A new year and a soaring season of new opportunities still ahead.
I trust Santa was good to you all.
Great to see the fun of the 10th annual Omarama Santa Scramble!
Also great to see some of the epic flights appearing on WeGlide each day.
And great to see our youth making the most of their school holidays at ATC and Youth Glide camps.
Thanks to all those volunteers that are making these events happen.
So much more to come as we are not even half way through the soaring season and calendar of events yet.
Happy new year, fly safe and enjoy!
Cheers
Nigel Davy
GNZ President
Congratulations
JOHN SMITH
1,000km flight done! At 126km/hr in his LS3a
Well done John! Perseverance after achieving 990km in October.
DAVID KEYS (left)
First solo in a glider. Welcome to the sport.
RYAN SEMMENS
XCP complete. Good effort Ryan.
PAUL BLACKMORE
300km Gold Flight in LS4 ZK-GMI
NATHANAEL MELIA
Nathanael (standing in the shorts) has been good this year as Santa (aka Phil Rees) is test flying his new glider.
BOB GRAY
Winner of the Racing Class at Taupo Northern Regionals
PAT DRIESSEN
Winner of the Open Class at Taupo Northern Regionals
The 10th Annual Santa Scramble
Fun times for all
Gliding time is often holiday time and great gliding clubs are for everybody, not just the glider pilots. They recognise and hold events for helpers, friends, families and the kids. A great day at the gliding club can involve everyone. Well done to Abbey Delore for organising the 10th Annual Santa Scramble at the Omarama Gliding Club. What is your club doing for the kids and non pilots these holidays?
Santa lollies inbound!
Thanks Nick Oakley for being this years Father Christmas and Gavin Wills for being his sleigh / reindeer.
Upcoming Events
Enter now, even if you are unsure. It helps the organisers to organise.
Competition - Gliding Hawkes Bay & Waipukurau Inc - Waipukurau
Gliding Hawkes Bay & Waipukurau Inc are planning the 2026 Central Districts Championships at Waipukurau from 14th-21st February 2026 inclusive. Practice day would be Saturday 14th and competition days 15th-21st February inclusive. Full Details »
Competition - Gliding New Zealand - Matamata Full Details »
First time at Omarama
Paul Blackmore
First Time at Omarama
Paul Blackmore
Even before I got back into gliding a couple of years ago, I’d heard all about the incredible flights that start out of Omarama. More than once, during holidays on the South Island, I made a point of passing through Omarama just to catch a glimpse of the gliding scene there.
When I set my soaring goals for this season, I had three main aims: to experience wave flying, to complete my gold distance, and to fly in my first competition. With that in mind, I reached out to Milan from Kahu Soaring. I figured a week of one-on-one coaching in November, early in the season, might help me check off one goal and make progress on the others—though I knew weather could be a factor.
As the booking approached, the forecasts looked grim. But everyone kept telling me, “Don’t worry, it’s Omarama.” Sure enough, the weather started out pretty ordinary, which in some ways turned out to be a benefit. My first day was just about 45 minutes of scratching on the hills—enough to break the ice. The next flight was a 300 km flight and my first taste of mountain thermals, convergence, and a bit of wave. We nearly had to land out near Pukaki, but a faint wisp of cloud showed the convergence edge and saved the flight. It was fascinating to watch Milan’s troubleshooting process in action.
Next came a flight right in among the mountains, working thermals and convergences in boisterous conditions for another 270 km. This gave me some real mountain flying training, circling in conditions that were quite intimidating but incredibly educational.
And then came the grand finale: the full Omarama wave experience. After a quick tow and an initial climb on the hills, we headed into the valley where rotor clouds were forming. A bit more turbulent climbing and we found ourselves in the wave climbing through 15,000 feet, cruising at around 90 knots. Sometimes we even needed half airbrakes to avoid busting airspace. The track of our 717 km flight took us down to the edge of Dunedin airspace and up to the head of the Jollie River. After four hours, my feet were freezing, but the experience was absolutely worth it.
In conclusion, this was an incredible gliding adventure, blending thermal, mountain convergence, and wave flying. I learned so much that will help me progress further. It must have had an effect because my first flight after returning I completed a 300km flight that I hope will be confirmed for gold distance. Milan and the Kahu team took great care of me and made it a truly memorable experience. I don’t yet feel ready to tackle that environment in my LS4 so I guess I’ll have to go back for more training.
Learn to Fly
At the Nelson Lakes Gliding Club
Beginners Course
From around the clubs
When you fly from the sothern hemispheres largest grass airfield you need a big mower, 12hrs and a bit of oil to mow it all.
Unusual blue day at Whenuapai with only one big cloud in the distance that even got a mention on the Metservice Facebook page.
