interclub camaraderie. Our many thanks to the Wellington Gliding Club, Gliding Wairarapa and the Greytown Soaring Centre for being our hosts, and the Upper Valley Gliding Club for allowing us the use of their tow plane as not everyone is a winching pilot. The joint effort by all of these clubs to help and make our Vintage Kiwi Rally work as well as it did has to be commended. Interclub cooperation that you rarely see these days made the Vintage Kiwi team feel very positive about this new Soaring Centre’s future.

Both the Tararua and Rimutaka ranges got ‘discovered’ by a number of the Vintage Kiwi sailplanes with only one land out.

May–July 2018

23

Lessons from

NEARLY LANDING OUT

BY GERARD ROBERTSON

Heading home to Drury in a convergence.

I I nearly landed out yesterday. As I’m a cross-country pilot with nearly 300 hours you wouldn’t think that is a big deal, but let’s look harder at the numbers.

24

May–July 2018

started gliding at 17 and I’m pushing 60. 300 hours over 30ish years equals about 10 hours a year. Even with allowance for years spent going overseas, plus the small handicap of having had children the average only doubles to 20 hours each flying year. In one good year, I flew over 30 hours (I can hear the South Islanders snort into their carefully crafted Hokonui moonshine, and rightly so). What I recall from that year is that – at about the 25 hours mark – my flying became suddenly easier and more natural. Perhaps I should have known this at university: study more, get better results.

My otherwise very proper mother, on her way to a well-lived 90, used to say, “Old age is a bugger!” She was right. In your youth, you have little experience so you tend to think you’re bullet-proof.

As you get older, you come across more and more evidence that this is not the case, leading to one becoming risk averse. Crosscountry starts to seem like an excellent idea, but perhaps better read about than undertaken. Being low may have the effect of focussing the mind, but it can also induce fear which hinders your ability to think as you slip down the far side of the arousal curve.

I think that such fear is a big part of why more pilots don’t go cross-country, which possibly also depresses the retention rate of student pilots. My experience and observation is that – while people champion the idea of cross-country and even go so far as to say, “Come with me one day,” there’s less uptake than there could be if the cross-country instructional flying was included

Once the feeling of “crikey, it’s time to put it all into practice” had passed, I picked a field and prepared to start a circuit – still with 1,200' on the clock, so looking for better-looking alternatives or lift while having the first choice within gliding distance and visible.

as part of the QGP. I understand (again, anecdotally rather by visiting more than a handful of clubs) that there is a range in the way that cross-country is promoted. However, there does seem to be a shared view that getting a new pilot flying cross – country is a strong aid to member retention.

I now claim to be an early cross-country pilot. What does that mean? Well, at the end of last season our Club President replied to my suggestion that I might do some dual with a message of, “You’re in a syndicate. Get your glider out, strap a parachute to your backside and a glider to your parachute and get out there!” (thanks, Dion). I did just that and covered about 150 kilometres.

What I recall best is getting to the sprawling hill at the southern end of the Waerenga Valley and seeing a big cloud sitting above it. My natural inclination to turn around and go home was superseded by a feeling of glee as I dived under it and out to the southern side towards Tahuna. This feeling of success lasted so strongly that the following week I landed out.

Was that land out a success? Yes and no. Yes, as I didn’t break anything. My fears (that word again) that coming over the fence with half brake at 6 or 7 feet and then using full brake and full back stick would lead to the wingtips both touching the ground were overcome by the sight of the far end of the field advancing resolutely towards me. No, in that I cramped my circuit into the hay field, meaning that I turned finals with far more height than I could ever have got rid of, so made the quick executive decision to go across the road, across the first paddock, across the cattle race and into the small triangular field. Thank you, Waikato, for offering such a range of fields, even when the shopping decision is a last minute one. Best of all was finding that I’d landed at the farm of a club member, who was not only helpful but also offered Heineken and venison sausage.

“Did you land in that paddock?”

“No, the one over the cattle race”.

“Ah, I always use the other one and if I’m coming up from the Waikato and I’m low, I just ring my wife and ask her to clear the stock out”.

Class, Hein, that’s real class!

And so, finally, to last weekend, when I went out to the club and found an unoccupied motor glider (Grob 109) and an equally available pilot. We spent the next 90 minutes wandering around the Waerenga Valley at low level, picking fields and talking fields.

I didn’t learn much new, but what I did learn was that what I needed to do was put into practice those things I’d read for so many years. At 2,000’, move to a generally landable area. At 1,500’, pick at least one suitable field. At 1,000’, commit to a field and start your circuit. In other words, combine thinking with piloting, rather than having an either / or approach. Thank you, Seamus.

Yesterday, it all came together. South of the Bombays (much

nicer than many Aucklanders might think), about 5 kilometres west of Meremere and a steadily unravelling altimeter and an audio vario which was neutral at best. Once the feeling of “crikey, it’s time to put it all into practice” had passed, I picked a field and prepared to start a circuit – still with 1,200’ on the clock, so looking for better-looking alternatives or lift while having the first choice within gliding distance and visible. It was a good little field, too: a blue hay bale at the far end near the road, with the approach over a similar-sized field with cattle in it, so a clear approach with no power lines or trees in the way and almost directly into wind.

I put my wheel down then, at 1,100’, almost at the same moment as I flew into a good vertical gust which I promptly turned into. That little gust and I became better acquainted over the next 2,500’. Half way through the climb I pulled the wheel up, as I started to feel confident. Then I sauntered around the sky for another hour.

WHAT DID I LEARN? ›› If I can release from aerotow at 2,000’ (or sometimes 1,500’), I can probably thermal away from that height further away from home. The sky is the sky ›› The theory is the practice: there are no secrets – just apply what the books and your instructors tell you ›› See you is a useful tool for post-flight analysis, particularly when it shows you that your 1,100’ was ASL and that the local ground level of nearly 400’ means that your low level save that you were so proud of was actually a 700’ save.

Thank goodness for your careful addition of 5 knots to your thermalling speed and willingness to thermal at 45º ›› If you mark a thermal on the way home for a low-flying Libelle, you’ll increase your chances of getting a free drink at the bar.

So yes, I do now regard myself as an early cross-country pilot and I start to see what it’s all about. You can too. As an individual pilot, be more active about doing some dual cross-country and then reinforce that with some time in a motor glider.

As an organisation, consider raising the bar on QGP by requiring dual cross-country and push the clubs to promote short landing practice over winter when there’s too little lift to do much else.

Lastly, consider using Condor or some other simulation to teach, maintain currency or just have fun. I ran a survey on simulation for OSTIV last year and presented the results at the OSTIV Congress held at Benalla in conjunction with the Worlds: simulation clearly has application and value. Send me a note if you’d like to see the full paper bungeegerard@gmail.com

May–July 2018

25

Auckland Gliding

(PAN AMERICAN) CLUB PETER LAYNE

AGC towplanes at Ardmore.

As the older members of our clubs start slipping away we are in danger of losing some of the stories of the exploits and adventures of those members and people we have long lost touch with. Luckily for us we have Peter Layne who is doing his best to catch those stories and write them down. How many people knew that the Auckland Gliding Club used to be known as the Pan Am Gliding Club? Sadly Peter doesn’t know of any photos of the Pan Am crews on the gliding field. If you have any photos or any more information, please let us know.

I

have just finished proof reading an article on the former well-known airline Pan American Airways, which started operating services between the USA and New Zealand in the late 1930s. Many of you will know Musick Point is named in honour of Captain Ed. Musick who died when his Sikorsky flying-boat crashed after leaving Auckland but who remembers the Pan American section of the Auckland Gliding Club?

It all started in about 1970 when an American gentleman fronted up one morning at the old yellow control van the club used at Ardmore. I cannot remember his name, but he was a Pan American captain who had just flown in from Samoa. He was on his stop over before conducting the return flight. Accompanying him were some men and young women.

Turns out, not only was he a Pan Am captain he was also a glider pilot in the States and he had suggested to his crew during the flight that they come and give gliding a go! Being Captain, he had first turn and was given instruction in Rhonlerche ZK-GBC. Some of the others had a turn too however the Captain joined the club and made a point of coming out to Ardmore each time he

26

May–July 2018

Rhonlerche GBC.

flew the Samoa – Auckland sector. He soon soloed and not long after (same weekend?), strapped into the ’Lerche, and set off in the direction of Papakura in grotty conditions. Next thing we knew he had landed out (safely). This 30,000 hour pilot sheepishly discovered that, unlike his usual Boeing 707 mount, ’Lerches were not designed for “long haul” stuff in hopeless conditions and, quite apart from that, it was not the easiest glider to derig!

Undeterred, over coming months he brought more of his crews out to Ardmore and they in turn passed on the word. In all, I think about six of them joined the club. Apparently, Pan Am in the USA became puzzled as to why this milk run to the bottom of the world had suddenly become one of its most sought-after routes and especially with a weekend stop over!

At the time the rule was that you had to put your name on the flying list on arrival at the van but on one occasion a captain called up over Whangarei, asking club engineer Doug Walker if he would oblige and put a list of crew names on the board for a flight!

Doug obliged and it became a bit of a habit with those guys.

One day one of their pilots thought it was time to “show some gratitude” to Doug, who worked as the club’s full-time engineer in the club hangar. It was a weekday so there would be few witnesses. A message came through to Doug to keep a lookout, which he did. Minutes later a Pan American Boeing 707, which had just taken off from Mangere, came over Ardmore at, I think, 2000 feet before pouring on the power and climbing away on its way to Samoa. Whether the passengers were told about the upcoming Cook’s tour, I don’t know but Doug was grinning from ear to ear the next weekend when he told people what had happened.

Some of the Pan Am pilots obtained their tow rating on our Pawnees ZK-CEB and ZK-BWS though I don’t think any of them ever got an instructor’s rating. At least one of their pilots got a rating on Tiger Moth ZK-AIA and would head straight out from Mangere and tow in the Tiger all day to his heart’s content.

I’ve no idea how many Pan Am crew visited us, but they

BOOK CORNER Not Enough Hours in the Day

By Arthur Gatland Reviewed by Jill McCaw

Pawnee

included Len Atlas, (Richard?) Ogg and Jim Carter. Jim bought the American designed Hall Cherokee ZK-GBT, though I don’t think he ever flew it. At least one pilot (Len Atlas?) brought his wife and family out to New Zealand and spent most of that time at a club Christmas camp at Waharoa. What better way was there to sample the New Zealand way of life…

The Pan Am association with the club went on for several years; possibly until Pan American finished operations but it was good while it lasted and certainly generated a bit of extra income much to the delight of club treasurer, Grahame Player.

One day one of their pilots thought it was time to “show some gratitude” to Doug, who worked as the club’s full-time engineer in the club hangar. It was a weekday so there would be few witnesses.

A message came through to Doug to keep a lookout, which he did.

Minutes later a Pan American Boeing 707, which had just taken off from Mangere, came over Ardmore at, I think, 2000 feet before pouring on the power and climbing away on its way to Samoa.

It’s always a good sign when I have to wrestle the book I want to review out of the hands of someone else in the family who wanted to read it first. This was the case with this book. My husband John really enjoyed it and I did too.

Arthur Gatland was the CFI of the Auckland Gliding Club when I was first learning to fly back in the ‘80s.

As such, he was a bit of a scary authority figure that I tried to stay clear of. That was a real shame. I had no clue that Arthur had such an interesting background and had only recently retired from service in the RAF. David Morgan, Chief Pilot of Air New Zealand calls this book a, “fascinating biography that reads like a Boy’s Own adventure novel from a true leader in the NZ aviation community”. That pretty much sums up my impressions of the book too.

