Welcome to a new decade and to the January GNZ newsletter.
Happy New Year!
I'm looking forward to an awesome January but wasn't December an exceptional month!
Camps, comps, convective clouds, convergences, Christmas and a Grand Prix.
I hope Santa was good to you and your gliding wishes have come true. Same goes for your New Year's resolutions!
A special mention from December to the amazing organisers, volunteers, sponsors and students of the annual Youth Glide Soaring Development Camp at Omarama, yet another inspiring success.
For those that somehow haven't seen it already (54K views so far) check out the Facebook link below to an excellent video article on the camp put together by the team at Seven Sharp.
IZZY BURR - 50km flight with outlanding. Silver C done!
SABRINA SCHELS (right) for breaking Yvonne Loader's (left) 1981 NZ women's Open Class speed record for a 300km out-and-return.
Was 63.54 km/h, now 122.99 km/h.
RAE KERR - winner of the Northern Regionals Racing Class in his 1960's Slingsby 17m Dart. Never underestimate wood and fabric when paired to a pilot with cunning and experience.
LUKE MCPAKE - 1st solo on Boxing Day 2019
Stefan Langer
Stefan Langer is a professional glider pilot from Southern Germany and he will be in NZ this summer having entered the Auckland Soaring Championship Enterprise contest. Last year won by German pilot Klaus Kalmbach. Stefan is notable for his gliding, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel which has 60K subscribers. One of his latest videos has in just 3 months received over 8 million views! So you could say he is a gliding internet celebrity. Great to see NZ attracting some of the worlds best to our wee slice of paradise and expect the world to see a lot more of NZ gliding on the net over the next few weeks.
International High Performance Coach Peter Hartmann comes to NZ
Last chance to get your name down to be coached by the best
Coaching available between Jan 17 and Feb 15 (includes at the Taupo Nationals)
If you are serious about improving your cross country or competition flying skills then this is an opportunity not to be missed. Intensive coaching sessions of 2 - 3 days or potentially longer are available for the right candidates. Read Peter Hartmann's bio and register your interest to be coached at the link below.
4 new map views, including a new terrain view, satellite view, a 'fast' view for slow internet connections, and a 'topo' view incase your'e tramping! Change the view in the settings 'cog'.
You can now sort the legend, and change between AGL and QNH heights.
View altitude of an aircraft track by clicking the aircraft, then click the little pin icon bottom right.
If a contest is on, you can put a basic version of the task on the map. There's a new task button to select the task.
The Sysdoc Group, owned by ex-commercial pilot Katherine Corich, are delighted to be providing Gliding Scholarships for young women who want to learn to fly or progress their flight training.
Katherine has fond memories of her pilot training, the life skills and self – discipline it instilled in her and wishes to give something back to young women who also have the wish to follow their dreams of flight.
The Scholarships are open to all women under 26. The flight training is undertaken at the Greytown Soaring Centre, Papawai, Wairarapa NZ between 01 Dec 2019 and 31 Mar 2020.
Congrats to this years winners:
Amy Smith
Jessica O'Neill
Patel Schenk
Photos from the Youth Soaring Development Camp, Omarama 2019 -where dreams and reality merge...
Emma Derold
Leia Organa
Luke Skywalker
Incident Reports
From the desk of the NOO (National Operations Officer)
So why is publishing incident reports useful?
Firstly it shows pilots that stuff happens, and may prompt alertness in similar situations, secondly it shows submitters that we do see benefit in doing something other than filing reports away for (later) analysis.
Incident Reports reveal where we are bumping into the edge of the safe operating envelope. This can be due to a weakness in the training program, lack of currency, not paying enough attention, inadequate preparation . . . . or just simply drifting away from good practice.
Review of Incident Reports for October - November 2019
- landing under a wave system, dumped in the circuit, failed to select alternative field, hit fence
- accidental airspace incursion due to confusion about open/closed status of Glider Flying Area
- pilot unwell during BFR, possibly suffering from toxicity caused by prior use of farm chemicals
- ground loop in crosswind, trainee pilot, taxied off centre of mowed area, tip caught in long grass
- outlanding, short field, misread wind, landed downwind, over-ran into ditch, substantial damage
- engine of self-launching glider shut down at 3,000 ft without warning, glider landed safely
Don't forget a link to the GNZ incident reporting form (OPS 10) can now 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.
