GNZ Newsletter February 2023



From the president


Welcome to the February 2023 GNZ newsletter.

While the deep South has had a magic run of endless beautiful summer days the North Island has not been so lucky.

The first half of Jan was pretty rubbish and cancelled the Drury Enterprise but the second half has been much better (ignoring the recent flooding) with some nice mid January flying to be had.

We are only half way through the summer season though so there is still plenty of great flying ahead and much to be achieved.

If you haven't set a new summer goal yet now's the time.

5 hours? First out-landing? First cross country? First competition? 100km, 200km, 300km, 500km or 1,000km.

The sky is your oyster.

Happy flying.

Steve Wallace

GNZ President


Congratulations

LEAH RUDDICK

First solo! Well done Leah!

ALLIE SWAIN

First solo! Well done Allie!

TED McFADGEN

First solo! Nice one Ted!


SHIV CHAND

Conversion to a single seat glider.


FELIX HARPER

Silver 50km flight on Boxing Day. Silver Badge now complete! Next up Gold.


WALTER LOWN

XCP Certificate complete!


JOHAN NAUDE

XCP certificate complete!


SONDRE LANGVIK-OWEN

Passenger rating. First passenger was of course his mum!


SONDRE'S MUM

Congratulations on your first flight in a glider!


NIGEL DAVY and STEVE WALLACE

Winner of the Racing Class (Duo Discus), NZ MultiClass Nationals, Omarama.


KEITH ESSEX

Winner of the Open Class, NZ MultiClass Nationals, Omarama.


2023 Youth Soaring Development Camp


A quick report from Andrew Colby

The 2023 YSDC was held at Omarama 8 – 14 January. Good flying weather, generous support, enthusiastic participants and a lack of Covid hassles allowed it to be a huge success. The twenty YGNZ members who attended enjoyed seven busy flying days. Five attendees were young ladies. The easterly weather pattern persisted for the whole week so while very good for training, it wasn’t the typical mix of wave, ridge, thermal and convergence soaring that Omarama usually offers. None-the- less we are sure all have been inspired to continue to advance their soaring skills.

Some quick stats from the camp:

  • 239 flights were flown during the 7day camp; (201 Winch; 38 Aerotow)
  • 88 hrs gliding were flown;
  • There were 3 First Solos and several re-solos after last year;
  • 3 To Solo Cert’s completed and 3 single seat conversions and type ratings.


And of course lots of learning happened on the ground as well...

Thanks to all the helpers and sponsors for yet another great youth development camp!

Diamond Mining in NZ


Did you know...

Over 13% of all FAI triple diamond badge holders in the world are New Zealand pilots (135 in NZ, 1020 globally) and two of the six (33%), 2,000km diploma holders are kiwis! Yet we only make up less than 1% of the worlds glider pilots (700 approx. out of 111,000 approx.)

For a quick overview of the badges and holders: https://www.fai.org/page/igc-badges-and-diplomas

Thinking of doing some Silver, Gold or Diamond mining? Then get yourself familiar with Section 3 of the FAI Sporting Code: https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/sc3_2022.pdf

Find yourself an Official Observer: https://gliding.co.nz/fai-official-observers/

Set your goal for the summer. Happy mining!

From the SRC

Next contest; Club Class Nationals. 36 entries so far and the long range forecast is actually looking good!

Competition Pilots

Rules for the 2022/23 competition season

BGA Glider Handicaps 2022/23 as adopted by the SRC

Contest Organisers

new Contest Management Guide now available

New Levies

Organisers of national and regional competition events for 2022/2023 season please include $10 per contestant and send this to GNZ to fund the purchase of glider scales as agreed at the AGM Pilots Meeting.

Organisers to also ask pilots for a voluntary $10 donation and pass this to GNZ to fund the igc ranking fee for the 2022/2023 season.

Scales for glider weighing

The scales have finally arrived and a How To session was held at the MultiClass Nationals in Omarama. Bob Henderson got all the pilots along by buying them a coffee and Derek Shipley donated his glider for the test weigh (only 2kg over MAUW fully loaded).

Do you know how much your glider weighs fully loaded?



From around the clubs


Proud parents Vaughan and Paula Ruddick congratulate daughter Leah on her first solo.


Tim Bromhead flying from Taupo gets a great shot of Mt Tarawera


Former GNZ President Karen Morgan modelling for Pure Glide


Yours truly flying from Whenuapai outlands in the long grass of the far north.


Derek Shipley from Piako Gliding Club outlands in the short grass of the McKenzie basin.


John McCaw from Springfield outlands at Mt Potts Station after 511km.


Keith Macy from Auckland Gling Club outlands in nearby Ararimu.


Prizes for the outlanders at the MultiClass Nationals.


John Robertson, the bare foot flying wonder kid makes it home to Drury.




