CFI Report
Cross Country Training Night
Central Plateau Soaring Competition
Team Taupo
Achievements
Matamata Cross Country Course by Joe ward
Article - Skylark ZK-GBX by Marc Edgar
Article- Close save by Bhrent Guy
Jantar Standard 2- 3000hrly
Upcoming Events
New Members
Returning Visitors
Humour

It has been a busy couple of months since the previous edition of Outlanding and this edition will be the last one for 2012…………………………………..so let’s see what we have!!
by CFI Bill Kendall
Once again, I find myself having to wave my big-stick on a few operational and procedural matters.
1.
The DI book, on a number of occasions has not been filled out prior to aircraft flying each day. This worries me, a great deal, because - either the DI has not been done prior to flying, or – it has just not been signed off. This could impact on the Club greatly in the event of a Gliding NZ or CAA audit and also an insurance cover, in the event of an accident and post investigation.
So……….come on people, slow down and do your DI properly. If you get interrupted – start again. If you are flying any of our aircraft, at any time during the day, CHECK that the DI had been done and signed off. Please return the DI book to the Club house at the end of the day so the hours/launches can be recorded. We need to monitor the tow hook operations more closely.
2.
My second concern is maintenance of both Club and Privately owned gliders at
Centennial Park. The Manual of Approved Procedures clearly states what we can and cannot do in terms of maintenance. Please read NZGA: Advisory Circular AC3-15 which lays out the owner/operator responsibilities for glider maintenance and
Appendix 1 of that document informs you what you can and cannot do. It is difficult for me to monitor private owners but this still falls under my responsibly as CFI at
Taupo Gliding Club, Centennial Park. If any breaches of this are reported to me, or I become aware that it is happening, it may result in you being refused a launch by the
Club tow plane. Please ensure you are being directly supervised by the appropriate class of engineer approved to do any work on your glider, or for that matter any Club glider. We have two Class 2 Engineers in the Club – Trace Austin and Andrew Austin.
Also, Ben Stimpson is a Class 4 Engineer - approved by the committee to do the Club maintenance, and he overseers our work. All engineers can advise you of what must be done.
3.
Last but not least, the Instructor Panel has had to be more assertive with pilot and passenger weights. The weights listed in our Gliders relate to the maximum weight allowable in the seat itself, not the pilot plus baggage weight. Also the
MAUW (Maximum All Up Weight) has to be considered. Overweight problems directly affect the C of G of the Glider and thus the handling characteristics to the degree that you will run out of effective control (not only with Trim, but with
Elevator as well)……….A dangerous situation! PLEASE members, if your weight has crept up on you, don’t be offended if we ask you to step on the scales, remember
110kg MAX. Hit the treadmill and no second helping of Christmas pudding.

On a positive note, WELL DONE to all who made the effort to fly with Trace in GME during the Central Plateau Competition. A great start to our Cross Country initiative. A big thank you to Trace for providing the leadership and drive to encourage members to participate in the Comps.
Joe Ward has made a good start in breaking away from the airfield and has also made a very well executed Land Out, well done. Joe and myself also attended the Matamata Cross
Country Course and I would recommend this to all our members.
During the summer, assisted by Trevor Terry, we will set some small Tasks to start with and also get this tied in with some Badge work.
Well that’s it from me have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and SAFE flying for the summer
Cheers, Bill
17 th of October
A cross country training night was held on the evening of the 17 th of October. Trev Terry,
Roland van der Wal and Bhrent Guy covered topics relating to cross country flying and passed on some of their experiences.
Although the numbers present on the evening were not large, for those that did attended, it was a good learning experience and the knowledge that was passed on was well received.
Thankyou goes out to Trev, Roland and Bhrent.
27 Oct – 04 Nov 12
New Zealand’s soaring competition season kicked off here in Taupo with the Central Plateau Soaring
Competition.
As with any competition or event, there was a lot of work in the planning and preparation and of course in the running of the event. A HUGE thankyou goes out to all of you that helped throughout the weeks leading up to and the week during the competition. Without your support the competition would not have been the success that it was and this year’s competition has been one of the most successful competitions here at Centennial Park.
Although there were 20 expected competitors we had
16 entrants for what was a fun and friendly event. What made it one of the most successful was the fact that there was really only one non-flying day which was on
Saturday the 3 rd .
Throughout the week we saw challenging flying days, with some totally blue days and other days with over development and, of course, the most spectacular of days was the final day of the comp. That’s like finding lift as you turn on to base leg!
All lined up and ready to go!
As usual, the comp started with a practice day and most pilots and their gliders arrived on this day.
No task was set for this day, however, some pilots elected to fly in the afternoon to get a feel of the area and to brush away any cobwebs.

