While we have past the shortest day we certainly haven't past the coldest with more than a few of airfields covered in snow at the moment.
As far as I am aware, no club has fitted skis to a tow plane or glider yet but if you could stand the paperwork it would make a great first!
If that is not the kind of winter challenge that floats your boat then there are still plenty of more useful ways you can spend those no fly days.
Polishing the wings of the club fleet is always a good start.
Q. How many members does it take to polish a club glider?
A. Just one. All the rest are there for the talk and the provided lunch.
Get stuck in. Be it work or lunch!
Steve Wallace
GNZ President
Congratulations
JOHN ROBERTSON
Awarded by ex FAI President Bob Henderson at the GNZ AGM, the Air NZ Soaring Award.
For the pilot who has shown the most significant improvement in their personal standard of competition flying.
TIM BROMHEAD
The Friendship Cup.
Awarded for outstanding contribution to the gliding movement during the preceding year.
MAURIE HONEY
Angus Rose Bowl
GNZ's premier service award recognises outstanding contribution to the sport of gliding in NZ.
Maurice couldn't be there in person but technology allowed him to listen in!
The Silverware
Other award winners included.
Air NZ Cross Country Awards.
North Island Division
MICHAEL COOPPER
South Island Division
PETER TAYLOR
Buckland Soaring Award
North Island Division
DAVID JENSEN
South Island Division
GAVIN WRIGLEY
Glidertoons
Well done to Kevin Clark for turning up at the GNZ AGM and selling 20 copies of his glider cartoon book, 'Glidertoons' and thus raising $430 for Youth Glide.
The GNZ Umbrella Trust has funds available to help your club purchase a new glider, host a course to train students in competition flying, x-country flying or instructing. Specific funds are also available to assist those pilots selected to represent New Zealand at contests overseas.
The trust does not fund equipment for gliding clubs or trial flight courses for potential new members.
Unsure if what you want to fund will qualify? Before applying you can drop a quick note to the UT secretary Karen Morgan and the trustees will endeavour to give feedback in a timely manner.
Where one of Tim's videos is now world famous (although aren't they all)
A key part of the safe winch launching guidance includes;
Always:
- Start a launch with your hand on the release
- If you cannot keep the wings level, release immediately
Why hand on the release? Because you need to pull the release within half a second of taking the decision to release. Why immediately? Because the cartwheel that may follow a wing drop onto the ground can be so rapid that no recovery by releasing or other means is possible.
Incident Reports
From the desk of the NOO (National Operations Officer)
Brief Review of Incident Reports for March to April 2021
airbrakes popped open on takeoff - training motor glider - 9th flight of day with ATC cadets
cyclist observed crossing winch cable in the early phase of a winch launch, launch abandoned
cable retraction began before tyres were attached to both cables - winch cable detensioning
2 seat microlight glider - instructional flight - spun from a gentle stall - difficulty recovering
For more detailed commentary and all previous reports you can access all back copies of the Ops Team Talking newsletter. These have been placed on the Gliding NZ web site under News > Safety Bulletins
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.
