Summer Instructors

Something some clubs may wish to think about for next summer

An article by Ross Gaddes of the Auckland Gliding Club

Many in the club will already know about our Summer Instructor Programme. However, with many new members in the last few years, I thought an article explaining how this works could be of interest. The Summer Instructor (SI) program started as long ago as 2013. During one of the regular GNZ AGM’s in Wellington a few of us from the Auckland Club were interested to hear of a Wellington club initiative that hosted several young overseas instructors to Paraparaumu (the original WGC site) and depending on who we talked to it seemed to be a resounding success. The initial idea was to take pressure off the instructor panel during peak season, many of whom wish to compete or just fly their own aircraft. In the past many instructors were dedicated to the instructor duties as a priority, but this has changed over the years and now many own their own aircraft and want to enter competitions and achieve their own goals. In short, we decided to invite a couple of young Hungarian instructors, one of whom had a tow rating, to our club for the 2013-14 season. This went hugely well, in my opinion. It is fair to say that regular partying and a slightly messy clubrooms did annoy some of the members, but in general I am sure the pros outweighed the cons. This has set the pattern for most of our summer seasons. We have learned some lessons, but we have made long lasting friends of almost all of our visitors, some who even returned the following season. The pattern was to use contacts and friends of friends to advertise our vacancies. The preference has always been to use younger instructors from Europe. The reasoning behind this is to create a youthful energy in our clubhouse and our club. Another preference has been to choose keen XC pilots that seem hungry to experience our southern hemisphere skies. We did stray from the plan when we accepted applications, one of whom was a more experienced instructor. This still seemed to work very well when alongside another younger invitee. Each year there has been a slightly different ambience about our club due to the different personalities of our friends but in all cases, there have been positive results. Some years the weather was very average and of course the Covid periods made it impossible to work. However, I know that the benefits are huge, and we all intend for the programme to remain for the foreseeable future.

Loosely the plan is -

• The SI can live at the clubhouse for the period he/she helps us.

• We offer off peak use of the glider fleet for the SI.

• We offer full membership and the associated privileges of ‘A’ scheme flying

• We supply a vehicle but not fuel for the period (unless on club business).

• They need to hold hold appropriate NZ ratings and licences (we will assist).

• They should help us for a minimum of 5 days per week. Helping during Public Holidays and Weekends is an option. Most times they have helped way more than that.

• They need to abide by club rules as does any member.

• Fun is compulsory

2024-25 Season

This season we had a senior German instructor, and a younger French instructor organised to assist us. Unfortunately, the German instructor encountered some personal issues at late notice and therefore was unable to help us. This put a lot of pressure on Aurelien Doriat, and I cannot speak highly enough of this young 27-year-old, instructor from France. His professionalism and skills are outstanding and his affability and friendliness un-questionable. By chance we had also two young visitors (Jean from France and Lauren from Canada) who were very keen to learn about NZ and especially soaring in NZ. Along with several NZ based members, many younger as well, who are at the early learning stages, Aurelien (nickname Aileron ) has been of immense help. But even more than that he, Jean and Lauren have made our club a fun place over the last few months. Like many of our invitees he will always be welcome back and I honestly think he was very sad to leave us just a week or so ago, I hope we get to see him back again in the very near future, even if only passing through. Of course, Lauren and Jean are also now genuine AGC members, and they too are now part of our culture. Lauren has soloed in XY and in the PW5 and Jean (who had some solo flight) has learned our Kiwi language and has been flying LW. Both also got to do some great XC flying with Aurelien in our Duo’s. In fact, the summer in Auckland has been as good as we can expect and without digging through statistics it feels better than most. This operation needs many to assist but at the top of the list must be Wayne, Dion and Anton. These members have gone over and above – especially Wayne who found tow pilots for the full seven days most times which is a staggering achievement. I thank them all, and any I may have missed, for making our club a place that I am truly proud of.