Bill Kendall has renamed the Tecnam - EKO to “Glider Rescue One”. Bill was dispatched on three occasions. One flight, with Tim Norman, was to see where Team Taupo had landed out in Goudies and another flight to Goudies with Trev Terry to locate David Hirst. David’s land out was about 12km from the nearest house.
The true rescue though was the retrieve of Adam Cumberlege. Tom had flown TPO to do an areotow retrieve for Adam but, unfortunately for Adam, he dropped a wing during the ground roll and bunged off, only to park the nose of his ASW 20 under some fencing wire. The wire had ridden up the canopy and Adam could not get out ……….even with Tom’s assistance.
Tom called for backup, and ………..like a startled gazelle away went “Super Bill” in Glider Rescue One!.
Bill arrived and, between he and Tom, managed to move the glider back and release Adam. Adam was extremely grateful as he had been cooking under the canopy on that hot blue day. Shortly after all three returned safely back to Centennial Park.............Thank you “Super Bill and Glider Rescue One”
Wednesday night’s dinner had its share of excitement too. All was going to plan for Jen and Mary when the Club suffered a power outage. How were they to cook dinner now? Team David, as it was to become known, jumped into action. David Hirst led a small group of volunteers cooking in the camp kitchen to assist the girls. Eventually after a couple of phone calls and a visit from the power company, power was restored, dinner was served, and a good night was had by all.
After dinner we had our very own concert. Lead singer Adam, with his back up vocalists Lucienne van der Wal and Jenny Austin, entertained us with their versions of hits from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. We can all blame Tom for instigating events by plugging in the karaoke machine.
Come Sunday afternoon, after the day’s flying, the trophies were presented and the overall winner was Steve Wallace flying the Mosquito GKL. Trev came second in the Duo Discus and Roland third in his LS6c. The week concluded with BBQ and a drink or two. So a great week was had by all.
For those that are interested there will be a more detailed account of the competition in this month’s edition of Soaring NZ.
The entry of Team Taupo – flying in the “concrete swan” or “plastic pig” (just a couple of other names for the Twin Astir) into this year’s Central Plateau
Soaring Competition was primarily to enthuse newer pilots to the world of cross country soaring and to give them the encouragement to cut the umbilical cord that holds a lot of pilots to the proximity of the field.
Doing this, in a competition environment, allows task setters to set tasks by which all pilots
Team Taupo – Trace, Joe, Bill, Dan, Bill and
Andrew (John-missing) endeavoured to fly and allowed our newer members to see firsthand how more experienced pilots go about flying longer and more challenging flights. It also gave them an opportunity to ask more questions to more people.
Before the team could consider flying in the competition we had to ensure that there was a serviceable trailer. What first seemed like a simple task, which would take only a couple of days to achieve turned out to be a major project! All the flooring was removed and the chassis was ground and buffed to remove the rust. Next were the welding repairs prior to