Arthur’s distinguished aviation career began in the RAF and continued through many years with Air New Zealand.

Now, having passed the age of 65, the arbitrary age at which he could no longer fly internationally, he is working as Flight Simulator Flight Instructor/Examiner and shows no sign of retiring. In between the 20,054 plus hours flying, Arthur had a high-level sporting career in Fencing, Basketball and Windsurfing, representing NZ at the highest level in these sports. He was particularly impressive in fencing, winning open class competitions at over 60 years of age (when the rest of the winners were in their 20s). He also flew gliders.

Personally, I found the background information of both the RAF and Air New Zealand fascinating, the stories of sorties and exercises with the RAF especially so. I was really impressed that Arthur had found that calculating the maths required to target and fire cannons, bombs, anti-tank missiles and air to air gunnery was nearly as much fun as air combat.

It was all done with basic trigonometry – no calculators. He was a true geek, living the dream and I’m really pleased that he took up his mother’s plea to write it all down and share it with us. This is a well written story of an aviation life with plenty of extras. Recommended.

Book available from the author. Email Arthur Gatland: gatlandaj@gmail.com

“A fascinating biography that reads like a Boy’s Own adventure novel from a true leader in the NZ aviation community”.

DAVID MORGAN, CHIEF PILOT OF AIR NEW ZEALAND

May–July 2018

27

James Alaggio soaring at Oahu, Hawaii.

Photo James Alaggio

28

May–July 2018

May–July 2018

29

The 12th Helli Lasch

CHALLENGE

BY ALICEA VERMASS

Following the demise of the Barron Hilton Cup a few years back, it seemed that the idea of the best pilots in the world coming together outside of competition was over. It wasn’t. The Helli Lasch Challenge has been held in South Africa for exactly that purpose for 12 years now. The 12th Challenge, held just after the World Champs in Australia was attended by some of the world’s top pilots. SoaringNZ reprints this report, with permission, from the Jonkers’ Sailplane newsletter.

Helli Lasch.

Klaus Keim and Katrin Senne.

H

aving a group of World Champion Glider pilots together, in the beautiful Kalahari, at the largest private game reserve in South Africa, can only mean great soaring and even greater fun.

The Helli Lasch Challenge is an exclusive, invitation-only, all-expenses-paid event where the current Gliding World Champions are invited with their partners for two weeks to the Tswalu Kalahari game reserve. The whole event is sponsored by the Oppenheimer family both in honour of the late Helli Lasch (father-in-law to Nicky Oppenheimer and grandfather to Jonathan Oppenheimer) and to promote gliding in South Africa.

Some people are remembered for their wealth, some for their inventions and some for doing extreme things. Helli Lasch is a man remembered for all of these things and more. He was a

30

May–July 2018

Uys Jonker and Carol Clifford.

glider enthusiast who was always pushing the limits, a business tycoon, an innovative engineering mind and, last but not least, a family man and a very special friend to those who knew him. He inspired people around him with his unique way of thinking and doing and therefore he is remembered and will be remembered for years to come.

Seven South African team pilots were invited, namely Laurens and Oscar Goudriaan, Attie and Uys Jonker, Nico Le Roux, Dolf Pretorius and AP Kotze together with five international pilots; Katrin Senne, Louis Bouderlique, Killian Walbrou, Peter Szabo and Mac Itchikawa.

Everyone, especially the pilots visiting Tswalu for the first time, were blown away. In Mac’s own words: “It was a week of gliding paradise. I must confess that we felt all the hard work of

Photos Jonkers Sailplanes

Peter Szabo.

Louis Bouderlique.

Benalla WGC (which was mostly weak blue and lots of gaggles) was more than rewarded by this fantastic week.”

Katrin Senne, current Woman World Champion in the 18m class from Germany, shared her family’s connection with the Oppenheimers. The very well-known Klaus Keim, father of Katrin, accompanied her to Tswalu – a real special week for this “glidingcrazy” family. Klaus worked for Helli Lasch for almost four years in South Africa and at that time also became very close friends with Helli’s daughters and Nicky Oppenheimer. After leaving South Africa, Klaus worked at Glasfluegel as a design engineer on the 302 and 604.

Katrin had visited South Africa a few times previously. As a matter of fact, in 1992 she broke seven world records in seven days flying an ASH25 in Mmabatho with Adele Orsi-Mazuchelli, a

Morning training session with Andy Davis.

famous glider pilot from Italy. Adele and her husband Giorgio Orsi put a lot of enthusiasm, effort and finances into the Italian gliding movement and sport. During another visit in 2011, she flew the JS1 for the first time and now in 2018 she had the opportunity to fly the JS3. We had the opportunity to capture her views on the Tswalu event: "I love South Africa, the wide and open landscape, the light and the colours are so different to those in Germany. In comparison to Europe and Germany gliding is really something different in South Africa The pilots at Tswalu were really a superb group which just made the experience overall special. The atmosphere was always joyful and happy. The pilots and their partners were spoiled every day by the staff of Tswalu.

May–July 2018

31

HELLI LASCH CHALLENGE

In the mornings, Andy Davis gave us a briefing with task settings and weather information.

Every day a different pilot was chosen to prepare one topic to speak about – a presentation on any subject related to soaring, cross-country flying or competition. The discussions afterwards were very interesting and educational.

We flew either a racing, AAT or Grand Prix task while changing the gliders every day. After flying, debriefing sessions were held. There were numerous opportunities to learn from the other pilots and improve our skills, especially during flights in the double seater as you could observe what the other pilot did, how he/she approached clouds and took decisions on flight track.

A special moment for me was flying the JS3 for five hours.

Right after aero tow, I tried the jet engine for the first time in my life. It is very simple in handling and easy to use. The noise when the turbine starts running at full speed with 95.000 rounds per minutes is nice, very nice and it’s fun! Off you go with 2 m/s lift at a speed at 150 km/h. Very cool feeling! You feel like an airliner but the noise is not at all distracting. Just a nice jet noise. The smile on my face couldn’t be brighter! Then I took the first thermal with a wing loading of 60 kg/m2. This is also a novelty for me. The aileron and rudder work together perfectly and are very smooth, and it is so easy in handling. You didn’t feel the high wing loading at all. When the start line opened, I felt completely comfortable and at home with this nice ship. On task – what a performance!

220 km/h and I didn’t even feel that I was flying that fast. There is very little noise in the cockpit. The JS3 likes to run – nice! It is a wonderful ship.

Seeing lions was definitely a personal highlight for me. On our last game drive we all went together and saw them.

32

May–July 2018

On the first evening we had dinner on the Dunes. The evening was really beautiful. And to top the evening off, Killian Walbrou and Amelie Gerbaud (the sister of famous French gliding pilot Sylvain Gerbaud) got engaged, it was extremely romantic and special.

Another highlight for all of us was the evening that Jonathan Oppenheimer invited the whole group to his just finished private house. What a fantastic place and joyful evening for all of us.

There were truly no low lights except having to leave Tswalu after ten wonderful and eventful days, although there was the case of the trailer tyres and rims getting destroyed completely. On my way to Tswalu I did a very proper job on destroying the tire and rim completely on Uys’s JS1 trailer. Having no spare wheel with me I was very pleased that Dolf and Lenor Pretorius were just behind me. They rescued me, having a spare wheel and proper tools with them. On the way back, I got another puncture but then we were prepared!

The last 5 km to Tswalu was an adventure. We all got stuck in the sandy road, cars and trailers with the hired cars which weren’t four wheel drives."

On behalf of the team, Jonker Sailplanes would like to thank the Oppenheimer family for yet another unbelievable event and for Carol Clifford who arranged everything. Their commitment to this event is admirable and much appreciated. This is truly a world class memorable event and a rich contribution to the South African gliding community.

ab-initio ROGER READ YOUTHGLIDE INSTRUCTOR

In this issue we reintroduce the ab-initio columns that ran in the early issues of SoaringNZ. These articles are aimed at low houred pilots, the new guys wandering around with dazed looks on their faces. The aim is to make new people more comfortable and give them the information they need to get the most from learning to fly. The columns are written

by Roger Read, YouthGlide instructor extraordinaire and this first column goes right back to the basics, to talk about visitors coming onto our airfields and what we all need to do to ensure it is a safe and happy experience that they will to want to repeat.

WELCOMING VISITORS TO THE AIRFIELD Throughout the year, we get visitors coming to our airfields. Summer soaring activity brings more visitors out for a look at what we are up to but people can arrive at any time of year. As seasoned aviators it is easy to forget some of the dangers that threaten the safety of both visitors and ourselves. Here are a few tips on how to ensure we make our visitors welcome and keep things safe for all.

Airfields are usually wide open places.

Visitors will need some clear guidance from signs to show how they access the airfield, drive to the operations point (caravan) and park without infringing operational areas (active runways/vectors).

Some will boldly drive anywhere at any speed and may use the shortest route between the access gate and where the gliders are parked despite the best signs and cones etc to keep them safely off active areas. Others will feel intimidated and venture no further than the boundary gate or fence line unless coaxed or absolutely sure they won’t get in to trouble for driving on to the field. Keep an eye out for all visitors and have members prepared to go and meet them at the gate or by the fence and to chat in a way that offers a welcome plus guidance on how to get to the gliders so they can take a closer look… and possibly take a flight.

Once at the launch point, get them safely parked and facing out to where they can sit in their car or set up a picnic and watch the operational activities.

Some clubs have found that a few picnic tables are a great way to encourage both members and visitors to relax over a picnic while waiting to fly. If your visitors have made it to the operational area by themselves, have a member go and greet them and invite them to take a closer look at both gliders and towplane.

Remember what it was like on your first visit. First impressions are generally lasting impressions so a warm, hospitable welcome that allows them to ask questions and take a look at our sport will make their visit an enjoyable experience.

Invite them to take a closer look and to walk around the glider as you chat and describe in simple terms how it flies. Avoid technical jargon and keep any theory simple as we want to emphasise the ease and delights of gliding and soaring.

Encourage questions and aim to provide simple answers without talking down to your guest. Offer them an opportunity to sit in a glider and show them how the controls work. Discuss how one learns to fly; the ease of training and the focus that is placed on safety and having fun.

Offer to take photos of them there as this will be something for them to reflect on later once back home. There may often be only one keen person in a group/family so carefully include all visitors in sharing the experience. Ensure you encourage any children and remember to kneel down to their height when chatting with them; this is far less intimidating and shows you are able to communicate effectively at their level. Explain where they can safely go and what safety considerations there are specific to being on the airfield so that they can relax and explore without risk of endangering themselves.

Show them the launch procedure and follow a flight from preflight preparation, through the launch, the tow, release and then the circuit and landing. Explain how the glider releases and how the tow plane or winch system works. Allay any

fears they may have; the most common being that of heights. Emphasise that it is not the same as being up on a ladder and that many who fear this are very comfortable flying and are able to enjoy the panoramic views available.

Talk about your best flights and explain the state of the art technology and performance of modern gliders; use the analogy of high performance yachts as a comparison of what can be achieved.

However emphasise that club membership allows access to this sport for all ages at a reasonable cost, largely because of the voluntary nature of the sport.

Ideally, the club should have a simple fact/info sheet to give away so that they can get back in contact with the club and hopefully return to join or perhaps even to just bring others out for a look.

If this sounds like a marketing and sales pitch… it is. How important is all this PR stuff? Well, I venture to suggest that it is extremely important to get it right; so much so that clubs would do well to discuss it openly and to actively train members in how to handle visitors. Some people are ‘naturals’ at marketing the sport; others can be with a little training and some are just not cut out for it and should probably not be involved unless they really want to be and are coached on how to do it effectively. I mention training; encourage members to share ideas and techniques on how to make it a positive experience for a visitor. Even consider the use of a roleplay of handling visitors as this is a very effective way of training and refining our visitor handling techniques. Strike a balance between the aggressive, over the top sales pitch to sell a glider flight and situations that sees visitors ignored or worse still, actively making it difficult or unpleasant for them.

