GNZ Newsletter September 2024
From the president
Welcome to the September 2024 GNZ newsletter.
Goodbye Winter hello Spring!
The days are getting noticeably longer.
The Daffodil's are blooming.
Spring breezes are blowing.
The Spring equinox is not until the 23rd of this month,
But I'm happy to declare Spring now.
Because it makes me feel better.
Time to book your events attendance for this season.
Not long now.
In the meantime there is always plenty of interesting and stunningly beautiful flying to be had.
Steve Wallace
GNZ President
Congratulations
ANDREW ROBERTS
2nd generation Tauranga Club member - tow rating complete
BEN GAMBARO
Last month it was an XCP, this month it a passenger rating with his Dad being his first passenger.
TEAM NZ at WGC UVALDE 2024
Left to right: Team Captain - Hugh Colton; Crew - Tuulianna & Hannarina Laukkanen; Pilots - Keith Essex & Marju Rossi
A great start for Keith and Marju who won the first day of their first ever World Gliding Championships. Unfortunately they had to make the decision to pull out after 7 days of flying but a great effort all the same.
World Gliding Champs
38th FAI World Gliding Championships
18m, 20m two seat, Open
What fun it has been on those dull winter days to follow along via the live tracking the trials, tribulations and joy of all the WGC pilots as they strived to be the worlds best.
Tasks of 350km to 680km were set with winning speeds reaching 166km/hr.
Congratulations go to the winners.
In the 18m class the World Champion is Stefan Langar from Germany.
Stefan is well known gliding social media 'super star' who has visited New Zealand on a number of occasions, making videos about the joys of soaring in New Zealand. Stefan is already a World Grand Prix title holder.
In the 20m two seat class the World Champions are Sarah Arnold & Karl Striedieck from the USA.
Karl at age 87 is probaly one of the worlds best pilots to have never won a World Championship until now. Not many other sports where you can become at World Champion at 87. Sarah Arnold, already an FAI Women's World Champion now gets to add a 20m two seat title to her collection.
In the Open Class the World Champion is Felipe Levin from Germany
This is back to back Open Class World Gliding Championship titles for Felipe having won the Open class at the 37th FAI World Championships in Szeged, Hungary in 2022. Previous to this he has had two 2nds, a 3rd and a 5th at Senior World Championships as well as being a former Junior World Champion.
13th FAI World Junior Gliding Championships
Some photos from this event showing that the Juniors sure know how to party!
To our GNZ Juniors - don't forget the 2028 FAI Junior Worlds are being held in Lake Keepit, Australia.
Umbrella Trust Funding available! Contact the selection panel via the GNZ website now!
Frida Bjoro from Norway showing a few of the boys how to fly.
Up Coming Events
Youth Glide NZ - Matamata Camp
Monday 16th Dec - Friday 20th December
The annual Matamata YSDC is being held from Monday 16th December through to Friday 20th December 2024. Attendees are required to be at Matamata Airfield on Sunday the 15th of December. This year, we are hosting a Youth Soaring Development Camp at Matamata airfield… the camp uses gliders and tow-planes from other gliding clubs and private owners and has highly experienced volunteer instructors, tow pilots, and ground support staff to make the camp possible, affordable and FUN. Costs are kept to an absolute minimum so more flying can be done! What is the Matamata YSDC? This camp is designed entirely around the students that come! We cater your training personally so that you get the best out of the time you spend here. With our fantastic summer conditions, we are able to offer our students pre-solo training to advanced soaring training. The atmosphere at the camp is an environment where you are able to meet new like-minded glider pilots, and enjoy new friendships, all while doing the best sport in New Zealand! Who can come? The camp is open to any member of Youth Glide New Zealand. We have availability for pre-solo through to advanced soaring pilots. Numbers attending are strictly limited to 16 students, so get in quick! Please note that the completion of this form does not guarantee you a position at the Camp.