painting. The sides were detached from the chassis and the lower edges were cut off to remove the rusted sheeting. Mud guards and wheels were removed, prepped and painted.
You will notice that the guards have a distinctive appearance. The lights were renewed or repaired, brakes sorted, tow hitch freed up, securing chain renewed, and the rear door fixed.
On completion away it went for WOF and Rego.
A HUGE thankyou goes out to - Bill Kendall, Dan Visser, Joe Ward and Trace for completing the work. With the trailer serviceable and pre-competition preparations completed, we only needed the pilots. (At this stage Trace was still at sea but he was due home the day before the comp started).
All went to plan and the following is a brief account of the week that was for Team Taupo.
Saturday - Practice Day: The main challenge for this day was to get the seating comfort sorted out for Dan and Joe. Now the back seat of a Twin Astir is not the most comfortable of chairs to go flying in so they each donned a parachute and tried different arrangements until they got comfortable. After that they went for a couple of flights to sort the bugs out.
Satisfied, all was parked up for the night. Roll on day one.
Sunday – Day One: The weather wasn’t starting off to be too kind but in the grid lined up for the task. A selected volunteer, Geoff Gaddes, went up to see what conditions were like but the task was cancelled. Shortly after the cancellation the weather broke and conditions became flyable. Not to miss an opportunity to fly, Trace and Dan were towed up and scratched around with a few other gliders.
Monday – Day One, Second Attempt: Monday’s forecast wasn’t to be too good, however, it started out blue with really nice CU development but there was a 15 knot easterly. The task setters set a task to Rerewhakaitu Farm, Rangitaiki, Lake Rotokawa, and Finish.
Joe was flying with Trace today and both were looking forward to getting away and away they went down the valley. Before reaching the first turnpoint the power supply to Trace’s
Oudie expired. Oh well, they just had to continue on using a chart and the “mark one
eyeball”. After achieving what they believed to be the first turnpoint they turned to head to
Rangitaiki.
The sky ahead for them didn’t look too flash and there had been reported landouts already.
They started getting low around Broadlands and the inevitable happened. Team Taupo - saw their first outlanding for the week. The “concrete swan” found itself in a freshly cut paddock alongside Broadlands road. After securing GME, Joe and Trace walked across to a tractor that was being operated in the same paddock to be surprised that the operator had not seen them land or walking towards him until the last minute. A brief chat and on they went to the house where they phoned in their location.
Not me!
Shortly after the retrieve team arrived on the scene. Before the competition started a lot of work was put into getting GME’s trailer sorted out and this first outlanding was the testing ground. The recovery went well and there were only a couple of modifications required to the trailer for future retrieves.
Day one complete and what an awesome day it was.

Tuesday – Day Two: The day started by removing GME from the trailer and rigging it, the next step was to find out why the power supply failed to the Oudie. This was promptly discovered as an “air
gap” between recently installed wire and the crimp. Bill Kendall, armed with his trusty soldering iron, repaired the problem and there were no more power supply issues.
Dan was flying with Trace today and the task was to Kaingaroa, Pureora, and National Park then home. They got away okay and headed to the first turnpoint where they joined up with Glyn Jackson in the
PW5. Both the PW5 and the Twin made the first turnpoint then headed back towards Taupo. Once back around Lake
Rotokawa Trace and Dan headed to Links Rd and looked beyond to Pureora. Not much was happening that way in the way of lift indicators and they gingerly hopped along
Poihipi Rd. Sink was everywhere and they decided to head back towards Boat Harbour for a top up.
They were able to climb back up to 6000’ and watched Glyn
Repairing power supply issue have a go at reaching Turnpoint Two. The time was now to decide if they would try their luck and go again. They did. A number of other pilots had already terminated at this stage or had made it to turnpoint two. As they headed up Poihipi Rd for the second time there was still no lift to be found. They could have gone on to a certain outlanding but wisely decided enough was enough and headed home.
Day two complete, no outlanding, what another great day.
Wednesday – Day Three: Today saw John Chittenden with Trace for a run to Galatea, North Arm,
Lake Rotokawa then home. The day started out blue and hot and the start was delayed to see what was going to happen. Being up the front of the grid was not a good place to be today as 15 minutes after launch they were on the ground behind Trev Terry in the Duo.
Launch number two was not that much better and they struggled to get through the inversion at about 4000’. Eventually they made a start and headed down the valley. They were in company with
Robert Smits in the Duo for awhile before the legs of the Duo pulled away. Things were going well all the way up to Goudies.
Just before reaching the circle of the turnpoint they saw Roland fly under them and thought that he was going to be in trouble, but not our Roland. He managed a good save in the forest and kept on going. Not so for the Twin.
Trace and John ran out of lift and had to park up. They had two good options and decided on the first choice and landed in a Landcorp paddock. After relaying their position they went for a walk to find the owner. So many houses, so few people. Eventually they found the owner and collected his details and headed back to the Twin.
Not long after Trace and John arrived back at the paddock, the retrieve team arrived on scene to commence the task of de-rigging. As the de-rigging was progressing Bill Kendall and Tim Norman flew over the top to take pictures in EKO.
The retrieve went well and they all headed home for the Wednesday night dinner and a beer.
Thursday – Day Four: Today saw Trace and Joe flying together again. The day was blue once more and the task was to Ranginui, Galatea, Poronui, Lake Rotokawa then home. Trace and Joe managed a good climb and then headed North West but shortly ran into trouble. They heard on the radio Delio in the ASW 20 saying he was low and that he might outland, to their surprise and very soon after