Remember common sense and if they like their visit to the club, they may well come back again…. and this is what our sport needs…new members and people who enjoy coming out to our airfields.

May–July 2018

33

HUMAN FACTORS

THE EARS, THE GLIDING ENVIRONMENT AND PASSENGER FLYING

BY JONATHON POTE

In this issue, as we come to the end of our series on Human Factors we are taking things a little out of order, running a few of the smaller parts together so that we can keep the larger chapters intact in the next few issues. Yes, this is all Human factors, but The Ears, The Gliding Environment and Passenger Flying don’t really fit together.

These of course, are all from Jonathon Pote’s large document which is available in its entirety on the GNZ website.

THE EARS Hearing Whilst effective pressure equalisation within the middle ear and correct functioning of the vestibular system (issue 50) are essential in gliding, good hearing itself is not vital. Learning to glide is very difficult (but not impossible) for the deaf as instruction is so much harder to give. On the ground, instruction can be given by signing or written methods, but once in the air, the instructor has to act mostly as a safety pilot whilst the deaf student learns by his or her errors.

A trained glider pilot can continue to fly after the onset of deafness provided that use of a radio is not essential. There are a (reducing) number of sites where gliders still operate ‘nordo’ (no radio) in this country. The deaf pilot is also robbed of the sound of passing air that is so helpful when learning to glide, but there are enough other ways to assess the approach of the stall to allow safe flying when deaf.

THE GLIDING ENVIRONMENT Environmental temperature stress Glider pilots are subjected to far more climatic stress than their power colleagues. Without lift there can be no (sustained) gliding, and most lift requires sunny weather. Before take-off, the cockpit can feel like a furnace once the canopy is closed.

Being airborne brings the welcome relief of the air vent, but a successful climb especially in wave lift brings rapid cooling and no glider has any form of internal heating (weight considerations) nor is the pilot normally doing much physical work to keep himself warm. As the air temperature drops at about 2 degrees C for every thousand feet gained, at 10,000’ it will have dropped

34

May–July 2018

by 20 degrees and be around zero, and by 20,000’ well below zero. The glider pilot cannot easily add extra layers of clothing as he climbs so must plan ahead and launch overdressed. If, however, he is not successful and spends time at low altitudes scratching around for some lift, he will be very over dressed and far too hot. Finally he may have to land out, and needs warm enough clothing to survive (and hopefully be comfortable) in the cool evening – or even night – before his retrieve crew arrives.

Cold weather clothing technology has made enormous

Glider pilots are subjected to far more climatic stress than their power colleagues.

possible, cotton being the best fabric) are essential. ‘Tops’ that open down the front are more flexible insulation-wise than ‘over-the-head garments.

If one is underdressed, hypothermia may insidiously develop, if over-dressed for the conditions then heat stress (or very rarely heatstroke) will follow. Hypothermia is largely the enemy of experienced pilots who have learnt to exploit lift well.

Heat stress, by contrast, can affect us all even on a fairly routine day of club flying.

advances, driven by mountaineering since Sir Edmund Hillary stood atop Mt Everest sixty plus years ago wearing the then new ‘Ventile’ fabric. Just what you should wear when a high (and thus cold) flight beckons is best discovered by talking to experienced glider pilots and experimenting yourself as you progress; it is not really a problem while you are learning to glide. However, from the very start, a suitable hat (light in colour, well ventilated, with a brim that does not obscure the visual field), good wrap-around sunglasses and sunscreen on all exposed skin (wear long trousers if

Hypothermia As the body cools, for as long as possible the core temperature (the temperature deep in the body, and most importantly, in the brain) will be maintained close to 37 degrees Celsius for as long as possible. The blood vessels in the skin contract to minimise heat loss and the muscles shiver (to increase heat production). When this is no longer effective, then the core temperature starts to drop. The progression is aptly described as “grumble, mumble, stumble, crumble”.

At around 33 degrees Celsius shivering stops but by then brain function is far below normal and the person is beyond being able to help themselves. Only outside help or sheer luck will save them. Incipient hypothermia also makes a person more susceptible to hypoxia, which is very likely to be present at the same time. In a two-seater, the individuals may well not become hypothermic at the same time, depending on clothing, individual fitness etc., so each needs to be aware of the other’s state. A sense of humour failure (“grumble”) is a vital sign.

Assuming a happy outcome, recovery from hypothermia is a slow process. It takes hours for the body temperature to rise to normal even in a warm bath (which itself will cool surprisingly rapidly with a cold person in it) and even then cerebral (‘brain’) function will lag hours behind. A person honest enough to admit he became hypothermic will be well advised to take the next day off gliding as well as the day in question. It is considered almost a criminal offence for a mountain rescue team to allow a hypothermic casualty to descend without close supervision, because both judgement and agility are severely compromised and the person is not safe alone.

Hypothermia is also a problem after landing out. The fatigue of a long flight exacerbates the problem. There should always be light but warm clothing available in the glider, remembering that a lot of the heat lost is via the head (so have a balaclava or similar) and that heat loss is greatly increased if clothes are wet (because of sweat or rain – so have a light waterproof on board). Cold hands may need light gloves. Suitable food is essential.

May–July 2018

35

HUMAN FACTORS

Temperatures at altitude will be well below zero.

Heat Stress Hypothermia is perhaps the province largely of those few who fly very high, but to be too hot is not uncommon in New Zealand. Heat stress is a very important problem in gliding. Normally sweating and sensible clothing keeps our temperature only very slightly above the norm. The importance of remaining well hydrated at all times whilst gliding cannot be over-emphasised as even without seeming ‘sweaty’ a person might be losing a lot of fluid on a hot day.

As the body temperature begins to rise, more symptoms occur in random order. These include headache, muscle cramps, nausea, a rash, dry eyes and mouth, reduced concentration, physical weakness and so on. These signs may not be as obvious to the sufferer as you may expect and, very rarely, the situation may proceed to heat stroke. IF IN ANY DOUBT ABOUT HEAT STRESS BEING PRESENT (“if there is any doubt, there is no doubt”) then it is time to terminate the flight as soon as practicable; not an immediate land out in an unfavourable spot, but a safe landing soon is the best procedure.

feeling dry and rather like warm plastic to an observer.

Once sweating ceases, further temperature rise is rapid, leading to collapse, convulsions and death.

Treatment in the early stages of heat stress involves the obvious; get to a cooler environment (if one is caught scratching for lift at low altitude whilst dressed for high altitude, then consider terminating the flight and landing whilst you are still in reasonable physical shape) and get/remain well hydrated. Once back on the ground, get in the shade, dressed appropriately.

This all comprises good airmanship.

Treatment of heat stroke is really beyond the scope of this text, but it is an emergency requiring a 111 response. Get the victim into the shade, remove most of the clothing, apply tepid sponge, fan them if possible (use the tow plane?) and be ready to deal with a convulsion and to carry out basic life support (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) whilst awaiting help.

Heat Stroke Heat stroke is a medical emergency very unlikely to be encountered in gliding, which is just as well as over half of those affected die. During even common illnesses, the normal body temperature may rise to 40 or 41 degrees Celsius with no lasting effects. However, a core temperature of 42 degrees Celsius may be fatal, a terrifyingly small margin of safety.

As a person approaches this figure, effects on the brain predominate: slurred speech, confusion, disorientation, hallucinations and collapse. Sweating ceases, the skin

The first flight for a person may be an instructional sortie or trial flight with an instructor or a passenger flight by a QGP. Some of these passengers may not be true volunteers and may be quite nervous. How you conduct the flight makes the difference between a potential recruit to our sport and a person who will never want to fly again, perhaps spreading negative publicity.

Get your passenger to the club in good time to witness several launches; ideally even before the day they will fly.

Explain the events and answer questions. Debunk the idea that gliding is smooth, effortless and quiet. To a new

36

May–July 2018

PASSENGER FLYING – THE NERVOUS PASSENGER

HUMAN FACTORS

To you, that bump is lift, to them it is turbulence, and they are yet to be convinced of the structural strength of the machine. After all, it has no engine, so it must crash – all other aircraft do. And what if the wind stops?

Try to keep cool on the ground on hot days.

participant, the take-off and tow are not ‘smooth and quiet’. The steep approach and landing is uncomfortable and very noisy as the airbrakes are deployed. To you, that bump is lift, to them it is turbulence, and they are yet to be convinced of the structural strength of the machine. After all, it has no engine, so it must crash – all other aircraft do. And what if the wind stops? Your enthusiasm is essential, but you must see their point of view as well.

Ideally sit them in a glider well before your slot and explain everything. Make sure they bring a camera. Go through the possible flight profile, cable breaks included (that is no time to have a panicking passenger). Ask them if they want a ‘sled ride’ or if they would like you to soar, warning them that control movements will be frequent if so. Warn them that the landing approach is steeper until a (low) round-out, and that the brakes will be deployed. Perhaps delay the flight until a more stable day if they are apprehensive. Tell them to warn you immediately if they feel queasy; it is not brave but silly to ‘tough it out’. Tell them what you will do if they feel unwell.

During the flight, keep talking about what is happening (as an aside, most instructors like pupils to do this too; it is reassuring for them to know that you are monitoring the airspeed on approach and intending to round out even if you are struggling) but encourage (and expect) a two-way conversation.

A quiet passenger is probably close to their limit. If it is necessary to cut the flight short, cease any unnecessary

manoeuvring and get them to look at the horizon. There is a conflict of information reaching their brain (see ‘orientation’) so try to reduce that disparity. Do wide sweeping turns to position for landing, with a lot of gentle airbrake use rather than sudden full applications except when required on final approach. Whilst it might be good to give a passenger a sick-bag before the flight, this has rather negative connotations. It is probably better to have one readily available for you to pass to them (tell them not to turn their head). Warn Glider Base you are “returning early”.

Saying “the wimp has ruined my flight” does not make friends in the other seat. Once on the ground, have that bag instantly ready for a while but ideally let the person sit in the cockpit, canopy open, for a while. The act of moving the head when clambering out can be the final straw. If they do vomit, rinsing the mouth with water is very helpful. This is not the time for the fizzy drink that all gliding caravans seem to stock. A sympathetic and thoughtful approach may mean a new member later, but it is possible to put even the toughest character off flying for ever if you show off.

Tell them to warn you immediately if they feel queasy; it is not brave but silly to ‘tough it out’.

May–July 2018

37

COMPLACENCY: What, Me Worry?

BY MARTIN HELLMAN

SoaringNZ first ran this article in Issue 16.

That is seven years ago and there are many newer members who will not have seen it. For those that have, it’s a good idea to remind yourself not to take successful outcomes for granted. While the examples in this article are mainly from America, there are plenty of examples of these very sorts of accidents that have happened in the last few years in New Zealand. The article is from the American Pacific Soaring Council (PASCO) Soaring Safety Seminar 2007. Martin Hellman is a Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, was involved in the birth of internet security and is a glider pilot, flying his Stemme out of Hayward California.

W

e all know that complacency is our enemy. None of us think of ourselves as complacent because once we recognize our complacency, we do something to change it. So, in a sense, the real enemy is complacency about complacency.

After an accident, we rigorously review what we could have done differently and often see ourselves looking just like Alfred E. Newman, the "What, me worry?" Mad Magazine character: stupidly happy and oblivious to danger. But that only seems to occur in hindsight. The goal of this article is to try and help us see complacency before it causes an accident, when it can make a difference.

