Features

My favourite Laplander He wasn’t born, he was hatched!

Bert receiving his GFA ‘Unsung Heroes Award’ from Lindsay Mitchell, CGC President at the time. By Kevin Rodda - Caboolture Gliding Club, based on a story from Neil Wilson It’s the end of an era. Bert Persson has sold both his beloved Atlas self-launching glider and his hangar in…

James Nugent WGC Champion Landing Narromine SY

WORLD OF GLIDING AT NARROMINE

James Nugent, the new World Gliding Champion, Club Class, in the LS3 he flew to victory at WGC Narromine. By Sean Young After years of preparation, the 37th World Gliding Championships at Narromine finally got underway on 3 December 2023. Though the team at Narromine Gliding…

A Challenge or Three Doesn’t Dampen the Day

by Bernard EckeyAustralian agent for Alexander Schleicher GMBH Some readers might recall my report after flying Schleicher’s unflapped electric self-launching AS 34 Me during a trip to Germany last year. This year I was faced with an equally exciting task. Yes, you guessed it, I…

The Apennine Way Sailplane Grand Prix Finals Pavullo Italy

Flying over the Apennines near Pavullo. By Sean Young The final competition of Series 11 Sailplane Grand Prix took place at the small town of Pavullo Nel Frignano, nestled in the Northern Apennine Mountains near the cities of Modena and Bologna, Italy. After a series of contest…

Omarama Magic

Photo Essay by Brian Gilby Brian Gilby from Warwick Gliding Club visited Omarama in New Zealand over the summer. He was flying with Milan Kmetovics of Kahu Soaring in a Duo Discus. He also flew in a single seater that Milan organised for him and experienced some spectacular…

Safari - Lucky on the Second Attempt

By Bernard Eckey We had hoped that our first gliding safari in November of the 2022/23 season would get us into Queensland, but it soon came to an abrupt stop at Mildura. Our chase car driver reported flooded roads further east, which left us with no choice but to turn around…

Outlanding in the Wet

The farmer’s son captured this shot in the paddock using a drone. I landed in the dry part of the paddock but it was still 700m to the gate. By Garry Stevenson On the last day of the Nationals at Narromine, the season was winding down. The days were short, typically starting…

1000 km Allan Barnes - Tomas Suchanek

It was going to be a big soaring day. Skysight was suggesting a 920km out and return to the north with blue in the west and cu in the east. I decided to try for a declared 1,000km, and set my outbound waypoint at about 30km east of where the edge of the cu was forecast to be at…

Joeyglide 2023

A close up image of JoeyGlide's annual glider lift, featuring Annoushka De Chelard in the cockpit. (Laurie Bartlett) By Tom Jamieson When you spend a week surrounded by keen, young pilots who are capable and passionate about what they do, your personal flying is bound to leap…

Burketown Safari -Morning Glory

Glider pilots have been going to Burketown for the Morning Glory for many years and it has been growing in popularity. This September at least 17 gliders and other RAAus aircraft, plus paragliders, flocked to Burketown. This is Grant Rookes' story of his journey. By Grant…

Conquering New Zealand's Mt Cook

By Adam BlandMy last trip to Omarama was pre Covid, so it was great to leave the flooding rain behind last month and enjoy 10 days of nice weather with my son Adam and an Omarama Gliding Club Duo Discus. We had a mixture of thermal, ridge, convergence and, finally, wave on our…

Junior World Gliding Championships - Tabor Czech Republic

Ryan Driscoll looking optimistic on the grid. By James NugentNormally after a competition I find myself eager to jump on the computer, coffee in hand, and jot down my experiences, frustrations, celebrations, and what I learned. However, after arriving home from the Czech…

Two-Up in Hungary - World Gliding Championships Szeged

Allan Barnes and Harry Medlicott landiing the Arcus at Szeged. By Allan Barnes and Sean Young Sean Young - Good Weather but Challenging Circumstances The World Gliding Championships in 20m multi-seat, 18m and Open Classes was held at Szeged in the south of Hungary near the…

Gliding in the French Alps

Flying the 'Royal Way', a designated airspace route across des Ecrins National Park. By Sean Young One of the great things about gliding is the opportunity to fly in locations around the world with a variety of soaring conditions. Early on in my gliding career I had a few…

Narromine Nationals

John Buchannan in his AS 33Es finished in 3rd place in Open / 18m Class. Photos By Grant Anderson Club - 15m - Open /18m By Beryl HartleyIn keeping with plans for other competitions during the Covid restricted period, Narromine had to be planned at the last minute, as other…