they were 200’ under Delio. After much persistence, Trace and Joe managed a save and made the first turnpoint and then headed towards Galatea.
Once again the lift for them disappeared and they were heading to a certain land-out. After searching around the mill near the chimney at Ohaki to no avail they parked up in a paddock owned by Connect
Energy. Luckily, Andrew Austin, as part of Team Taupo and an employee of Connect Energy just happened to have the keys for the gates. So once again the retrieve team arrived and the de-rigging and returning to Centennial Park via road transport was the theme of the day.
Every day is an adventure!
Friday – Day Five: Today was Trace and Dan once more. The task was to Poihipi, Galatea, Poronui,
Lake Rotokawa then home. After launch, conditions changed quickly and with poor visibility and a maximum height of only 4000’, the start gate was put on hold and the task adjusted to remove the first turn point.
Trace and Dan optimistically headed to the new first turnpoint, Galatea, but got as far as
Broadlands. Not having the legs to get to the lift that could be seen above the forest they were forced to go back to a familiar paddock. The next transmission that they heard after they called in that they were outlanding in the same paddock as the day before, they heard Trev call up and say
“Trace, paddocks are like magnets, they keep
This is a nice place. We were here yesterday. luring you back”. So there they were, parked up in the same paddock as the day before.
It was a good joke for the retrieve team and much frivolity was had during the trip home.
Still it was another fantastic day.
Saturday – Day Six, First Attempt: There was no flying today as there was that thing called rain! A good night was had at the BBQ though.
Sunday – Day Six: This was the best day of the week. The task was to Tirau, Kuratau, Aratiatia, and home. Trace, along with Bill Dawson today, made the decision that they were going to go to Tokoroa,
Tiho, Aratiatia and home.
They got a good climb before the start and headed off towards Tokoroa and were able to maintain good height all the way towards the first turnpoint. After reaching Tokoroa they headed towards
Tiho with a few anxious moments around Mangakino and Mt Titiraupenga that could have upset the day.
After a great afternoon Trace and Bill landed back at Centennial
Park to much jubilation from the home supporters and for
“Team Taupo” in the “Concrete Swan – GME”, it was the first
We're back!
completed a task.
Summary: It was an absolutely awesome week!!!The plan was not for Team Taupo to compete in the competition as such but to give TGC members the opportunity to fly cross country tasks.
This was achieved, and each member that flew in the back seat gained more experience and more confidence to fly away from the home field. In fact, the week after the competition, Joe