Updated Instructor Training Programme

A summary


Gliding NZ Instructor Training Program

The Gliding New Zealand Instructor needs to achieve and maintain proficiency in four key areas:

1. Knowledge of the Pilot Training Program (PTP), MOAP, GNZ Rules, CAA Rules

2. Teach, instruct, coach and assess a trainee pilot's knowledge and understanding

3. Safely and effectively conduct airborne exercises (where approved to provide instruction)

4. Manage gliding operations, including supervision of solo pilots, emergency procedures

The Instructor Training Program (ITP) consists of the following documents:

1. Assessment Standards for Initial Issue and Category Upgrades

Instructor Assessment Standards (IAS)

2. Form to Apply for an Instructor Rating or Upgrade

Form OPS-07 Page 1

3. Form to Record Assessment Against the Standards (20 topics)

Form OPS-07 Page 2

4. Support Manual for the Teaching of Airborne Training Exercises

Instructor Support Manual (ISM) expands on the definitions in the IAS Part 3.

5. Form for Recording Exercises Approved to Teach

Form OPS-08 - applies to C-Cat and B-Cat ratings, use in conjunction with ISM

6. Use of Patter (optional)

Use of Patter - a simple and effective language for use when airborne, from BGA

7. Instructor Competency Review

Form OPS-09 is required every two years after the initial issue of an instructor rating.

Includes notes to expand the definitions. An ICR also meets the requirements for a BFR.

Instructors will need to make use of the following Operations Forms:

Biennial Flight Review

Form OPS-11 is required by every pilot who does not hold an instructor rating, and must be renewed every two years after initial issue of the XCP (or a passenger rating). Conducted by B-Cat or A-Cat.

Flight Test for Passenger Rating

Form OPS-12 is required immediately prior to completion of the XCP section of the PTP. Conducted by B-Cat or A-Cat.

Additional material is provided here:

Privileges and Rating Requirements for Instructor Categories A, B and C

Gliding NZ AC 2-04 Instructor Privileges and Currency

MOAP Section 2-4 and Appendix 2-E.

Membership


Membership Display Panel

Ahh, the sweet, sweet sound of a vario going off it's rocker. In case you can't read the scale for this months net gain, the number is +16, bringing our net gain for the year back into the positives with up 6 overall. Let's all do our bit to keep up this positive trend and welcome these new members into your clubs.


Safety Thought


Hope is not a strategy

A great article, stolen from the AGC newsletter, who stole it from somewhere. Original author Tony Condon

I was blown away the first time I saw the Concordia. Who wouldn't be smitten by the lines of a 57:1 aspect ratio, the incredible finish, and unfathomable performance. The second time I saw the Concordia I was even more surprised by what I saw in the cockpit. A placard that reads "Hope is not a Strategy”. It gave me great confidence that a pilot with Dick Butler's resume still needed a reminder. Here is a guy who has been National Champion at least eight times and on the US Team six.

Hope has become a dirty word in my dictionary. When I hear it around the airport I tend to butt in the conversation and suggest a different approach. Depending on hope is a sign of resignation, one of the five hazardous attitudes that we learn in primary flight training. The solution is educating yourself on all aspects of any flight you undertake, keeping options open, and taking action when it is needed.

Someday the towplane is going to eat a valve or run out of gas, or that (jet, electric, piston) engine is not going to start. Have you spent the last couple years of flying analyzing your options on takeoff and contemplating all possible approaches to them? In the moment is not the time to make a plan!

Incident Reports

We're out of cycle this month for incident reports but I am aware of at least two airbrakes open on take-off occurrences and a wheels up landing, so it is essential that your pre-take-off and pre-landing checks are done thoroughly and carefully. Just because a lever is in the right place does not mean that it is locked!

You can access all back copies of the Ops Team Talking newsletters.

These have been placed on the Gliding NZ web site under News > Safety Bulletins

Do you need to file an OPS-10 as well as CA005? This question comes up a lot. The CAA must be notified immediately by phone after an "accident", along with the relevant CFI (MOAP Ref page 61 & 62). A Form CA005 Occurrence Report must then be filed with CAA within ten days. The view of Gliding NZ is that every incident or accident is also an opportunity to learn something that could prevent a similar occurrence in the future, and for this reason an OPS-10 report should also be filed with the ROO even though this is not explicitly requested in AC 2-08. A link to the GNZ incident reporting form (OPS 10) can be found in the very top menu bar on the GNZ homepage, just to the right of the 'Classified Adverts'. You can now fill this form out on your phone at the airfield so no excuses.


OPS 10 link: http://gliding.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/OPS10v7f.pdf

In the case of an accident, asap please phone: 0508 ACCIDENT (0508 222 433)

GNZ Code of Conduct

Unfortunately we have recently had a few incidences of pilots behaving badly so a quick reminder ours is a volunteer sport that relies on everybody treating each other fairly, politely and with respect.

GNZ has a Code of Conduct which you can read below or click on to be taken to the doc.


LAK 17b FES

For Sale


GNZ Classifieds

Time for a glider upgrade?

https://gliding.co.nz/classifieds/

Need some 'merch' from Tim's Pure Glide store?


Thanks for reading

All contributions, pics, videos and opinions welcome

EMAIL: president@gliding.co.nz