38

May–July 2018

THE 99.9% SAFE MANOEUVRE This is one that you can execute safely 999 times out of a thousand. But one time in a thousand, there will be an accident, possibly fatal. If we execute such a manoeuvre only once in our flying careers, there’s a small risk. But, if we execute it a hundred times, there's a good chance we'll get bitten. Worse, the fear level that we felt the first few times evaporates as we become comfortable with the manoeuvre. But that's just complacency masquerading as confidence in our skill level.

Of course, there’s nothing magic about 99.9% and the danger also applies to a 95% safe manoeuvre. Each success still builds more false confidence – complacency – but we tend to get bitten earlier. This was the case in the loss of two of the world’s most expensive gliders, the Challenger space shuttle in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.

The original design for the shuttle booster rocket did not allow for any O-ring erosion, but a number of otherwise successful flights with some O-ring erosion produced a mentality that there was nothing to worry about, in spite of this unpredicted behaviour. In such a "What, me worry?" environment, those who expressed concern were ignored. The Thiokol engineers who tried to delay the launch due to the cold weather were seen as overly cautious ninnies – with catastrophic results. Escaping the grim reaper time after time led to complacency instead of a design review and modification. Those steps only occurred after the disaster.

Similarly, a number of shuttles had experienced loss of some heat shield tiles due to fuel tank foam and ice hitting the shuttle during liftoff, but the level of concern only reached appropriate levels after Columbia was lost to this failure mechanism.

Returning to our more normal gliders and altitudes, here’s a list of manoeuvres I’m proposing for examination:

Photo Jill McCaw

While beautiful to watch, low passes entail added risk.

Photo courtesy of Bret Willat, Sky Sailing, Warner Springs, CA

›› High speed low passes ›› Crossing ridges at low altitude ›› Close-in ridge flight ›› Becoming enveloped in clouds ›› Landing out – especially in difficult circumstances I am not saying that you shouldn't do these things. But we have experienced fatalities among experienced pilots in all five categories, so they warrant some examination.

HIGH SPEED LOW PASSES (TECHNICALLY A MISSED APPROACH) As most of you know, you start this manoeuvre from altitude and dive to convert height into speed. You skim a few feet over the runway, near the glider's maximum speed and then pull up, reconverting most of that speed into altitude. This gets you to an altitude of about 500 feet, from which you can fly an abbreviated pattern. It's an entrancing manoeuvre to watch.

While beautiful to watch, low passes entail added risk.

Kempton Izuno is known for his superb piloting on long distance soaring adventures. When I spoke with Kemp about low passes, he told me he no longer skims the runway because of a scare he had: "I got a good scare from attempting this in my Libelle at Minden a number of years ago. It was the end of a long triangle flight and I was well ahead of my crew. So I got relaxed and hadn't noticed that a waving action had set up. On the long dive, I didn't notice that the speed wasn't picking up as it should. I was diving in sink, and by the time I reached the runway I only had about 100 knots and then was pulling up into sinking air. I had at best, 300 feet on the downwind leg and barely made the runway. Only on final did I notice puffs of dust blowing off the side of the runway indicating the rotor touching down. I was lucky it didn't turn out worse."

What happened to Kemp on this particular day? He hit unusually strong sink during the dive – one of those rare situations that made this a 99.9% unsafe manoeuvre for him. So he ended up close to the ground much earlier in the process than he should have, and he had no warning of the problem until it was too late – there was no easy way to monitor his total energy and note that it was dissipating more rapidly than normal, plus he was preoccupied with a number of other variables. While he pulled off the landing with no damage to himself or his ship, he decided it was a risk to which he didn't want to expose himself again. So now, if he does a low pass, it's two to three hundred feet above the runway, not right on the deck. That extra safety margin makes the pass a lot less risky.

Am I saying you shouldn't do low passes, or that the pilot in the picture is taking an unacceptable risk? Absolutely not! That's an individual decision, based on skill, the conditions, and more.

What I am saying is that low passes entail extra risk that we need to take into account both in our decision making process and when we talk about them to others whose skill level we don't know. For example, the pilot in the photo has over 16,000 flight hours, has been doing this manoeuvre at air shows for over 30 years. He will not do them in turbulent conditions, ensures that he has radio contact with a trusted spotter on the ground who is watching for traffic, and usually does them downwind so that he only has to turn around in a ‘tear drop’ to land. The fact that someone with that kind of experience exercises that much caution should say something to the rest of us.

RIDGE CROSSINGS AT LOW ALTITUDE In 1993 Bruno Gantenbrink's debunked the statement that the most dangerous part of soaring is the drive to the airport. It’s available at DG's web site in the Safety section. He called it "the dumbest, most ignorant saying that has found a home in our sport."

May–July 2018

39

Photo John McCaw

In the 1985 world comps, Gatenbrink was flying with Klaus Holighaus. They were about a mile from a pass with only a couple of hundred feet of extra altitude, and did not know the wind direction. Holighaus crossed the pass while Gantenbink turned back into bad weather, and a loss. Gantenbrink states, "There was a 99% chance that I could have made it through the pass. Klaus was a little higher and made it. I would have made it if nothing unforeseen had happened. However, only the smallest thing needed to have gone wrong, such as flying a little to the right or left of Klaus' path. That can make a big difference in a pass."

In August 1994, a year after giving this talk, Holighaus was killed, apparently attempting to fly through a small pass. Was this a case of a 99.9% safe manoeuvre gone bad? I can’t say for sure, but it seems to have some of the earmarks.

CLOSE-IN RIDGE FLYING This is a manoeuvre that kills experienced pilots at a too regular rate as noted by JJ Sinclair in his safety article, ‘Don't Smack the Mountain 101’, also available on the DG website. It only takes about 500 fpm differential lift on the wings of a glider to totally overpower the ailerons. Most of us have experienced such ‘bullet thermals’ that hit one wing and bank the plane uncontrollably.

At altitude, they're usually just a nuisance, but if you’re close to the ridge and it’s your outboard wing that has the extra lift, it’s a recipe for disaster – you're banked into the ridge and can hit it within a second, leaving no time to recover. That combination of events doesn’t happen often, which is what puts it in the 99.9% safe category. But it seems to happen often enough to kill some very good pilots on a regular basis.

BECOMING ENVELOPED IN CLOUD We glider pilots love clouds, or more accurately, the lift that is often associated with them. They're like big road signs in the sky saying, "Come here for a great ride." But, like anything

40

May–July 2018

else, too much of a good thing can become big trouble in an amazingly short period of time. And sometimes we don't realize that a good thing is going bad until it's too late. Kempton Izuno's "Into the Bowels of Darkness" (www.pacificsoaring.org/ westwind/2005_12_WestWind.pdf) describes such an encounter that could easily have been fatal, but fortunately turned out fine for him and his ship. While reading his complete description is best, here's a short summary: The day had been much weaker than predicted and Kemp was ecstatic when he finally found a cloud with strong lift. But the lift became unusually strong as he got near cloudbase, accelerating so rapidly from about 10 kts to almost 30, that he didn't have time to retreat. Suddenly, he found himself in the cloud. Without the horizon to cue him as to what was up and what was down, Kemp became spatially disoriented and, as is usual in that situation, found himself in a high-g dive. Kemp maintained his cool, remembered a recovery technique that he'd read about in Soaring (see his article for a description), and was able to utilise it to escape before the wings were torn off the glider – but not before he found himself flying backward! Kemp now maintains a larger safety margin when flying near clouds and is alert to the fact that the feeling of ecstasy when you find strong lift can turn sour almost instantly. Note that the ‘unusually strong lift’ he encountered was what turned a 99.9% safe manoeuvre into an almost fatal one.

Not all attempts to get out of clouds end so well. Several years ago, I lost a friend in an accident that probably involved becoming enveloped in clouds. Since he didn't survive and there were no witnesses, we don't know for sure, but the evidence points that way.

LANDING OUT Most glider pilots who routinely land out are rightfully proud of their ability to put their glider down in a farmer's field or similar.

New pilots need to be careful in imitating what they see more experienced pilots do – and experienced pilots need to add cautions when describing exciting exploits that should not be imitated by newer pilots.

experience over 18 training flights … this was the student pilot’s first flight in this make and model of aircraft. … A search airplane found the glider on the back side of a mountain ridge … The tow-pilot stated … that the ‘ridge lift’ just northeast of the airport was ‘very good.’" As in most accidents, there were a number of factors, but I think you can see why I suspect inadequate caution when describing the thrill of ridge soaring to new pilots may have been one of them.

Notice problems before they evolve into accidents or fatalities Many years ago, I heard an expert on industrial safety give a talk in which he noted that for every fatality, there were roughly ten injury accidents; for every injury accident, there were roughly ten property damage accidents; and for every property damage accident, there were about ten ‘scares’ or near accidents.

He then argued that to avoid fatalities, we should try to treat an injury accident with as much concern as if it did result in a fatality. To avoid injury accidents, we should try to treat a property damage accident as if an injury did occur. And to avoid property damage accidents (we do love our ships, right?), we should try to treat scares as if an accident had resulted – and certainly not as if cheating fate means we have the skills needed to try a stupid manoeuvre again! That’s called complacency and that’s when we end up looking like Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman.

Photo John McCaw

While almost all landouts are uneventful, or involve at most minor damage to the ship, to avoid complacency it is necessary to remember that occasionally they can go terribly wrong. I've heard a number of pilots talk about coming close to hitting barbed wire fences or other obstacles that could not be seen from the air and which could have resulted in disaster. While a fatal landout accident at Minden in May 2000 had other causal factors, he would have survived if he hadn't hit a barbed wire fence. Witnesses with whom I talked soon afterward called it a fluke that the fence was in just the wrong place – again, signs of a 99.9% safe manoeuvre.

New pilots need to be careful in imitating what they see more experienced pilots do – and experienced pilots need to add cautions when describing exciting exploits that should not be imitated by newer pilots. Next time you hear someone describe close-in ridge soaring, high speed low passes, and similar manoeuvres that should not be attempted by newbies (or by anyone without recognising the risk involved), notice whether they talk about the risk or just the thrill. In my experience, the risk is rarely mentioned.

On June 11, 2005, a student pilot was killed in what was almost surely a ridge flying accident. The NTSB accident report states that the glider "impacted terrain … The student pilot … was fatally injured [and] … had approximately 12 hours of flight

May–July 2018

41

Flying in

HAWAII

BY JAMES ALAGGIO

I Paraglider and glider pilot James Alaggio lives in Hawaii. His day job is as a Boeing 767 pilot for Hawaiian Airlines, a position he took so that he could live his soaring dreams.

Hawaii offers unexpected opportunities for some great soaring as James explains. You won’t make any great distance flights, but height gains are common and the flying in the islands is very scenic. It would make the ideal winter holiday destination for Kiwi gliding families, offering something for everyone.

42

May–July 2018

’m from New Jersey, United States. I had my first glider flight at age 13 and have been in love with soaring with the birds ever since. I started flying in a 1946 Schweizer 2-22 and did my first solo 5-hour flight in a Schweizer 1-26 just outside of New York Airspace with Boeing 747s flying under me. All I wanted to do, and all I still want to do, is soar efficiently like migrating raptors. Those birds, especially the hawks, inspired me to start cross-country soaring and seeking how to most efficiently harness the incredible energy of the sky. I worked at the gliderport every summer and weekend day and flew at every opportunity. I was lucky enough to have received considerable training from local sailplane racing mentors and from the U.S. Junior World Soaring team flying Duo Discus’.

