Drew’s gliding journey and passion for the sport started as a fourteen year old flying in the skies over Woomera in South Australia, making his first solo flight when he was fifteen. He continued flying with the Woomera Gliding Club for four years before joining the Royal Australian Navy where he continued gliding as a member of the RAN Gliding Club at HMAS Albatross and later the RAAF Richmond Gliding Club. Throughout his seagoing Navy career Drew took every opportunity to fly with various clubs in Australia and overseas. He joined the Canberra Gliding Club in 1984 where he not only pursued his passion for gliding but also became an active volunteer with Gliding Australia. He has amassed about 1,600 flying hours with over 600 as a gliding instructor.
He has contributed significantly to gliding in Australia as a volunteer at club, regional and national levels. At the club level Drew has been an active Canberra Gliding Club member for over forty years, undertaking roles such as Instructor, Chair of the club’s Operations and Training Panel, Chief Flying Instructor, and tug pilot.
Regionally, he was the Regional Manager Operations for NSW from April 2013 to June 2014 where he was responsible for overseeing NSW gliding operations, safety and training. He was actively involved in the development of improved training, safety and operational procedures, the conduct of safety audits, accident and incident investigations and remedial actions and the provision of education on contemporary safety and operations issues.
Nationally, Drew chaired GAus’s Operations Panel comprising Regional Managers of Operations for five years from 2014. In this role he was responsible for the management of nationwide initiatives to improve operational safety, training standards and regulatory compliance reporting directly to the GAus Board as a member of the GFA Executive Team. As part of this work Drew was responsible for developing safety cases and risk response strategies for key airspace access and safety issues affecting glider pilots, and gliding operations in shared airspace. He has played a pivotal role in liaison with CASA, ATSB, Airservices Australia, Defence, BoM, international gliding associations and aviation industry safety groups.
In 2021, in the lead up to Gliding Australia’s application to become a CASR Part 149 Approved Self-administering Aviation Organisation, ASAO, Drew took on the pivotal national role of Safety Manager. Once again he joined the Executive Team and became the Board’s Advisor, responsible for GAus’s Safety Management System. He was the key developer of the current Safety System MOSP 5 and Emergency Response Plans and played a leading role in the crafting of GAus’s application to be recognised as an ASAO by CASA. Drew has also been a key contributor to the Manuals of Standard Procedures, including Operations, Airworthiness and Administration. To this day, as Safety Manager, Drew is a Key Person defined under GAus’s CASR Part 149 ASAO accreditation.
As a passionate glider pilot Drew seeks to inspire others to join and excel in the sport. He regularly mentors and coaches young women and men and has been actively engaged with the Australian Air Force Cadets so that cadets can undergo flight training and gain valuable gliding experience to inspire them to seek a career in aviation. He has developed and delivered a wide range of gliding courses covering areas such as safety management, human factors and advanced gliding and meteorology.
The toughest role for Drew has been his involvement in around nine fatal gliding accident investigations where he has either led or been a major contributor to the analysis of the accident, identifying causal factors and the development of remedial actions. While this work has proved harrowing, Drew has persisted in order to identify areas to improve the Safety Management System, training, risk assessment and procedures so that pilots may have a safe and enjoyable experience in their pursuit of gliding as a sport under an umbrella that provides an effective and highly developed safety culture.
Drew’s effervescent personality, his obvious passion for the sport, his professionalism, his dedication to any job he takes on, his intelligence, his balanced approach and his ability to get the message across would be hard to match. His contribution to gliding has been enormous and remains ongoing. He is truly a Living Legend of Australian Gliding.
On behalf of the GAus Board, I have great pleasure in welcoming to the Membership that Drew McKinnie be honoured as a Life Member of GAus.
Steve Pegler
Chair of the Board
November 2025