Ward flew the PW5 down to Norman’s corner and almost back. He outlanded in the same paddock that he and Trace landed in on their first competition outlanding. The challenge has been set!
THANK YOU to all Team Taupo members: Bill Kendall, Dan Visser, Joe Ward, Andrew Austin, Trace
Austin, Bill Dawson, and John Chittenden.
Congratulations to:
Elliott Clapperton - for achieving SOLO Status.........The learning begins from now.
Joe Ward - for breaking the umbilical cord and flying cross country in the PW5.
by Joe Ward
The Matamata Cross Country Course was held between 18-23
November at the Matamata soaring centre. There were 15 participants and 11 Instructors. We had excellent lectures every day and just as importantly as the lectures we had flyable weather every day!
I had just got my QGP in August 2012 when an email arrived for
Joe on the Grid the Matamata XC course in November. Motivated by a cross country flight with Trev last year and watching local pilots go off for hours into the distance I was soon on the course as was Bill Kendall. Our thanks go to the club/committee, as we were able to take the PW5 - GBD with us.
The mixture of lectures in the morning followed by alternating solo flights and flights with instructors has been such a great learning experience. Bill Mace and crew looked after us really well with very good organisation and great food. Puchacz in a paddock
The daily task was usually between 100-150km with 10-25km circles for us newbies. Personally I had:
 10 hours 40 minutes flying during the week (3:40 solo)
 One solo landout
 One landout in the Puchacz
 Two tasks completed (in twins)
 Flew 30km out and 30 back in the PW5
 Learnt lots, and
 Found lots of areas to work on
Overall, I can’t recommend this course enough to any new potential cross country pilot. Many thanks must go to Bill Mace and team and all of the instructors who gave their time.
Thanks also to our Taupo instructors, Tow pilots and helpers for everything you do ………...I am having so much fun! - Joe Ward

Being Prepared…… During the week, Tom, John Curtis,
Lois and Mary all went up to Matamata in the
Cardinal to see how things were going with Bill and
Joe. Bill was out flying a task and before he left he was all prepared with car attached to the trailer for that possible land out. As things go, Bill had to land out not far from the strip. He called in his position and the retrieve team went to get the car and trailer.
However……………………………….., there was no car attached to the trailer!
Bill’s land out
As there was nothing for Mary and Lois to do while the boys were playing, they decided to do what most girls do best…………………they went shopping!!
Luckily for Bill, fellow Taupo member, Trev hooked up his vehicle to the trailer and along with Tom and JC went out and retrieved him.

by Marc Edgar - 2012
From the age of three, I was around flying most weekends with my dad (David Edgar) and grandad (Des
Bird). My dad had to duct tape the buckle of the straps closed so my busy little hands wouldn’t undo them in flight. They tell me that every time I went up I would be fast asleep by the time we were back on the ground.
Some of my earliest memories of being around gliders involved the Skylark. It amazed me seeing my grandad and dad flying it around and growing up hearing them talk to each other about their experiences which
Colin's last flight in ZK-GBX always captivated me. They loved it, my dad would take it to competitions and I would go with him. We would camp in the back of his van freezing our butts off before waking up early to rig it. I would wash it and help DI it and sit in on the briefings. I learnt every step of the way on how gliders worked. It was such a special upbringing for me.
I learnt to drive at Taupo Gliding Club and I was probably only six or seven when I was driving out and towing gliders back to the launch point. When my family was in the air flying I would be usually causing mischief somewhere at the club or mowing around the club house on the ride on. My sister flew the Skylark, she must have been around 15 or so when she took it up and I remember when that happened I couldn't wait for it to be my turn.
Dad died in a plane crash when I was 10 and naturally my sister and I both stopped going to the club for a while but after a couple years I was back with grandad and kept on flying (I don’t think anything can stop the passion for flying once you have it). At 16 I soloed in the K-13 which was great. I can’t remember whether the Skylark belonged to us at that point still or not but every time I was at the club I would still go into the hanger and just look at it.
I stopped flying for a few years probably around the time I turned 18 when I met my wife, Honour. I told her about the Skylark and what it meant to me and that one day I was going to buy that glider that was very special to me if the owner would sell it to me. Honour, like many others didn’t understand the passion of flying but she was fine with the idea of BX.
We moved to Nelson and had a son of our own and after a few years of hard work and establishing ourselves I got in a position where I could afford to fly again. About six months ago I joined the Nelson Lakes Club and the first day after being up there again I got home and was bouncing off the walls with excitement and happiness. I couldn’t stop going on about it, at that moment Honour understood.
I got in contact with Colin McGrath just to let him know that if he ever wanted to part with BX to contact me and it just so happened he was thinking about selling, so after a couple of months of no sleep from excitement and counting down the
Colin and Marc days its finally mine! An actual childhood dream come true, I still can’t believe it.
Both my grandad and my dad are gone now and my sister doesn’t fly anymore but when I took her for that first flight I felt like they were right there with me and I instantly understood why they loved it so much.