At 17 years old, I realised I had to build my life so that one day I would be able to immerse myself in soaring. I worked every day to make my dream job a reality. Fast forward 13 years and I am honoured today to be a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 pilot.

In Hawaii, the endless trade winds produce predictable ridge lift almost every day of the year. I have personally flown a 56 kilometre paraglider flight in the laminar lift ahead of the 3,000 feet mountain range which conveniently sits perpendicular to the prevailing trade winds. Along with the ridge lift, we have great little thermals and occasionally phenomenal local wave, recorded as high as 38,700 feet by Dave Bigelow. Many Hawaiian wave exploration flights have taken glider pilots well over 20,000 feet on cross-country flights in excess of 100 kilometres. There have been conditions recorded that would enable a 500 kilometre crossing of the entire state – however logistical challenges have prevented such attempts. The optimal conditions for wave require

OBITUARIES Many Hawaiian wave exploration flights have taken glider pilots well over 20,000

feet on cross-country flights in excess of 100 kilometres.

Wave over the big island.

the standard upper-level West winds to align with the Northeast trade winds. This happens most frequently in October-May although wave has been observed throughout the year.

Hawaii, and specifically the island of Oahu, has a rich soaring history, beginning with an International Soaring Record duration flight being made here on December 18, 1931. William Cocke Jr. flew his glider ‘Nighthawk’ for 21 hours and 34 minutes in the smooth ridge lift. To allow the record flight, the mountain was illuminated at night by the U.S. Army’s 64th Coast Artillery Battery. Gliding rides for tourists became very popular on Oahu starting in the 1970s. This continues today. The gliders operate nearly every day of the year in the consistent ‘laboratory’ ridge soaring conditions.

There are three Glider Flight Schools and ride operations located at Dillingham Airfield on Oahu’s famous North Shore.

We use tow planes and a winch for launches from our 9,000 feet asphalt runway. This was previously used for B-24 Liberator bombers in WWII. Our typical tow to 700 feet is usually all that is required since our local ridge, the foot of the 4,000 feet mountain is located on the airport property. The operators use 3-seat Schweizer 2-32s, ASK-21s, Grob 103s. Private ships include an MDM-1 Fox, Blanik, Libelle, older motor gliders and my Discus.

When I am not flying the 767, you will find me flying my Schempp Hirth Discus B, exploring local soaring possibilities or flying inverted in the MDM-1 Fox while training for the next World Glider Aerobatic Competition. Dillingham is one of the few places in the world where you can do unlimited aerobatics for many hours, utilising only one tow. My dream is to inspire the next generation of soaring pilots using HD imagery and the

accessibility of incredible daily soaring conditions here in Hawaii.

My experience running a very successful aviation based afterschool enrichment program has inspired me to create unique and incredible soaring opportunities for kids of all ages. We currently have Aviation Explorers and EAA Young Eagles programmes running for the kids to get them up soaring among the birds!

I have so much to learn and catch up on after putting my soaring passion on hold for nearly 13 years. Recently I was lucky enough to have some great 500 km cross-country flights in an ASH-25 [not in Hawaii] and have also had one of the best soaring experiences wave soaring up to Mt. Cook with Gavin Wills of Glide Omarama. I was incredibly impressed with the competency and hospitality of the NZ pilots and I thank you for welcoming me into your community. I’ll be frequenting the South Island when wave season comes around!

Learn more about Soaring in Hawaii by following “soar_ hawaii” on Instagram.

Aloha!

May–July 2018

43

AUCKLAND

YouthGlide Mini-camp 2018

At Easter, the Auckland Gliding Club hosted a successful YouthGlide Mini-Camp

MARIA CRAMP 16 Years Old Wellington GC 70 Hours The Easter camp was another fun and impressive YouthGlide New Zealand camp. This time we met at Auckland Gliding Club in Drury. A great atmosphere among fellow fliers at the camp was matched by some great flying with controlled airspace above us to add to the interest. My first flight was in the Duo Discus which was truly amazing to fly and then I worked to get a type-rating in the ASK 21 and the PW-5. It was all go in the air. The local members were all welcoming and friendly, even when I almost ran someone over when I was in the tractor (which wouldn’t surprise anyone from the Wellington club) and I made some great friends there. One of the benefits of the area of course, was its proximity to Auckland and we made the best of it. The highlight was trying out new launching techniques on the Skyscreamer, which made our Wellington Club Skylaunch winch seem mild and gentle in comparison.

A huge thanks must go to Russell for hosting us to a fine dinner on the first night and for organising everything, and to Mary and Gillian for providing that other essential, the food. All in all, a great camp, a great place to glide and a lot of fun and friendship. Thank you.

44

May–July 2018

If this is a mini camp I cannot wait to see what the ten day camp at Omarama is like!!

JAMES MITCHELL

BLAKE WILSON

15 Years Old Wellington GC 23 Hours

17 years old Gliding Manawatu 22hours

Auckland.... for me it was a whole different place to fly; different club, different rules, different gliders and new friends.

It all started at 6 am on a Thursday morning. Jordan didn’t want to pick me up from Masterton so I had to catch the train to Lower Hutt. Lucky I did, as there had been a massive truck crash on the Rimutaka Hill Road closing it for a few hours, so I guess I should be thanking Jordan.

I had never been north of Rotorua before so the road trip to Drury alone was exciting. The YGNZ Mini Camp was an experience never to be forgotten. It was four days of immense fun around like-minded people the same age, all enjoying the same things – making friends and flying gliders. What could be more enjoyable? The camp allowed me to expand my gliding knowledge, experience new gliders and new launch methods.

During the weekend I managed to get four type ratings (PW-6, GROB 102, ASK21 and PW-5) while also obtaining an aero tow rating (cheers Jordy).

One evening Jordan, Maria, Callum, Blake and I went to Auckland CBD to investigate new launch methods for gliding and to our surprise we found one in the form of a Vertical Bungee.... we strapped in and signalled “All Out”. The launch had me well shook, not to mention Maria’s screaming, so let’s just stick with aero tow and winching.

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped with the camp, making it such an amazing time. Special thanks to Russell for organising the weekend and making sure the camp ran as well as it did. Thank you to YGNZ and all of its sponsors and supporters for the financial support. Without you I wouldn’t have this opportunity. A big thank you to Gillian and Mary for cooking some very tasty food to keep us going.

If this is a mini camp I cannot wait to see what the ten day camp at Omarama is like!!

Easter 2018, a weekend full of meeting new people, new experiences and accomplishments. For this camp I set a few goals for myself. Coming from a aerotow only club, I was determined to get my winch rating. After the first launch I was keen on doing a few more full launches and while Jordan agreed, really he had other ideas. At a couple of hundred feet, BANG! It took me by complete surprise and moments later I was on the ground. One more rope break at mid-level and then it was time for Jordan to jump out. Not long after, I was releasing at 1,300 feet with an empty back seat. I was filled with a sense of fulfilment close to what I’d felt the day of my first aerotow solo.

With my first goal checked off, I was ready to get my second goal accomplished the next day. Time for my first single seater flight. This was to be in the Standard Astir. As soon as the main wheel lifted off the ground I could feel the lightness and I loved it. After a decent enough 30 minutes flying around and taking in the incredible views of the area, I was back on the ground and again my excitement was immense. I was extremely rapt, having accomplished my two main goals within the first two days of the camp. The last day and a half of the camp was full of more solo winching experience as well as a flight in a PW-5 and a first time experience in a motor glider. The last night of the camp was adventurous with Jordan taking a few of us into Auckland city after dinner. What was supposed to be a trip to the Sky Tower turned into a hike up One Tree Hill and three of us deciding to test out the vertical bungy. With a few seconds of views over the Auckland skyline and a few screams let out next to me, we were ready to head back to the club for some much needed rest before the journey home the next day.

Thank you so much to Auckland Gliding Club for hosting us for the long weekend. A massive thank you to Russell Thorne for making this awesome weekend happen, as well as Gillian and Mary for keeping us fuelled up with your amazing dinners. And lastly, thank you so much to Jordan for getting us up to Auckland and back, as well as helping me to get my winch rating and several new glider ratings.

Oh, and thanks to everyone involved for the surprise dunking on the last day. It was quite refreshing. The Easter mini-camp was a weekend to remember. Bring on YGDC Omarama.

May–July 2018

45

Buying your

FIRST GLIDER Steven Care is standing down as National Operations Officer.

While this has no relevance to this article, I would like to use this opportunity to thank Steven and his team for all their behindthe-scenes work to keep us all safe. Most pilots have no idea of the amount of hours that go into the essential administrative roles, particularly at a National level. I know Steven is looking forward to more competition flying in his own glider. – Ed

T

hroughout the process of learning to glide, you need knowledge, safety and practice. Practice is a vital part and without it, your ambitions, progress and safety are severely compromised. Barriers to practice can include finance, time limitation and competition in the use of club gliders on good days. One way to avoid these barriers is to buy a glider, either in shares or on your own.

FINANCE Outlaying capital for a glider does not have to be a significant investment. Price of gliders nowadays can range from the price of an old second-hand car to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I remember Arthur Gatland testing a brand new Glasflugel Mosquito for an owner in the late ‘70s. It was about the price of a modest house in Auckland. Even the very latest brand-new gliders are only a fraction of this and the Mosquito now won’t even buy the land under the letterbox. Does this make buying a glider a bad investment? Compared to houses or shares for a long term, it probably is; but if you’re comparing it to cars and boats it does far better. The Mosquito today in good condition is still worth about the same as it was bought for, so there really hasn’t been any capital loss. Reality is that new gliders are far cheaper than they have ever been and the availability of inexpensive older gliders greater than ever before.

Owning a glider might not match the monetary returns of other investments but there are other scales on which to measure success. The cost of a glider pales into insignificance against the non-pecuniary value of increased experiences. The earlier in life that you purchase a glider, the greater your life-time of experiences.

WHAT TYPE OF GLIDER TO BUY For a low hour pilot, getting this right is critical. The wrong type can either dampen or extinguish your ambitions. You should look carefully at the following: Handling – Talk to others! Match your ability and skill level to the glider. Often new pilots want to jump six steps ahead and end up with a glider that is just way too hot for them to handle.

They willingly compromise handling for apparent LD, when that is not the only thing that should be looked at. It is beneficial to have a glider that you can grow into, but it is very easy to go too far. The other extreme of a very low performing glider may not be

46

May–July 2018

beneficial either, so discuss with experienced pilots to get their thoughts on the matter.

Comfort – This is far more important than many give credit to.

Always sit in the glider first, particularly anyone who is tall or short. If it is uncomfortable short term it is going to be excruciating on a long flight, which hopefully you will have many of.

Turbo and Self-launchers – These are great machines, but something to be wary of for new pilots. Things can and do go wrong, which an experienced pilot can handle. Talk to others first about your options.

Eastern Block gliders – These can be less pricey than your average German glider, but check out the maintenance costs to see that you don’t get caught with something unexpected. Parts for some may be more expensive and/or take longer to get. Some have time limitations for inspections rather than or as well as hours. Often, they are excellent value for money, but do research them well.

LS gliders – Have an annual maintenance levy to DG. Not too expensive, but just be aware of it.

Glider life – All gliders have a limited life span. Some can be long as 18,000 hours but some are as low as 3,000 hours. Most are around 12,000 hours and private gliders would take many decades to even get to 3,000 hours. Most gliders are likely to outlive you, but it is important to know because it does affect the value. Older wooden gliders can deteriorate if they have not always been kept in dry conditions.