Click on the link below to register your interest now!
https://gliding.net.nz/events/ygnz-matamata-camp-tbc-dec-2024
Springfield Enterprise Week
Enterprise is the perfect way for less experienced glider pilots to start racing gliders
Enterprise allows for 'novel' interpretation of the rules - normally called cheating
Enterprise is where the winner has done the most flying, not the least
Enterprise events are competitive and also fun to compete in
The Matamata Soaring Centre Cross Country Course
If you're a North Island pilot who's at or near the Getting to Cross Country Pilot (XCP) stage in the GNZ training programme and have the agreement of your CFI, this course will benefit you.
The Matamata Soaring Centre runs this course annually over Labour weekend and the weekdays following, combining lectures with flying instruction. Attendees may also bring a single seater from their club, as there is generally one twin (with instructor) for every two students. In recent years, there has also been field selection training using a motor glider, which has been widely appreciated.
This course has been run over the last several decades and has helped produce competent, safe cross-country pilots. Many pilots have made their first outlanding during this course, using a pre-selected field close to the airfield.
Accommodation is available at the airfield and it is hoped that catering may also be available.
The course will be added to the GNZ Events calendar shortly. In the meantime, please contact Gerard Robertson ([email protected]) if you'd like more information.
Competition Season Venues and Dates as approved at the SRC AGM
Central Plateau – Taupo - 2/11/24 to 9/11/24
South Island Regionals - Omarama - 16/11/2024 to 23/11/2024
Northern Regionals - Matamata - 23/11/2024 to 30/11/2024
Auckland Soaring Competition – Drury - 4/01/25 to 11/01/25
Multiclass Nationals- Omarama - 2/01/2025 to 11/01/2025
Club Class nationals - Taumarunui - 18/01/2025 to 26/01/2025
Central Districts Regionals - Waipukurau 15/02/2025 to 22/02/2025
NZ Grand Prix - Matamata - 1/03/2025 to 09/03/2025
From around the clubs
Aviation Sports. Winter cloud streets.
You know from where the wind blows by where 'the wise ones' sit.
Piako instructors course. Lesson one. How does this go together?
Charlie Irvin looks on as Norm Duke gives advice to a hopeful instructor in the hot seat of the Just Soaring simulator at Piako's 5 day instructor course.
Great promo idea from the Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club. Look like they had nice weather for it.
Not to be outdone Canterbury have a promo too.
Just another wave day in Canterbury
Airmass going up at 23.9Kts on the Netto. Barely worth getting out of bed for by Canterbury standards.
And of course a newsletter would not be complete without some stunning photos from John McCaw.
Most difficult decision of the day at Canterbury club, what pie to order from the Sheffield Pie Shop.
Thanks to the NZAF for funding professional media training for NZAF members, including GNZ's media contacts.
GNZ 75th Anniversary
Gala Dinner
GNZ turns 75
(please reply to the below)
The New Zealand Gliding Association (before it became Gliding New Zealand), was not formally incorporated until the 13th June 1950. This will make us 75 years old at the AGM in June next year. GNZ therefore is planning a weekend of celebration, the highlight of which will be a gala dinner at a yet to be selected venue in Auckland City. Fine food, fine wine and fine company with an evening of entertainment and history, including stories, photos, video and memorabilia. To help us with choosing the size of the venue, an early indication of how many people may be expected to attend would be much appreciated. If you think you, your partner or other related parties and ex-members will likely attend this celebration can you please indicate this by adding your name and the numbers in your party in the Google Form linked below (just click on the Google Form image below).
If you think you might come please fill in this form now as it helps the organisers hugely!
I'm sure you have lots of other questions, like what's the exact date and time, etc but no guarantees until we make a firm booking with a provider so we just need rough numbers for now to help us choose a venue. Thank you.
Blasts from the past
Brand new Matamata Soaring Centre Club house.
Weather briefing
Task briefing by the legendary John Roake (note it was ok to smoke your pipe at briefing back in 1969)
Online Course for Official Observers
The Awards Officer is currently conducting an asynchronous online course aimed at recruiting new Official Observers. The course is mostly self-paced and is already in progress, but there is still an opportunity to join and catch up.