Frank Excell from Auckland Gliding Club snaps this pic on a visit to Omarama
Nice end of day convergence at Matamata
Rosco and Ben happy to be up in the wave at Tauranga
Tim Bromhead snaps a pic of Mt Doom on a flight from Piako
And also a pic of the fire damage around National park.
Post the Taupo contest the weather boomed with 10,000' convergence flying to be had.
Lake Waikareiti - unique as the lake has an island with a lake on it
North Arm airstrip - popular with deer hunters and desperate glider pilots
Bruno Tagliapietra on a 230km flight from the Wellington Wairarapa Club
Nelson Lakes asking - Can you spot our runway?
Canterbury Gliding Club - you know your members are keen to go flying when they wear their parachutes to briefing.
Task week flying was good though.
Service with a smile at the Omarama Glider Cafe
Wave on a plate, Dunstan style by Kelvyn Flavall
What has V.K. been up to?
It is with great pleasure to advise that the idea, referred to in the VK notes in December, of restoring the historic SHK-1 GFJ for museum display at the Tairawhiti Aviation Museum, Gisborne Airport, has gone one step further.
The plan now is for John Tullett to restore the wings in Taranaki and Phil McKinnon will lead the fuselage restoration, with help from others, in Matamata. Construction of the open trailer for our K-13 is proving to be a real bonus. It will facilitate the transfer of the glider from Tauranga Airport to Taranaki and Matamata and one day, take the completed project to Gisborne Airport.
There is a lot of work so it will take time to complete so keep watching this space for updates! Thank you gentlemen for accepting the challenge. No doubt it will look immaculate once more and deservingly so, considering its significant history.
The other main activity in December is the K-13’s participation in the Air Training Corps Annual Wings Course at Matamata. Instructors Robin Britton and Phil Rees worked through the week on GFX and were rewarded in seeing some of their pupils successfully complete their first solo.
Thanks to Steve Wallace for supplying this photograph of Flt Sgt Lincey Jiang during her first solo.
Now for a bit of historic trivia. Recently at Classic Flyers Museum, I, in my capacity as Archivist, was handed the 358 page typed account, compiled by owner Arthur Hardinge for Gordon Hookings, of his EoN Olympia, VH-GFW Yellow Witch, for its 1949 visit to New Zealand. The detailed account determines that the very first tow in New Zealand was performed at Mangere by Auckland Aero Club Tiger Moth ZK-AIA flown by Bob Prentice, the club’s CFI. Note: (ZK-AIA became well known in North Island gliding circles and is currently in storage in Auckland).
The Yellow Witch flying over what is now Auckland International Airport at Mangere, 1949.
Days later, Yellow Witch, was taken on the very first New Zealand cross country aero-tow from Mangere to Matamata Aerodrome to participate in a Piako Aero Club flying day. The Tiger Moth on this occasion was ZK-ARI Monkey Airways flown by its owner Fred McKeever. For the record, Fred did one aero-tow circuit over Mangere, landed and after “a cup and a bite to eat”, set off with the Olympia on his second ever aero-tow, complete with turbulence, 1000 ft cloud base and then heavy rain for the last 40 miles!
The Yellow Witch at Wigram Aerodrome, Canterbury, 1949.
The final numbers for 2025 are in and the beginning of the summer surge has seen us with a net gain of 25 members for the month. Half of which were still members slowly getting around to rejoining after they were resigned from their clubs way back in October! So for 2025 we finished the year with 37 members less than what we started the year :-(
As an organisation we want to be growing and not shrinking. More members makes life easier for everybody, especially in the smaller clubs where the work load is spread over fewer shoulders. So for 2026 let's do all we can to attract and welcome as many new members as possible to our clubs but of course we must do this without losing focus on ensuring we are providing great experiences for our current members!
ATC Gliding Course
ATC Northern Area Gliding Course
by Norm Duke, CFI Piako Gliding Club
This year in addition to the 20 Cadets from all around New Zealand, the weather also turned up. The previous two years we had lost two days to weather. The first day had the cadets attending ground school with them going over the Solo Pilot syllabus led by Roger Brown and Robin Britton. Three simulators were used to help the cadets practice what they had learned in the ground school sessions. The flying began on the Monday, with three towplanes and five gliders from clubs around the region. During the week they learned all aspects of not only flying, but launching and retrieving gliders on the airfield. By the end of the week, six had achieved the standard of Solo Pilot.
I would like to thank all the clubs and the owners of GMN and GFX involved for not only the use of their tow planes and gliders, but the time and effort of the Instructors and Tow Pilots and the Clubs themselves for allowing us to use their equipment and facilities. One of the gliders we used for the second year is ZK-GFX which when new in 1969 was owned by the ATC then.
Youth Glide Camp, Matamata
Youth Glide Camp Matamata
A tow pilots perspective - by Nathan Busby
A short summary of my week at Youth glide Matamata 15th-19th Dec 2025.