HOW MUCH TO PAY I would always fly a glider before buying it, although I know of others who haven’t and still ended up with a fantastically good deal. There can be good bargains by buying second hand from overseas, but there can be a bit more risk involved. Flying a higher performing glider than you have flown before can lead you to loving the glider and overlooking the more practical side of what you are paying for. It is good to compare with other gliders for sale (NZ and overseas) and breaking down what you are paying for.

Hull – Older gliders can have old gel coat that is in very poor condition. Gliders that often fly in wave can also have paint cracks than can only be repaired by sanding the entire glider and repainting it. The job is best done by glider repair professionals and this can cost $30K plus, which for some gliders is more than the entire value of the glider. It can be done by someone

Nigel Maxey is the proud owner of a ‘new’ second hand ASW 27 brought in from America

experienced (under supervision) but the wings alone will be 200 hours plus of work. Older gliders will have some deterioration of the paint and it may be that it doesn’t need a full repaint for years to come. It is important that the paint finish on any glider is looked at carefully.

When you fly the glider, you need to check how it stalls and performs at high speed. Any tendency to turn may indicate a more serious problem. Slop in the controls in older gliders is not unexpected but can cost more than a few dollars to fix.

Instruments – Instruments are expensive and are a big part of any glider deal. Airspeed, altimeter, compass and vario are basic to all gliders. Some instrument panels can run into tens of thousands of dollars, so look carefully at what is there and how old it is. I have flown plenty of gliders that have varios or other instruments that are well past their use by date and just don’t work properly. It can be a plumbing problem, but unreliable instruments can be difficult to deal with and severely dampen your ability to soar.

Trailer – It is easy to overlook the trailer, but this can be one of the most important things to look at. Owners will always have an over inflated view of the condition of their trailer, until it fails a warrant or starts to fall apart. Some will have temporary repairs to barely keep them running, but it can be just delaying an inevitable trip to the dump. Some older designs can make getting the glider in and out of the trailer a real pain, compared to newer Cobra or clam shell type trailers. If the trailer is 30+ years old and kept outside, thoroughly check the underside as well as the inside corners. I have been involved in pulling apart some trailers and if you can see rust or rot, it will often be far worse than you expect. If it’s bad on part of the trailer, you can expect the rest of the trailer to be not far away from falling apart as well.

Canopy – It can cost $10k+ to replace a canopy, so if you have one that is crazed or has cracks, you are going to be stuck with it.

Allow for it in the dollars you pay.

Previous accident damage and weight – An undamaged glider is very good for performance, but it is quite rare for an older glider not to have had some damage during it’s life.

Sometimes older gel coat can get a bit wavy, which can also affect performance. Having a glider that has had some repairs is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly if done by a good repair shop.

It is good to know before you buy a glider, what has been done, so read the glider log book. Each time a repair has been done, it can affect the weight of the glider and possibly the max cockpit

weight. A significantly heavier glider may not climb as well as it could previously, in weak conditions.

Ancillary equipment – Tow out gear, parachute, water ballast equipment, oxygen, covers, spare parts are all part of the overall value of the deal.

We often just look at the glider, comparing different models and their prices, but truth is that you need to value each part separately. I have seen first time purchasers get some real bargains because they took the time to research carefully. Others who perhaps through lack of guidance from their fellow club members, end up stuck with a glider that was unsuitable or overpriced.

SYNDICATES It is nice (and ideal) to own a glider on your own, but an inexpensive way to get into ownership is through a syndicate. A ½ share is quite good as it still gives plenty of flying time and a good split of competition use. 1/3rd share is still good and really does bring down the costs. Insurance and maintenance for an older glider can often be less than a club unlimited flying scheme. I am in a syndicate of five in a Duo Discus and it works well. Most of us have other gliders so there hasn’t been much pressure on casual glider use. That could easily change if a new member or member/s were to come along, but is something that can be worked out. It is important that you know and trust your syndicate members. The bigger the syndicate/value of the glider the greater the possibility that it could fall apart in spectacular fashion, particularly if there is an accident. A syndicate agreement is the best way to prevent disagreements and the time to do it is before the syndicate starts.

ANNUAL COSTS If you own a glider, the annual costs are: ›› annual inspections which are roughly around $1,000 per year, plus any maintenance work done on it ›› the CAA participation levy and GNZ levy, total around $270 per year ›› Insurance costs vary, so it is quite difficult to say what it would be, but somewhere around 3 to 4% of the hull value is a very rough estimate. It is important for syndicates to have insurance, so that other members of it are not disadvantaged too much by another’s accident and third party is essential for competitions

OWNERSHIP You will do more for your club and a new pilot, by convincing them to get into private ownership as soon as they get past the soaring stage of training, so long as it is the right glider for them.

It needs to hold its value, have good handling, be able to land in paddocks easily, good instruments, reliable trailer and have good equipment to make rigging and derigging easy. Private owners tend to stay in the sport longer, do far more cross-country, make up almost all competition entrants and are more likely to have FAI awards.

May–July 2018

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 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 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 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 Hutt Valley (Upper Valley Gliding Club) Club Contact Wayne Fisk wayne_fisk@xtra.co.nz Ph (04) 567-3069 Base Kaitoke Airfield, (04) 526 7336 Flying Weekends, Public Hols., Mid week by arrangement Gliding Manawatu Club Website www.glidingmanawatu.org.nz Club Contact Ron Sanders Resanders@xtra.co.nz Base Feilding Aerodrome Flying Weekends, Public holidays Gliding Wairarapa Club Website http://www.glidingwairarapa.co.nz/ Club Contact Diana Braithwaite Ph (06) 308 9101 Base Papawai Airfield, 5 km east of Greytown Ph (06) 308 8452 or 025 445 701 Flying Weekends, or by arrangement 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 Website www.nzsoaring.solutions Club Contact Michael O’Donnell modp@inspire.net.nz Ph (06) 370 4282 or 021 279 4415 Base Hood Aerodrome, Masterton Flying By arrangement Nelson Lakes Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingnelson.co.nz Club Contact Frank Saxton franksaxton@gmail.com Ph (03) 546 6098 Base Lake Station Airfield, St.Arnaud Ph (03) 521 1870

48

May–July 2018

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 Omarama Gliding Club Club Website http://www.omarama.com Club Contact Bruce Graham bruceandstell@xtra.co.nz Ph (03) 358 3251 Base Omarama Flying 7 days a week by arrangement Piako Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingmatamata.co.nz Club Contact Steve Care s.care@xtra.co.nz Ph (07) 843 7654 or 027 349 1180 Base Matamata Airfield, Ph (07) 888 5972 Flying Weekends, Wednesdays and Public Holidays Rotorua Gliding Club Club Website http://www.rotoruaglidingclub.blogspot.co.nz/ Club Contact Mike Foley roseandmikefoley@clear.net.nz Ph (07) 347 2927 Base Rotorua Airport Flying Sundays South Canterbury Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingsouthcanterbury.co.nz Club Contact John Eggers johneggers@xtra.co.nz 33 Barnes St Timaru Base Levels Timaru & Omarama Wardell Field Flying Weekends, Public Holidays & by arrangement Taranaki Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingtaranaki.com Club Contact Peter Williams peter.williams@xtra.co.nz Ph (06) 278 4292 Base Stratford Flying Weekends and Public Holidays Taupo Gliding Club Club Website www.taupoglidingclub.co.nz Club Contact Tom Anderson Tomolo@xtra.co.nz PO Box 296, Taupo 2730 Ph (07) 378 5506 M 0274 939 272 Base Centennial Park, Taupo Flying 7 days a week Tauranga Gliding Club Club Website www.glidingtauranga.co.nz Club President Adrian Cable adrian.cable@xtra.co.nz 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 Brian Sharpe bwsharpe@xtra.co.nz Ph 027 248 1780 Base Greytown Soaring Centre, Papawai Airfield, 5 km east of Greytown Bookings Ph 027 618 9845 (operations) Flying Weekends and Public Holidays 7 days a week December through to March

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 17 July 2018.

AUCKLAND AVIATION SPORTS CLUB We are nearing the end of the traditional soaring season. It had promise, but regrettably did not overly deliver weather wise. However, in between the days that were scuppered by rain and wind, we still managed to have our squad out flying. Soaring was patchy and demanding, but our pilots managed to obtain some good duration soaring flights. The weather was not overly conducive to soar to the north this season, as we had done in the past.

Our students are progressing very well, and Kazik who only started in October last year, is not far from going solo. Rahul is showing that practice and determination pay off and is nailing every circuit, approach and landing beautifully. Well done. Joseph is flying our twin like it was just a pair of wings strapped onto him and showing that he has a great thermalling knack, which is awesome for someone just post solo. We have had a couple of ATC squadrons come out for air experience flights and had a wonderful time.

Club members did the briefings and got them prepared to have their badges signed off.

Tony Prentice finally relented and purchased a PW5 from Taupo and although going through the usual new owner jitters, of ‘what have I done?’ he has been taking to the sky every moment he can and having some terrific long duration soaring flights. He is getting his money’s worth.

We hope the weather still allows us to have some good soaring over the next couple of months and maybe even include have some west coast sorties, which would be nice. Till next time ….Tally ho….

Club Skipper

AUCKLAND The autumn is finally making its entrance for 2018 but we have had a great season and there are still some busy days ahead. We have had several ‘all hands on deck’ type visits,

CLUB NEWS

experience over to sailplane soaring. It was probably a little harder than he expected to tame a different beast, however he first soloed in late April and can now start adding to his soaring experiences, albeit in a machine with much longer wings.

As cooler weather approaches, let’s hope the recent drainage work is not needed and a kinder, drier climate prevails, and we can all exit the 2018 winter in good shape for the next season.

RG

CANTERBURY Canterbury gliding club’s summer kicked off with the inaugural Canterbury championships event in December, followed by a few months of seven day per week operations as Chris Terry and other UK friends joined resident instructor Paul Marriott. Chris Terry whooped with delight during his first flight above 10,000 feet in more than a decade while instructing in wave over the Southern Alps.

A relatively short summer camp at Omarama had a good showing by lower time pilots. Scott Parlane trailered a twin glider down to get good solo consolidation time including wave flying near the field, whilst Tim Hughes got to grips with his ASW20. John Hudson appeared frequently throughout the summer with his Libelle, nearly doubling his total flying time. The experienced crews enjoyed substantial flights in various conditions including John McCaw’s gentlemanly Mt Cook trip at best glide speed in weak ridge and wave.

Recent new members include Martin Brill, David Harrison, Jonathan Keene and Nissa Auckland:

mainly from youth oriented groups interested in the soaring facet of aviation. These have been successful, for the most part, with weather sometimes being a little indifferent.

We have also been busy with training several new members – some young and some not so young. These events, combined with the many trial flight bookings, training and private flights, can keep those on duty pretty busy.

We need to thank all those members who work at the coal face.

In general, the club is in good sorts.

The occasional cross-country and local flights are still delivering a lot of fun. The second Arcus (ZK-GUS) in our club took to the local sky for a couple of hours soaring and is looking forward to racing against the BF team in the other Arcus. I also want to congratulate Geof Green who has been converting 30 plus years of hang gliding

Canterbury: Search & Rescue exercise.

May–July 2018

49

CLUB NEWS

Canterbury:

Absalom, along with Alan Ing setting up for periodic visits from Australia by leaving his Sparrow Hawk on site. Single seat activity is growing with Peter Taylor and Grant Shaw taking possession of their new Shark with electric sustainer. Kevin and Wal Bethwaite have taken on Grant’s previous ASW20 TC, and Paul Marriott joined Jono Wardman in partnership, acquiring 20m Nimbus IW. The growing numbers of enthusiastic single-seater pilots are inspiring interest in using taskPilot for pilot development. Watch this space. Further development programmes include a week’s residential flying course held in April, and YouthGlide will be recommencing at Springfield with two camps later in the year.

