GNZ Newsletter July 2023



From the president


Welcome to the July 2023 GNZ newsletter.

It's blowing and snowing.

Nothing like a good southerly blast to freshen the senses.

A great time of year for ground training and warm club dinners.

For fleet maintenance and instrument upgrades.

For landing and bombing contests.

For hatching plans of coming summer adventure.

Keep current when you can.

Longer days are on their way.

Steve Wallace

GNZ President


Congratulations

BEN GAMBARO

Conversion into a single seat glider, GVF

BRETT SLATER

Conversion into single seat glider, GNI


SAREL VENTER

New proud owner of ASW 27-18E, GCW


FRANK EXCELL

Proud owner of new glider Discus 2c FES, GFE


SAM MONRAD

Re-solo after a long break. Obviously Sam has still got it!


JOHN RIKA

First solo in a glider after 20,000 hrs of top dressing! John's on the left. Rod Milne is the instructor.


TIM BROMHEAD

FAI Paul Tissandier Diploma. An international award that recognises Tim's outstanding services to aviation.

(Tim on the right, Iggy Wood, Piako Club President on the left)


RUSSELL THORNE

At the Auckland Gliding Club shortly after receiving GNZ's premier award the Angus Rosebowl.


GNZ Annual Conference and AGM


Conference and AGM

Pleasing to report that the conference and AGM was a great weekend, enjoyed by all with lots of good discussion on how we can make our amazing sport even better.

For the AGM, reports from all office holders were accepted and most importantly the budget for the year was approved by all members.

For the conference, Brian Sharpe spoke about membership and the challenges all clubs face and Amy Smith spoke in particular about the barriers for women in our sport. Women currently make up just 8% of our membership and there is no reason why this should not be 50%.

Brian Savage gave a demonstration of a club flight logging and following app he has been developing and trialling at Omarama Gliding Club.

Bob Henderson (NZAF President) talked about the NZAF, who they are, how they are funded, why GNZ is a member and what value we get from our membership.

David Moody gave a fascinating presentation on aging pilots and tests that could be applied to determine cognitive ability. Many in the room were surprised / shocked to learn that post 40 years old our brain volume decreases at an estimated rate of 5% per decade! Fortunately due to the average age of the room most had forgotten this talk by tea time.

A round the clubs discussion was held which is always interesting for all in the room to hear what other clubs are doing and how they are doing it. The different ways clubs finance their operations was of particular interest.

The day finished with evening drinks, annual awards and a fascinating talk by Dr Philipp Sueltrop, Chief Technology Officer and Company Director at Kea Aerospace. This included some nice video of their prototype High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) aircraft being launched from Springfield (Canterbury Gliding Club).


A FLYING YEAR IN REVIEW


How does your club review its soaring achievements for the year?


Here is how Piako does it. Article by David Jensen

Well, La Nina certainly made its presence felt (especially if you live in the Hawkes Bay). Our rainfall records show we had 3.5 meters of rain over the last 12 months…or more especially almost 2 meters over our traditional soaring season. I believe there is a name change in the wind - West Coast Gliding Club… And yet we still managed 55,000kms on the OLC…down on the 70,000 the year before but still a good effort despite the trying weather. And where did people go?

• Firstly, these are Piako Club members only launching from Matamata and Taupo. • Clearly, we can see the ridge is very popular and well used…no surprises there. • The run up to Port Jackson is becoming more commonplace. (If you haven’t been up to the top of the Coromandel’s first talk to some-one who has…and who got back). • We are very good at staying within the airspace boundaries. (Airways owes us a chocolate fish) But we should get better at accessing controlled airspace because we are missing out on some good flying in other areas. • Flights originating from Taupo are now stretching out into the Urewera’s and down towards the Kaimanawa’s. • Taranaki airspace is at risk of being penetrated (invaded might be a better word)…by Tim I suspect. • The military danger zone south of the Desert Rd is now within range…although the term “military danger zone” in the NZ context could be an oxymoron…which is a good thing