Sunday was a nice day, with blue sky's and scattered clouds, allowing my son Jaxon and myself to set off from Stratford in TGC at lunchtime and almost straight-line it to Matamata. We arrived at the airfield, tied down the plane and by this stage Jen and Madi had arrived by road. We set off to sort our accommodation, then returned for an evening briefing. With introductions out of the way and an understanding of the wide range of student experience, from only three flights to owning there own gliders! We were ready for a big week ahead.
Monday was a NE/E sort of day, warm with thermals around, RDW had oil temp issues to resolve and TOW took off to Tauranga for short period, so for a while there TGC was the only tow plane operating. A massive day for me, with x23 tows (my new record). All glider flights were close to the field in thermals, and within the MBZ.
After the daily morning brief, Tuesday was clagged in to start with then it was into a lot of circuits and local flying for the students. x17 tows for me. Jen, Madi and Jaxon loved being included into the ground op's with the kids absolutely loving pushing, signalling and running the wing on gliders.
With a front coming in overnight, I managed to secure a spot in Derek Wagstaff's hanger for TGC over night, with the wings folded the tug was safe and dry for the night and I could rest easy.
Wednesday and Thursday were both NW/W days with some getting keen for ridge flying on the Kaimai's, this allowed for some new experiences for the students with some land outs early in the day on Wed and then some long flights in the afternoon, also lift near the field for a good mix of options for student to progress in the areas they required. A handful of cells passed through over the 2 days and we had some short breaks as they passed over, then out onto the gliders to dry them and back into it.
Wed evening was magic with the wind dropping off we flew till 8pm, one of those flights I took up a student on his first solo on a calm evening flight with his parents there to watch and congratulate him after his accomplishment (a really nice moment of the trip) x21 tows each day for me.
Friday was concentrated on the students who were close to going solo, some really special moments for students with the weeks work all coming together. We ended up sending 6 students solo for the camp, and a lot of buckets of water being brought up for the newly solo students to be drenched!!
We wrapped up about 2pm for de rigging and cleaning of the facilities. As parents arrived for pickups the Hussle and bustle of the week dampened and it was a very quite night for the handful that stayed Friday night to reflect on the weeks activities. Due to weather at home on Friday afternoon, Copper Beale and myself returned home early Saturday morning in TGC, leaving the airfield at 7am, and after diverting to the coast at Piopio due to poor weather ahead of us, it was a clear easy trip down the north Taranaki coastline. We were back in Stratford greeted by a cold southerly and a soft field.
Some unofficial numbers for the week 312 glider flights incl 70 plus winch launches 93 tows for me and 27.7hrs incl the ferry flights I have now ticked over 400hrs and have 199 Tows under my belt.
Incident Reports
Incident reports November - December.
self-launch glider - engine failure after take-off at about 50 ft, landed ahead
glider with electric sustainer - pilot performed a very low, slow circuit
accidental airspace incursion (too high) due to confusion about QNH setting
heavy landing, glider relaunched without inspection by engineer, u/c damage
air ambulance transmitted message during a winch launch, blocking comms
ground loop - landing in long grass - distracted from keeping wings level
tow-plane canopy opened shortly after launch - pilot failed to lock it securely
tow pilot released glider while 'boxing the wake' due to poor communication
training flight - undercarriage lowered but not locked - collapsed on landing
two instances of green link failing at tug end - after bow developed in rope
ground loop on outlanding, minor damage, wind got under up-wind wing
heavy landing - pilot attempted to avoid running over culvert during land-out
seat not secured, reclined in flight, pilot had difficulty reaching the controls
wheel-up landing after failing to perform pre-landing checks
confusion on radio between tower and area controllers at controlled airfield
vice-grip pliers found attached to a bracket inside tail boom of tow plane
minor damage after hasty outlanding in tight area - preferred strip had sheep
wheel-up landing after pilot got low near the airfield, omitted checks
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
A link to the GNZ accident & 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.
In the case of an accident, asap please phone: 0508 ACCIDENT (0508 222 433)
NOTE: The OPS 10 form has been renamed and amended to include reporting of accidents as well as incidents – previously it was intended for incidents only. (A CA005 still needs to be sent to CAA for accidents, but the OPS Team doesn’t require a copy of that now.) Consequential changes have been made to the MOAP and AC 2-08.
GNZ Classifieds
Libelle 201b, ZK-GIB
The Libelle is a great x-country glider and has a handicap that makes it highly competitive in both the Club Class and the Racing Class. Dollar for performance it is hard to beat.
1800 hrs 774 starts LX nav s100 flight computer ASI Winter mech vario Becker radio Compass Flarm mouse Tracker New belts Covered trailer Wing walker and tow out gear Good condition classic glider
Contact Information
Contact: Jason Phone: 021 157 9278
Price:$16,000
For more gliders and other gliding stuff you can check out the GNZ classifieds at the link below.