In the next report you should also be able

Gliding Hawkes Bay and Waipukurau

50

May–July 2018

to read about the mock search and rescue exercise designed to test Mike Marra’s wellconceived emergency procedures.

GLIDING HAWKES BAY AND WAIPUKURAU Summer has ended and autumn arrived, with the odd winter type day thrown in for good measure. The summer saw some great soaring weather with one blisteringly hot Hawkes Bay January day recording the ground temperature as exceeding 30°C. The first flight of the day was a planned 1,200 feet circuit but strong thermals allowed climbs to over 4,000 feet and the pilots only returned to the airfield to let others use the aircraft. As the sea breeze came in, this

pushed the thermals back but also created a convergence. Graham White flew his LS8 for over 325 km OLC, including into the ranges and Mads Slivsgaard put the club's PW5 through its paces while exploring the local sky.

A number of calm fine and sunny days with very stable air gave silky smooth air which were ideal for training and trial flights.

The club’s student members have used these conditions to continue their progress to solo and beyond. Other Sundays have seen lingering low cloud and drizzle that has frustrated members and prevented flying.

The Central Districts Contest was held from Waipukurau Airfield in February and was a great success with local members

CLUB NEWS taking out the first three places in the Racing Class. The club also operated from Waipukurau Airfield in the weeks following to give members the opportunity to fly from a different location and use the local lift.

A number of trials flights were organised for Good Friday which turned out to be a fine and sunny day. The conditions gave great views of the local area and were well received by the trial flighters.

Brian Kelly has re-painted one of the club’s trailers and arranged for a sign advertising the club. The trailer is stored facing the road to give the club some free advertising.

PIAKO The Nationals held at Matamata January 27th to February 10th, saw 10 of the 27 gliders entered being flown by Piako Members. Because there was no Novice Class, Malcolm Piggott flying the club’s Single Astir NI in the Racing Class, punched above his weight and ended 5th overall. He won the Cup for the most Meritorious Flight.

He’d led a team over winter to sand and recoat the wings. Malcolm started gliding 2 ½ years ago and is clearly an up and coming competition pilot.

Steven Care in his ASW 20 VC was second in the Racing Class. Our Tug Master and B Cat Instructor Tony Davies continued the tradition of taking new QGP Pilots in the club Puchacz EO for competition experience.

Derek Shipley and Tony got very slick at de-rigging & re-rigging our Puchacz over the

two weeks of competition. That has spurred us as a club to begin investigating the purchase of a new cross-country twin glider.

Tony and Derek placed 6th, David Johnson was 7th and Andy MacKay 9th. In the Open Class, Brett Hunter flying his Dad in XT was 6th, Tim Bromhead in BA 7th, Bob Gray and Dave Dennison in YL 11th, Maurice Weaver in BZ 13th and Julian Elder in DE 14th.

Piako Gliding Club celebrated 60 years of flying from Matamata on Saturday 14th April. There were 168 registered for lunch and we were treated to a fantastic display of airmanship by Arthur Gatland in the club’s Discus B XP with Brett Hunter, also flying XB, David Jensen in VR, Julian Elder in DE and Julian Mason in UL also flying great displays.

Poor weather on the Saturday meant the celebrations continued into Sunday when BFF, one of our original Tiger Moth tow planes, piloted by John Pheasant was able to make it across the Kaimais and tow Rae Kerr in the Slingsby Dart GDW before scampering back over the Kaimais in front of the rain.

Royden Hooker has achieved QGP. He is the 5th Member to achieve QGP in as many months and two more members need solo hours. Royden has started gliding later than most and as a club we are proud of his perseverance and enthusiasm to achieve his goal. We also appreciate the work he does around the club and his willingness to stand in as Duty Pilot when he has a 3 hour round trip to get here.

Derek Shipley, in a set of unusual circumstances, has acquired the two New

Zealand Jantars, ML & MJ. Ali Shokri has gone solo and is still grinning ear to ear. Unfortunately, as other club members were out on a retrieve no one was there to take a photo on that occasion.

Going solo is a memory we all remember as the real start of our gliding journey. It always takes perseverance to achieve solo, a huge confidence boost.

G&S

TARANAKI After January which was a right busy old month, things have settled down to a more usual pattern but with the addition of YouthGlide people continuing with their flying…and they’ve been flying to good effect too with Nathan Whittleston going solo on February 18th (which was a first ‘sending solo’ for John Tullett too). John has also been doing a lot of flying recently.

Congratulations to both of you.

On 4th March Carl did a splendid QGP flight duration of forty minutes. It was a good day for others too. A bunch of Stratford Scouts all had flights on the 17th which, as far as I know, it’s been a while since that troop has been gliding, so great effort.

More flying in April though flight times seem to have decreased as the season winds down. Fourteen cadets from New Plymouth ATC Squadron had flights over the weekend of 7th/8th April. This annual event has been going for some time now and is obviously popular.

Peter Cook at Waipukurau and Glyn

Piako: 60th Anniversary celebrations

May–July 2018

51

CLUB NEWS Jackson at Matamata were nearly in the money at these events. They did us proud – it has been a good summer.

PJM

TAUPO

Tauranga: an excursion over the hill

Piako: 60th Anniversary celebrations

52

May–July 2018

It is hard to believe that summer has been and gone and that we are heading back into cold short days again. A famous colonial once said “Such is life”. There has been some good flying weather amongst the wet days that we have had and there have been some decent flights achieved. taskPilot has been promoted and well received and remains a work in progress. There are a number of tasks available for novice and experienced pilots alike and it is envisaged that taskPilot will be well used.

We had three members go to Waipukurau for the Central Districts Championships, two of them for the first time - well done Bill and Peter. All three had an enjoyable experience and vowed to do it again.

We would like to welcome two new members - Jolyon Reeves and Ken Hunter.

Jolyon has gone solo and achieved his “A” Certificate and is well on the way to his “B” Cert and QGP. Ken has also started well and is on the way to solo, and by the time this goes to print he may well have achieved solo status.

Our Jantar GML and PW5 GBD have found new homes and we hope that their new owners have many pleasurable hours flying them. The club now has a well-suited fleet for our needs.

Easter saw Vaughan Ruddick and family spend some time in Taupo and Vaughan did what Vaughan does well and disappeared for many hours flying over the Waikato on each of his flights. We have also had visiting overseas students undertaking the Solo training course and our own students are progressing well. It was planned to have a YouthGlide minicamp during the school holidays but unfortunately there were not enough participants to go ahead with the camp.

Over the next couple of months we will have our airmanship competition, annual dinner and awards as well as the AGM. Let’s hope we can have some good winter flying.

Cheers!

Trace

GNZ awards & certificates

FEBRUARY – APRIL 2018

EDOUARD DEVENOGES GNZ Awards Officer

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

Date Glider 1 2 2018 1 2 2018 10 2 2018 10 2 2018 15 2 2018 17 2 2018 22 2 2018 25 2 2018 27 2 2018 4 3 2018 4 3 2018 14 3 2018 13 4 2018 13 4 2018

Auckland GC

12 1 2018 DG 300

SILVER DURATION

Alex P. Boyes

Omarama GC

24 1 2018 LS 8

SILVER HEIGHT

Anton J. Lawrence

Auckland GC

12 1 2018 DG 300

SILVER BADGE 1185 Alex P. Boyes

Omarama GC

9 2 2018

GOLD DURATION

Alex P. Boyes

Omarama GC

24 1 2018 LS 8

GOLD HEIGHT

David Hirst GOLD DISTANCE

Philip Plane

Gliding Wairarapa

2 2 2018

Omarama GC

27 1 2018 Hornet

GOLD BADGE 338 David Hirst 339 Philip Plane

Gliding Wairarapa Omarama GC

10 2 2018 13 2 2018

Ventus CT

DIAMOND HEIGHT

David Hirst

Gliding Wairarapa

10 2 2018 Ventus CT

DIAMOND GOAL 344 Philip Plane

Omarama GC

27 1 2018 Hornet

USA RECORD 300 km, O&R, Speed, D15, General

Keith Essex, Omarama GC ASG 29e

16 2 2018 254.23 km/h

OCEANIAN CONTINENTAL RECORD 500 km, O&R, Speed, D15, General

Keith Essex, Omarama GC ASG 29e

16 2 2018 254.98 km/h

WORLD RECORD 500 km, O&R, Speed, D15, General

Keith Essex, Omarama GC ASG 29e AIR NZ CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Pilot's Name Club NORTHERN DIVISION

Alain Marcuse Wellington GC

Malcolm Piggott Piako GC

Glyn Jackson Taranaki GC

Anton Lawrence Auckland GC

Jason Kelly Hawkes Bay GC

Sarel Venter Piako GC

Dylan Watson Auckland GC

Neil Harker Taupo GC

Michael Cooper Tauranga GC

Genevieve Healey Piako GC

David Robson Auckland GC

Stephan Hughson Auckland GC

Sam Tullett Taranaki GC

Graham Cochrane Auckland GC

Will Hopkirk Taranaki GC SOUTHERN DIVISION

Daniel McCormack

Melissa Jenkins

Ken Montgomery

Colin Winterburn

A BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR PILOTS?

Enjoy and Learn Advanced Flying with the Wind 304 Pages 22x28 cm 391 Colour photos and drawings

• A “must have” book. Sailplane & Gliding (UK).

• “The book of the Century… You must buy this book, sell whatever it takes, but buy it.”

Gliding International (NZ).

• Unmissable, alongside Reichmann, Bradbury and Moffat.

L’@éroBibliothèque (France).

• Will remain in the history of the literature, perhaps more so than Reichmann.

Volo a Vela (Italy).

• It reveals to you the invisible treasures of the atmosphere.

Alvaro de Orleans Borbón (FAI Vice President).

Price €50 plus postage. Order to info@topfly.aero

Glide Omarama Taranaki GC Nelson GC Canterbury GC

Jean-Marie Clément

SILVER DISTANCE

Anton J. Lawrence

Club Auckland GC Wellington GC Wellington GC Omarama GC Omarama GC Wellington GC Glide Omarama Piako GC Auckland GC Wellington GC Wellington GC Taupo GC Nelson Lakes GC Glide Omarama

Dancing with the wind

Pilot’s Name Anton J. Lawrence Lars Hestehave Bruce Grain Michael Wolff John D. Peterson Andrew McCrorie Andrew Gibson Arthur R. J. Hooker David J. Robson Erich Schleifer Bruce Walker Ken Henderson Karl Geiger Ole Refsgaarden

TopFly

QGP No 3378 3379 3380 3381 3382 3383 3384 3385 3386 3387 3388 3389 3390 3391

16 2 2018 254.98 km/h Points 1423.39 1354.61 1317.55 1302.04 1293.38 1167.54 1072.42 1000.21 946.53 894.91 540.37 382.04 334.51 168.82 137.18

2704.01 915.33 826.26 117.13

Dancing with the wind

Jean-Marie Clément

May–July 2018

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 our webmaster.

Ads notified to SoaringNZ 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 SILENT IN • Self Launching Sailplane -$44K. 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. Phone 09 416 7125, email: nswan@xtra.co.nz Std Astir CS77 ZK-GMC • 1820 Hours total time. Recent annual and ARA inspection. New nose hook. Becker AR3201 radio Terra TRT 250 transponder. Good trailer. Can be viewed at the Tauranga Gliding club. May consider a syndicate. $20,000 or make an offer I can’t refuse. Ben Stimpson.