The course focuses on administering assignments that require candidates to become familiar with the FAI IGC official documentation. This self-directed learning approach is believed to be more effective than traditional lectures, as it encourages candidates to rely on and properly use the FAI IGC documents from the start, rather than developing a habit of seeking answers from the Awards Officer (the Awards Officer, in turn, would just go and read the official FAI IGC documents, since they are updated annually). The hope is also that the Official Observers would encourage the pilots to familiarise themselves with the documents provided by FAI IGC, and this would drastically improve the success rate of FAI IGC badge applications.
Several clubs are currently short on Official Observers. At the last AGM, it was recommended that a healthy ratio is one Official Observer for every five members. The following clubs are currently below this recommended ratio:
- Canterbury
- Omarama
- Wellington Wairarapa
- Hutt Valley
- Kaikohe
- Rotorua
Tauranga and Manawatu are close to the recommended “quota” but have not yet met it. We have at least four active pupils diligently doing their assignments, keeping me busy to produce more material.
If you are interested in becoming an Official Observer, please let the Awards Officer know (email [email protected], or ring 0226441495, Bruno).
Feel free to catch up on your own in the meantime.
Here are the links to the assignments:
Assignment 1: https://forms.gle/yZ6ffEjCCWPsrQuQ8
Assignment 2a: https://forms.gle/gCi7C9e4oFxNA2ps5
Assignment 2b: https://forms.gle/FSFWJPJ8SKWd6Fgj8
The Awards Officer
Bruno Tagliapietra
Membership
Membership Display Panel
A net loss of 12 members this month which has unfortunately undone all our summer gains and put us at a year to date net total of -2 members. The good news is winter is over. The fields that have been closed will now be opening up again and club activity will be picking up. Added to this, a drop in the OCR and a future positive economic outlook, I'd like to think things will pick up from here and we will see net gains for the next half of the year. Keep inviting those friends, keep giving new club members a warm and friendly welcome, keep up the promos!
Incident Reports
A summary of incidents from the Ops Team from July - August 2024
Reported Incidents
- training flight, trainee turned off runway while rolling too fast, glider slewed sideways
- single seater, undercarriage collapsed after about 10 metres of landing roll
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.
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)
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.
Work together, stay apart
A safety video from Pure Glide
SoaringXX.com - our new advertiser
If you missed Father's Day here is your chance to make amends before Xmas. Note the GNZ promo code in the ads.
About Us
How / When / Why?
The idea of establishing SoaringXX came to the mind of Toni Šibanc after attending the European Gliding Championships for the first time in 2007. His aim was to satisfy the so far unmet needs of pilots for high quality clothes with original design, suitable for flying. The owner, manager and designer behind the company knows well what is the best for pilots. As a flight instructor and competition pilot, with over 1100 hours of experience at the age of 26, Toni has turned a start-up with SoaringXX into a serious player on the market with over 80 products including self-developed ground handling equipment.
SoaringXX is specialised in producing personalised, custom-made clothing especially for national teams and aero clubs.
The company boasts having been working with the French, Slovenian, Hungarian and Serbian national teams, Jonker Sailplanes, Aeroklub Celje, Letalski Center Maribor, LSV Seligenstadt – Zellhausen, Aeroclub Alföldi, Aeroclub Postojna and Aeroclub Ptuj.
In the coming years, SoaringXX will expand its product line to offer all-round ground handling equipment and outstanding clothing for glider pilots.
We strive to offer you the best value gliding themed sportswear, functional clothing developed for glider pilots, as well as gliding accessories that make gliding a more enjoyable experience. We live to soar and so we share our passion through our product line. You can find us at all major European gliding events and experience our products firsthand.
Remember, Aviate, Navigate, Communicate!!!
[email protected] for all informations about products, about the shop, orders, returns
GNZ Classifieds
This months featured glider. Discus B.
• Low hours, 1000 hours, like new condition.
• Large instruments for old eyes and includes an Oudie and S80.
• Best handling glider ever and Maughmer wing tips make it even better.
• Very good climber – has always got me home.
• Never been crashed – two careful owners.
• Definitely on the market for health reasons.
• Includes trailer that tows well and will have a new warrant and rego before sale. Also includes tow out gear. In Taranaki.
For more gliders and other gliding stuff you can check out the GNZ classifieds at the link below.
Thanks for reading
All contributions, pics, videos and opinions welcome
EMAIL: [email protected]