Gawler 2001: the introduction of Club Class WGC and Grand Prix

In the late 1990s, Australia submitted a bid to host the 2001 World Gliding Championships at Gawler in South Australia. The standards format was Open Class, 15m Class and Standard Class. We had excellent support from South Australia Major Events, who provided $250K towards the…

Matthew Scutter Wins E3Glide Successfully Defending his Title

After finishing third in the World Gliding Championships 15m Class, Matthew Scutter continued his European adventure into Italy to defend the eGlide championship title that he won last year. Here is Mathew’s story. How to follow up 21 days of gruelling flying?Another 10 days of…

NSW Coaching week - Flying With the Best

Flying with Allan Barnes in lead and follow. By Sean Young The NSW Coaching week was delayed from November to February due to the continuing ‘big wet’ in Eastern Australia. The new timing of the course turned out to be perfect. As the date approached, the weather pattern changed…

Ryan Driscoll's first 1000km

On 1 January 2022, five flights of over 1,000km were flown, including the first one that GCV member Ryan Driscoll has achieved. He flew 1,023 km at 114 kph in a Nimbus 3 25.5m 1 January 2022Adam Woolley 1,115km 124kph Ventus 3T 18m Kingaroy Soaring Club TemoraTobias Geiger…

VSA Championships - Grand Prix Starts

Are Grand Prix starts and scoring the future of Gliding Competitions?A personal perspective By Shaun Driscoll I am not and never have been a competition glider pilot.Many pilots are however, for whatever reason, and that’s fine. For my obviously considerable sins, I was recently…

First 1000km

After spending 2020 in Melbourne and 2021 in Sydney, I was very keen to get out for some fresh air and sunshine. The Narromine Cup seemed like the perfect opportunity, however, eagerness turned to despair as rain set in across NSW. By James Nugent Fortunately, a solid SkySight…

Flying the Morning Glory

I first heard about the morning glory cloud when an article by Rob Thompson and Russel White was published in Australian Gliding. At the time, I had a self-launching glider and made the trip to Burketown in late September 1996. I have been able to experience flying on the cloud…

Gawler 2001: the introduction of Club Class WGC and Grand Prix

In the late 1990s, Australia submitted a bid to host the 2001 World Gliding Championships at Gawler in South Australia. The standards format was Open Class, 15m Class and Standard Class. We had excellent support from South Australia Major Events, who provided $250K towards the…

Bunyan Wave - Long Distance

Wave over Wulgulmerang For a while, I’ve felt that the distance possibilities out of Bunyan airfield have been underrated. I now believe that Bunyan gives us an airfield in Australia where we can fly cross country at speeds similar to those achieved in New Zealand or the Rockies…

Matthew Scutter Battles to the Podium at WGC Montluçon-Guéret

By Matthew Scutter After a time when many national and international gliding championships were postponed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 36th World Gliding Championships in Club, Standard and 15m Classes took place at Montluçon, France. Overcoming difficulties at…

The Development of eTug and its PSRU

By Michael Shirley E Tug VH-PIJ and VH-CUR, modified with Northwest Aviation PSRUs and GM V8 engines, operated by Gliding Club of Victoria The Wright Brothers used a simple piston engine driving a propeller to power their aeroplane – the propeller speed matched the engine speed.…

Attila Bertok's Narromine adventures

I was really looking forward to the 2021 flying season after my friend Tomas Suchanek and I bought our ASW20 last year. I am getting used to flying famous gliders. By Attila Bertok I still have my Standard Cirrus, Zulu Romeo, made famous by Ingo Renner. This particular ‘20 was…

Glider Mail – history you can hold!

Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specialises in the study of airmail. Since the beginning of aviation, enthusiasts have created, collected and studied paper ephemera relating to all aspects of the transport of mail by flight. by John Patterson This ephemera can take…

Tobi Geiger flies 1,000km FAI triangle in Victoria

Over the years I have made many attempts at a 1,000km flight in a 15m glider. With the LS4 I managed flights of over 980, 970 and 960km, but never quite made the 1,000 mark. Late morning Cumulus cloud west of Benalla on 5 January 2021 at the eastern flank of a high-pressure…

Lake Keepit Regatta

From scratching thermals at 2,000ft to riding storm shelves at 175 kph, the aura of discipline and enthusiasm filled the skies over Lake Keepit. Engagement in gliding was felt to be at its finest here, for both inexperienced junior pilots and more seasoned veterans. Matthew…