Email: bstimpson@xtra.co.nz Phone 027 555 5485 LS8a • Amazing glider which handles like a dream. PU paint, cobra trailer, carbon panel, LX9000, leather interior and all the bits you would want and race ready. Hadleigh Bognuda. Email hadleigh@ezyvet.com Taurus 503 VH-NUF • 3 year old Taurus M powered by an air cooled two stroke two cylinder 50 hp Rotax 503 engine. Two seat, side by side, spacious self-launching glider. Only 114 Total hours and only 30 Engine hours. Comes with Pipistrel 5 year extended Warranty. Fitted with every possible extra including a Galaxy Ballistic parachute and a full set of instruments including an LX9000 with ProStick control. Even has an E22 Tost nose release. Beautifully finished with acrylic paint and a very high build quality. Spacious cockpit with leather seats and trim and maximum cockpit load is a generous 190 kg.

Large blue tinted canopy with excellent visibility. Includes a dedicated Cobra trailer for long distance travel. Price AU$165,000 negotiable. Grant Rookes/ Owen Jones. Email grantliz@sekoor.co phone +61 4 0799 8959 +61 8 9332 7382 GMB Grob 102 Astir CS77, Standard 15m • Under 1,000 hours #1768 Price negotiable to right buyers. Seeking potential keen young light-weight owners for delightful to fly Astir. Cockpit weight limit 88kg incl parachute. New ARA inspections & instruments done before handover. Maintenance up to date.

Great Doug Hay custom built trailer in good condition. Easy rigging system, one person’s assistance required for just six minutes, the rest is a one-man rig. Excellent ground handling tow out gear. No canopy damage. L/D 37 dry, 38 when ballasted. Borgelt & Winter varios. Terra Transponder + mode C & S mods. Microair 760 VHF Radio. $20,000. Warren Pitcher. Email warrenpitcher@xtra.co.nz Phone 0274 720 338 Discus 1a. ZK-GYO. Cobra Trailer with spare wheel. 2 sets of winglets.

Cambridge M20 with Winpilot and Ipaq. Flarm system. Becker AR4201 radio.

Borgelt B40 varios. Terra transponder. Mountain High oxygen system. Carbon fibre cylinder. Twin battery system. Gear-up warning. National 360 parachute – rectangular canopy. Tow-out gear (Tail dolly, tow bar, wing wheel, stand).

Factory manuals. Location: Upper Hutt / Wellington. $65,000. Tony Flewett.

Email tonyflewett@gmail.com, Phone 04 526 7882 or 021 253 3057 Ventus 2cT 15/18m • Immaculate 2002 Ventus 2cT, GRY #95 finished in PU paint. Fully equipped including LX Navigation Zeus with Flarm and AHRS.

54

May–July 2018

Remote stick, Eos vario, com, Txpdr and EDS 02. Komet trailer. Full set Jaxida outdoor covers. Motivated seller with genuine reason for sale. $170,00. Alan Belworthy. Email a.belworthy@xtra.co.nz, phone 0274 960 748 PW6-U. ZK-GPK • Constructed 2002. s/n 78-03-01. In very good order cockpit paint re-furbished. Normal instrumentation i.e. 2 x Altimeters and ASI's. Microair 720 Com. Borgelt B40 electric varios front and back seat.

2405 Total Service Hours in service. Full service history with Sailplane Services. Fully hydraulic disc brake Mod. (CAA approved). Currently no transponder or trailer but these can be supplied if required. Ross Gaddes. Email ross@sailplaneservices.co.nz, phone 027 4789123 ASW 20 cl in great condition • Piako Gliding Club in pvt Hangar. Price includes new instruments and radio. # 20823, Manf: 1985. TT 1655 hrs with 811 launches. 2 pot finish. Instruments: Ditter KRT2 Com, Terra TXPDR, Flarm. LX Navigation EOS Vario (GPS IGC LOGGER) with Remote Stick Controller. Water bags all good in wings. Mountain High oxygen system.

Homebuilt Trailer. Hangar at Piako by negotiation. $60,000 Contact S Griffin.

Email oldbuick@hotmail.com, phone 027 595 5191 Schempp-Hirth Standard Cirrus • GHD S/N 62. 1970. 1485hrs 812 flights.

Original gel coat, still in good condition. New Airworthiness and all instruments checked before sale. Braked Trailer. Will require some work, some minor water damage to wooden floor during storm. New logbook, DI book and AD folder. All flying tail. Includes: TRT800H-OLED Mode S Transponder, Naviter Oudie, Cambridge Variometer, King KY97A Radio, Wheel Up Alarm, parachute (I have been unable to get packed in Auckland due to its age), 2 new batteries, Rigging Cradle and wing stand. Currently at Whenuapai. $23,000 ono. Contact Nathan Graves. Email gravesn101@gmail.com DG808B 18m self-launch glider 2001 • TT 411 Hrs Engine Solo 2625-01 TT 23 Hrs. Annual and ARA due may 2018. Fully equipped, Winter vario/ASI/Alt, Becker AR4101 radio, Trigg TT22 transponder. LXNAV V7 linked to Oudie 2/ LXNAV Nano. Kanardia Horis mini EFIS - Horizon/ALT/IAS/TAS/Temp/HDG. Solar panels fitted with 2 x 12v 9AH additional batteries for endurance flying.

One-man rigging equipment, Cobra trailer with new tyres, current rego and WOF. Parachutes Australia slim-back emergency chute available separately.

All in excellent condition and ready to fly. $165,000. Contact T Harrison. www.sportsaircraftnz.com or timhar@xtra.co.nz, phone 09 423 9494 Schleicher ASH25e, GOA • 1210hrs, Engine 4.04hrs not currently fitted but can be refitted easily, Cambridge LNAV, Cambridge 25 GPS, Sage mechanical vario, T&S, EDS Oxygen, FSG71 radio, Transponder, 26.5m wingtip extensions with winglets, 2 parachutes, tow out gear, Cloud dancer all weather covers, Trailer. Phone Jamie for more details. $110,000.00. Contact Jamie Halstead. Email halstead.joinery@xtra.co.nz, phone 021 409 933 Homebuilt self launch. 18m. 4 piece wing flapped modern airfoil all glass , disk brakes, 28hp Hirth motor, with trailer. Mostly ready for paint. Ring for more details. Contact Garry Morgan. Email gkmorgan54@gmail.com, phone 020 4118 7493 or 03 572 5409 Slingsby Dart 15m ZK-GDW • Excellent Condition. Less than 700 hours, never pranged. Cockpit load 78 to 107kg. Recently repainted Red and White.

Airworthiness & Inspection current. Ready to Fly. Recently towed by Tiger Moth. Wing walker, tail dolly, tow bar. Well equipped trailer with WoF & Rego.

Basic instruments plus 2 varios, turn and slip and Becker VHF. $6,000. Brian Ruddell. Phone 021 0275 6489. Email 86bdr86@gmail.com Ventus 2cT • Fully equipped 2002 Ventus 2cT in immaculate condition priced to sell. 15m option tips, PU Paint, Jaxida outdoor cover set. $170,000. For

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

Deadline for receipt of advertising for our August 2018 issue is 22 July 2018.

further information, please contact Alan Belworthy phone 0274 960 748 email a.belworthy@xtra.co.nz Nimbus 2 GKV • New PU paint on fuselage, double bladed air brakes, trailer. $25,000. Contact Steve Barham. Phone 021642484. Email barham@xtra. co.nz Ka6 CR GCN • New Canopy 2017. Transponder, Electronic vario, Oxygen, Parachute. Trailer will be sold separately (2004 wooden and in good condition + insulated). Annual done by NZ soaring solutions. $6,000. Contact Emile. Phone 021 234 7965. Email toemile@gmail.com

Windsock for your gate, club rooms or control van • Length: 800mm, Inlet Diameter: 250mm. Come with a wire hoop to hold open. Great for assessing wind strength and direction for many activities. Put one at your flying field gate, hanger, clubroom, control van etc. Light enough to take anywhere.

I have sold these to Fishermen, Hunters, Emergency Services (for helicopter rescue) Pilots, Paragliders, Microlights you name it. Great product made from Ripstop Nylon like paragliders are constructed from. $14. Contact Pilot Pete. Email pete@pilotpetes.nz, phone 027 455 9449 Copies of G Dale's The soaring engine Vol 1 Ridge thermal flatland mountain and Vol 2 Wave and convergence are available from info@thesoaringengine. co.uk Cost per book is $66 plus $5 postage and packing.

HANGARS 15m hangar space in Omarama • Eastern hangar, east side, close to runway. $15,000. Contact Svajus. Phone 0211217423. Email skypociai@ yahoo.com

AVIONICS Becker panel mount radio and WIN handheld • European 8.33 upgrade forces sale. One each panel mount and handheld radio, both in NZ ex UK. Top quality Becker panel mount radio, made in Germany AR4201 in original packing with JAA Form 1, full owners manual and quick reference instructions. Handheld radio WIN 747 including VOR and Scan functions, made in Japan, in storage box with 240V charger and original instructions. NiCad pack in good condition. Both items are in good clean condition, about 15 years old, in full working order, never opened or repaired, with one owner from new. Prefer not to split, $NZ 525 or near offer. Contact Annie Laylee.

Email annlaylee@aol.com, phone 027 943 6240 Garmin GNS-430W GPS/NAV/COM, PN: 011-01060-40 • This is a 14V unit and includes the mounting tray, connectors and shells, new Garmin GA35 Antenna, new manuals, new navigation data card, It has the latest software (Main 5.30, GPS 5.0) $6,800. Contact Chris Gillette. Email chriscjgillettelaw@gmail.com

WANTED Damaged/broken Oudie • Oudie1 (or Oudie2) to use as parts for repair (cracked screen OK as I have a working screen). Contact Glyn Jackson.

Email glyn@glynjackson.com, phone 021 0250 4646 Blanik L13 nose cone and front cockpit canopy • In reasonably good condition for a non-flying project. Please make contact if you have any of these available for sale. Mike Packer. Email mikelpacker@gmail.com, phone +64 21 059 8648 Parachute • I need a replacement chute, ideally less than 10 years old and reasonably thin, needs to be good for 100kg. contact Jason. Phone 021 977 240. Email jason.price@tumu.co.nz Instructors Wanted • Omarama Experienced Instructors required at Omarama from October through March in one of the three following categories: 1. BCat Instructor, 1000 hrs, 500 hrs at OA. 2. BCat Instructor, 1000 hrs, tow rating, 200 hrs tail-wheel. 3. BCat Instructor, 1000 hrs, 500 hrs OA, German speaking. Extensive cross-country coaching as well as basic instruction experience is required. Guy@glideomarama.com 03 438 9555

Dittel FSG2T Radio It has had the SB done • Comes with paperwork.

Postage included in the price. $700. Contact Ross Drake. Email hcdswiss@ gmail.com Clearnav club vario • Around 3 years old. In new condition. Can be easily updated to a clearnav x/c. Worth around $2550 new. Selling as I have two electric varios in the panel. $1,300. Contact Patrick Driessen. Phone 274866441. Email patdriessen21@gmail.com

TRAILERS As new trailer, 8m X 2.4. about 1.8m high • Was used to ship my motor glider to NZ. Spare wheel. $3000. Contact Garry Morgan. Email gkmorgan54@gmail.com, Phone 02041187493

OTHER FOR SALE Tost High Powered Winch • Up for grabs is a high powered winch, on the back of an Izusu truck. Perfect for any club that needs a new winch. Comes with 2 new reels of wire each 1500m long, three new parachute assemblies, cable splices, crimping tool etc. V8 small block engine rated to winch up to 750kg gliders. $45,000 Bruce Drake. Email Drakeaviation@hotmail. com. Phone 03 313 4261

May–July 2018

55

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