A proud new owner
I thank past and some present members of the Taupo
Gliding Club for my wonderful childhood, for teaching me how to fly, and for having a hanger to keep my Skylark happy all these years. And I thank Colin McGrath for taking such good care of her and for parting with her.
I now look forward to giving my boy the same childhood as mine with lots of flying. He’s only two and already he is obsessed by planes.
by Bhrent Guy - 2006
I joined the ranks of Taupo’s cross country pilots some 20 months ago. Over that time I have observed and listened to my mentor, Trev Terry and listened carefully to advice from Stu Cameron. I have now successfully completed 15 paddock landings out of 39 cross country flights, totalling 100 hours cross country flying in this time. I guess it might sound like I’m notching paddock landings up on my belt. Far from it! My goal is always to get home. As a result I have had some close saves but also a few close shaves through my inexperience. I thought it may be useful to reflect on just a few of these as a means to excite and encourage other pilots who aren’t yet flying cross country to set themselves free and find out what a marvellous, stimulating aspect of the sport cross country soaring is.
A number of people, both pilots and non-pilots have asked me, “have you been scared, aren’t you worried about crashing”. Yep, I’ve scared the pants off myself a few times but I have always been confident that I had the basic skills to get myself to a safe landing place. Why? Because I have always had drummed into me, “make sure you have a way out”.
I have often read the comment that a cross country pilot who never lands out isn’t pushing him or herself hard enough or that if they are always landing out they are pushing themselves too hard. My record to date shows that I can expect to land out on approximately one in every three flights.
However, two things are slowly changing which I hope will change this statistic for the better (it has too because there won’t be anyone left soon willing to bloody well retrieve me).
Firstly, I am developing new skills and near the top of the list is my ability to find and climb in weak thermals at relatively low levels. This has come about through a lot of practice while near the airfield or a suitable landing site. Good Friday was no exception. I was on a flight with Trev and Stu out near the Kaimanawa Ranges when I knew conditions weren’t developing as they should. Trev had checked with me to make sure I had a way out from the forests to a suitable landing area. I had a glide to paddocks in the Poronui Valley and got there about 800 feet AGL. I selected a suitable paddock to land in and then started my search for another thermal in the area rather than just going straight in even though the conditions weren’t looking good. I was still in the air thirty minutes later - and had gained up to 900 feet. But I never lost sight of my chosen paddock. The sure knowledge that I had a good landing site gave me the confidence to keep searching. As it turned out a cold easterly breeze had come in from Hawkes Bay and was knocking the thermals out. Unfortunately I couldn’t get away and I ended up going back about five kilometres to land in the paddock first chosen.
Conversely on my previous flight in mid February, I had flown a course from Taupo to Waipunga Falls, then out to Te Awa Camp and was on my way back to the Ohaki Tower and then return back to
Taupo. On leaving Te Awa Camp in the middle of the Kaingaroa Forest at 5000’, I pushed into a 10 knot westerly and arrived at the edge of the Reporoa Valley at 3000’. I desperately needed a climb to make the last 20 kilometres back to Centennial Park which is at 1500’. Again I selected a paddock to land in while 1000’ AGL. I spotted a farmer making hay on a large paddock and at about 800’ AGL made contact with a very small weak thermal above the paddock. Trev’s advice echoed in my ears,

