GNZ Newsletter March 2022

From the president

Welcome to the March 2022 GNZ newsletter.

I think I could safely say February was a bit of a mixed bag.

Taupo had to 'can' the Northern Regionals due to week of useless soaring weather.

Vintage kiwi lost only 2 days of their rally but had 5 days of great flying.

Central District Regional's had a marginal week but still managed to squeeze a contest out of it with three flying days.

Meantime the weather further north has been simply outstanding, day after day.

The joys of a weather related sport.

March is normally a time of more settled weather.

So best get out there and make the most of it while you can.

Enjoy!

Steve Wallace

GNZ President

Congratulations

AJ DUDLEY

1st solo. Well done AJ!

OLLIE ROBERTS

5 hour Silver/Gold duration flight done and from a winch launch too!

JOHN ROBERTSON (left)

For receiving the inaugral award of the Christian Derold trophy which aims to encourage competition pilots. Seems like John doesn't need much encouraging though given his recent results.

AMIEE HEOBERIGS

The joy of a first solo.

Wild Track

Tracking your glider has never been easier

One of the biggest innovations in recent years for safety and for the interest of those on the ground is the ability to live track gliders as they make their way around the countryside.

With the Btraced app no longer being available for iPhone our very own Tim Bromhead has written a new purpose designed tracking app. Available for just $5 so no excuses.

GET WILD TRACK NOW

Vintage & Classic

Vintage Kiwi Rally

Roger Brown reports

This year the Vintage Kiwi Rally was held at Masterton . Why? In 1962 NZ held its first ever gliding contest at the Hood Aerodrome. That being the case the VK team thought the Rally should be held there to at least commemorate the event. So we did just that!

Altogether some 13 sailplanes arrived as far away as the North shore in Auckland, Taranaki , Waikato Fielding and Wellington . A very rounded mix of both NZ Vintage and Classic Class sailplanes.

Because this Rally was to commemorate the very first contest held in NZ it seemed fitting to try at least to have some of the surviving gliders that had entered that very contest or the following years first ever Nationals that were also held at Hood. So Ka6’s, GAN, and GBU attended representing the’ Class of 1962 /63 of the honours board. Another seven of those sailplanes are also still about, either flying or in storage, most are also in very good condition and in a couple of cases, still looking very brand new. This is very pleasing of course, knowing they have certainly been very well cared for over the last 60 years.

All in all a very successful Rally we are pleased to say.

Pics of the month

John McCaw, summer selfie.

Ross Gaddes rides the devils steed

Graham Player, up, up and away

Grid helpers

Nice.

Windows XP land out?

Scenically lovely spot to land

What's that crop?

Thanks to the Sponsors

Ruru wines

Dr Feelgood

The Central District

Regionals

The results are in

The weather did not really cooperate but three contest days were still managed

35 pilots toughed it out in the challenging conditions

Winner of the Open Class - Patrick Driessen

Winner of the Racing Class - John Robertson

2nd year in a row!

Winner of the Sports Class - Graham Player

The full results can be found here:

https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/central-district-regionals-papawai-2022/

First Contest Award

Did you know?

The competition season is almost done but for those thinking of entering their first contest next year, did you know that the GNZ has a first competition award.

All details can be found on the GNZ website here: GNZ First Competition Award

New Southern ROO

We've found a new ROO

Regional Operations Officer (Southern)

Welcome aboard Warwick (Wal) Bethwaite.

Well known in the South, Wal is looking forward to getting stuck into this important job so expect a visit, especially if your club is due for an audit.

Thanks Wal for volunteering to help out.

Security

What's in your cockpit?

No loose objects

We strap ourselves in before we go flying and we have an extra check for loose objects before doing aerobatics but what about unexpected turbulence?

What do you keep in the pockets of your glider while flying?

Do you check the pockets of a club glider before you take it up?

Unsecured (heavy) items can go through canopies and foul controls. An iPad down by your rudder pedals or a battery in the head makes for a bad day out.

Incident Reports

No reports this month but we will catch up next month.

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.

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)

Thanks for reading

All contributions, pics, videos and opinions welcome

EMAIL: [email protected]