Well I reckon April has been a bit of a mixed bag.
Some good weather and some not so good.
As always though somebody, somewhere is having an amazing flight.
Whether that be a first flight in a glider, a first solo or an epic cross country.
You just never know (especially when the forecasts get it wrong) what the weather gods might dish up for your soaring pleasure.
So while the shorter and colder days may herald the end of the 'soaring season' the season of interesting and unexpected flights continues year round.
Every flight you learn or experience something new.
Learning is progress.
Progress is happiness.
Steve Wallace
GNZ President
Congratulations
KAZIK JASICA
Conversion into his new DG-300. Many happy flights Kazik!
CHARLIE IRVIN
Congrats on your part ownership of the beautiful DG-101, ZK-GNV
ROYDEN HOOKER
Part ownership of Ventus 2, ZK-GDR
BRETT SLATER
Conversion to the PW5 with a first flight of 2hrs!
MARTIN FOREST
Soaring Pilot certificate complete. Well done Martin!
SOLOMON TAPUTORO
First solo! Well done Sol. Big thumbs up from instructor Mark Aldridge.
TOM SMITH
First solo. Well done Tom! Handshake from CFI David Hirst.
GAELLE STANFIELD
First flight in a glider and GNZ's newest member!
ANTON LAWRENCE
On becoming Auckland Gliding Club's newest Chief Flying Instructor.
KIERAN CASSIDY
Recipient of the Christian Derold Memorial Trophy which provides recognition and support for up and coming competition pilots. Presnted to Kieran by Roger Read.
NZAWA
New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation
NZAWA Kings Birthday Rally
As part of this rally Charlie Irvin is helping organise a gliding event at Matamata, there will (hopefully and weather permitted) be some gliding done on the Sunday with some prizes up for grabs. The event is open to female and male pilots if they are members of NZAWA. There will be tea and cakes and hopefully a lunch too. There are whispers of a spot landing competition too!
It's never too early to start booking events into your diary and if you are a pilot ready to take the leap into cross country glider flying then this is the course for you! This years organiser is David Moody which means it will be another superbly run course. Note the Labour Weekend dates!
GNZ AGM / SYMPOSIUM WEEKEND
From around the clubs
Craig Best - when it is too wet to go flying and you have no wings, just use your imagination!
What Craig was imagining.
Tim Bromhead - 400km flight to Middle Earth and back
Chris Streat - 727km flight at 150kph
Rod Stuart - getting high at 15,000'
Mike Strathern - flying the Aussie big blue
When your trailer has been everywhere man.
Ben Gambaro - gets tractor refuelling signed off. Progress.
Mike Oakley and Chris Streat sneaking up on Mt Cook
Mike and Chris on the cloudy / western side of the main divide
John McCaw snaps Peter Taylor in his shark FES
Local farmers BBQ
What does your club do?
Every year the Piako Gliding Club invites all the local farmers who have had a glider land in one of their paddocks to a BBQ at the club where they get to chat, have a sausage or two and go for a flight in a glider. What does your club do to keep up good relations with the local farmers?
Membership
Membership Display Panel
It is a new year in terms of our membership stats. Last year we finished on a positive with the membership Altimeter showing an annual gain of +12 members but this didn't include 4 new members whose numbers came in right on March 31st so it was actually +16! For the first month of this counting year we are off to an absolute booming start with the vario off the charts at +17 for April alone. Amazingly well done to all the clubs that are making this happen. Keep up the great work!
Umbrella Trust
Applications deadline.
Club committees and course organisers are reminded that the Umbrella Trust next meets to consider funding applications during the GNZ AGM, 10 - 11th June, 2023. The deadline for receipt of an application is 31st May, 2023.
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 Jan Rae and the trustees will endeavour to give feedback in a timely manner.
Do you need to file an OPS-10 as well as CA005? This question comes up a lot. The CAA must be
notified immediately by phone after an "accident", along with the relevant CFI (MOAP Ref page 61
& 62). A Form CA005 Occurrence Report must then be filed with CAA within ten days.
The view of Gliding NZ is that every incident or accident is also an opportunity to learn something
that could prevent a similar occurrence in the future, and for this reason an OPS-10 report should
also be filed with the ROO even though this is not explicitly requested in AC 2-08.
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.