“relax, have a drink, fly accurately and carefully and be patient” (amazingly at that very moment he called me up on the radio from his car to see how I was doing!) After about fifteen minutes of being very patient the thermal grew in strength and I climbed to 4500’ to end up completing my task and having a most exciting and wonderful flight.
However, I contrast that successful event, which I call a “close save”, with another equally successful event which I term a “close shave”. On only my third cross country I got close to breaking the golden rule—always make sure you have a way out! Again I was flying from Te Awa camp in the middle of the Kaingaroa Forest and left at 4,500 QNH, aiming to glide to the edge of the Reporoa Valley.
However, I was pushing into a 7 knot westerly and when only half-way to the safety of the paddocks and thermals building along the forest edge, I found myself only about 700’ AGL with radiata pines, narrow forest roads below—the thought did occur to me that things weren’t looking the brightest but hey, I had to stay calm and cool and fly out of the crap I had got myself into. Trev Terry was nearby and gave me some great advice, ”don’t turn unless you hit a really good thermal, you’re going to make it to the valley if you keep going”. A few seconds passed and I flew into a moderate 3 knotter. I turned into it with as much accuracy—and confidence as I could muster. I slowly climbed as the thermal built. At 5000’ I let out a whoop of joy and excitement that I had really had a low save, but a bit of a close shave. Had I not caught a thermal at this point the best I could have hoped for was to land straight into one of the paddocks in the valley. Again perhaps this was one of the safe-guards
I had prepared before venturing out over the forests. I had really checked out the paddocks in the valley and knew there were many that were more than adequate for an outlanding.
Secondly, with more time in the air I am learning to read the weather, the ground and the best place to search for thermals. In many respects this is the most interesting and exciting part of all skill development and I find it really satisfying to be able to successfully read the sky and catch thermals by looking at the different types of vegetation, slope aspects, wind directions and cloud developments.
Finally, I am still on a high from Easter Saturday when I had a 34 km glide back from Rangitaiki, arriving at Centennial Park 700’ AGL after an exciting low level ride for the last 12 km. What made it so exciting and not a time to be worried about a successful outcome? At all times I had a way out, paddocks to land in, road verges and farm airstrips to land on — I admit not always the case.
Most cross country pilots can tell many similar stories. In my telling my stories I hope to encourage, not discourage, others from taking to cross country flying. It’s a matter of having the right attitude and being confident in your own abilities—I must admit it also helps to have a good mentor and other pilots around you who are willing to share their knowledge. – Bhrent Guy.
The Club’s Jantar has been delivered to Lindsay Stevens in
Auckland to undertake the replacement of the wing spar pins. These pins have to be renewed at 3000 hours as part of the manufacturer’s requirements and will take Lindsay about 80 hours of work to complete.
The cost to carry out the repairs has been borne by a generous donation from the Southern Trust Foundation, fund raising from the garage sale and Club monies.
Thank you Bill Kendall, Trace Austin and Tom Anderson for
In Lindsay's workshop getting the open top trailer setup, warranted, registered and rigged to carry the Jantar. Thank you again to Bill Kendall for taking the time to deliver the glider to Auckland. With luck, we should see the Jantar back at home around Christmas and ready to go soaring. – News flash!!!!..........Work on wing spar pins is complete.

Just a quick reminder for the following events:

ATC Camp will take place from 7-9 Dec 2012
 TGC Christmas Camp commences on 26 Dec 12 – 06 Jan 2013
 Club Class Nationals 10-24 February 2013
We wish a very warm welcome to our Club’s newest members:
Roger Stokes and Rose-Anne Bury.
Rose-Anne holds a CPL and Tow pilot rating and will be our youngest tow pilot, sorry Brent!
This month we have Dennis arriving back again from Switzerland. Dennis will be here through the summer to help out and to add a few more hours to his log book.
In January, we have Sid (from the UK) arriving back. Like Dennis, he comes out each year to soak up the warmer weather and Sid (a B Cat instructor), enjoys helping out with instructional duties.
A very warm welcome back to both of you!!

It has been demonstrated statistically, Six out of Seven Dwarfs aren’t Happy!
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A man at the airline counter tells the rep. “I’d like this bag to go to Berlin, this one to California, and this one to London.
The rep says, “I’m sorry sir. We can’t do that.”
The man replied: Nonsense. That is what you did last time I flew with you.
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Three old pilots are walking on the ramp. First one says, “Windy, isn’t it?”
Second says, “No, it’s Thursday!”
Third one says, “So am I. Let’s go get a beer.”
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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and have a SAFE and HAPPY NEW YEAR