So what’s next? This year is forecast to be a El Nino which should be more conducive to better days, higher cloud bases and drier ground. Also our best flying is typically with a S to SW air flow rather than N to NE. Start thinking about your summer calendar. Contests, badge flights, FAI tasks and the like. We often talk about getting organised for a X-Country flight or a contest but that’s almost always the last minute stuff…batteries, water, instruments, organising your glider etc. But before all that you might like to form a plan. What task do you really want to do? How do I do that? (where’s the most likely place to fly, the land out strips on task etc). Who should I talk do who’s done it before…or keeps missing out (me)? Set some realistic tasks on SeeYou to get an understanding of the terrain, the airspace and the escape options.

From around the clubs


Mid-winter short /spot landing contest at Canterbury. Great weather for it!


Roger Brown and Dennis Crequer take Piako's Puchacz, GPC, on her last flight before retirement after the glider reached the max permitted 6,750hrs. They were the first to fly her, 33 years ago on 17th Sept, 1990.


Taupo showing us a nicely mown field on a lovely winters day.


How do you keep a surgically repaired shoulder elevated and iced? Graeme Cawte of Tauranga has worked it out. Wave flight to 10,000' and -3 degrees.


A nice day brings out the fleet at Auckland Aviation Sports


When Auckland Gliding Club can't fly at home due to their water logged field they just move to Matamata for the Winter.


Something special from overseas


3,058km in 17hrs 40mins

I don't usually include overseas articles in GNZ's newsletter but every now and then somebody does something truly inspirational that pushes the boundaries of our sport. This one is not so much the distance or the speed but the planning and vision that involves taking off after midnight and flying unmarked wave using SKYSIGHT to predict the lift and NVG's (night vision googles) to see!


Congratulations Gordon Boettger (right of pic below) and Bruce Campbell (left of pic) on an amazing flight. Picture is Gordon and Bruce in a local cafe where they landed. They had no other clothes.


You can read all about the flight on WeGlide or on OLC


Membership


Membership Display Panel

Considering the time of year it is pleasing to see the membership vario still showing a climb and therefore total members still going up. It's nice to have that height buffer as we prepare for the long winter glide to the spring lift. A great time for clubs to keep their members engaged with winter ground training, on-line simulator contests, landing contests, club dinners, awards nights and AGM's.


Need some help keeping the place tidy?


How Wellington Wairarapa Club did it.


With the imminent departure of Brian, we were scratching our heads as to how to replace someone who appears irreplaceable. We realised that Brian had two major roles. One was managing flying operations and the other was acting as a caretaker for the club. We felt we could delegate the flying operations to one or more members in the club. But the caretaker operation needed someone to be onsite. We put a post in the Greytown, Carterton and Masterton community facebook groups. It was for being a voluntary resident caretaker in return for free use of facilities at the club. Of the 4 applications, Andrea Herrick (Ondy) and Michael Bancroft (Mick) were the clear favourites. Mick will be the primary caretaker with the help of his partner Ondy. They wish to stay in their own self contained caravan which will be moved on site in a temporary position until the camping ground dried out to allow it to be repositioned. When Brian vacates his cabin, this will become available for one of the summer crew. Mick and Ondy are a very outgoing couple and they can’t wait to get started and learn from Brian when he returns from his break down south.


Incident Reports


A summary of incidents April to May 2023

  • tow upset behind microlight tug at 500' due canopy malfunction and bump from thermal
  • after hooking on - LPC noticed rear canopy marks were not aligned - previous latch issues
  • towplane in controlled airspace made small heading change towards lift, challenged by ATC
  • difficulty lowering main wheel in relatively new single-seat glider, multiple attempts required
  • altimeter accidentally set 1,000 ft high, release was lower than planned, hurried return to fiel

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 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 Classifieds

LS3-A

In better condition than when it was new. Make your summer dreams come true!

https://gliding.co.nz/classifieds/show-ad/?id=11085


Thanks for reading

All contributions, pics, videos and opinions welcome

EMAIL: president@gliding.co.nz