Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Apr 29, 2015 11:55:41 GMT 12
from the Wairarapa Times-Age....
New gliding centre near Greytown
By VOMLE SPRINGFORD | 6:53AM - Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Wairarapa Gliding is joining forces with Wellington Gliding Club, which is moving from its Kapiti Coast
airport premises to an airstrip at Papawai near Greytown.
A NEW gliding centre is to be developed near Greytown.
Wairarapa Gliding is joining forces with Wellington Gliding Club which is moving from its Kapiti Coast airport premises.
They will be sharing the Papawai airstrip, which is part of the farmland South Wairarapa District Council bought in 2013 for wastewater irrigation.
Wairarapa president Jim Bicknell said they were establishing the Greytown Soaring Centre together which would be the “umbrella” organisation for the clubs.
It is expected to be operating by next summer.
“There's still a lot of development to be done,” said Mr Bicknell.
He said a second runway was being developed and the Wellington club may need to build hangars and a club room.
Mr Bicknell said this year the club would also like to offer scholarships to women to learn to fly, as there is a lack of female flyers.
The Wellington club it was moving because of the operational considerations associated with sharing an airfield with Air NZ, and no long term security of tenure.
“That lead us to take the difficult decision to leave our home of many years.”
They also said the Wairarapa conditions were better suited to learning to fly gliders.
With Wairarapa, they will hold open days next summer for the public to come along and watch or take a trial instructional flight.
Both clubs have a strong focus on teaching young people how to fly and prepare them for conventional flying.
The Wairarapa club, which has been around since 1989, helped pioneer aviation studies at Kuranui College — one of the boys who had his first lesson with Mr Bicknell is now a captain for Eagle Air.
Mr Bicknell said there was not much in the way of aviation training in the region.
“The best thing to do is to learn to fly a glider first, then you have a pretty good understanding of flying.”
Diana Braithwaite, a member of 10 years, said it was good to see several students who had learned to fly go on to work in the industry.
“If you have to train to fly a glider, you make a much better power pilot.”
Member David Hirst said the centre plans were very exciting.
“Possibly in the future three to four clubs may use the centre, initially it will be just Wellington and ourselves operating parallel.”
SWDC chief executive Paul Crimp said when the council bought the land, it was keen to ensure the club could continue as it was a great amenity for the district.
It would facilitate the centre lease but the clubs would be in charge of operational arrangements, he said.
• Gliding Wairarapa (Inc) — Greytown
• Wellington Gliding Club
www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11440210
from the Wairarapa Times-Age....
Riding high in air on wings of breeze
By VOMLE SPRINGFORD | 6:53AM - Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Club members Diana Braithwaite and David Hirst watch as reporter Vomle Springford gets in the glider.
WHAT is gliding?
Being flung into the sky in a light plane with no engine, in a nutshell.
It sounds a little bit freaky, but it's surprisingly logical once you're up in the air.
When I rang Jim Bicknell, the president of Wairarapa Gliding to talk about the club's future developments, he said if I was going to write about it, I'd have to give it a go.
Not one to miss an opportunity, I said sure, hung up the phone and thought “what the hell did I just agree to?”
Member and instructor David Hirst takes me up for the flight, he's been gliding for 10 years — he was hooked since his first flight, a present from his wife. “For the next two weeks I had a grin on my face.”
The club uses a winch with a four-and-a-half litre V8 engine pulling a Kevlar cable to launch the aircraft.
The ascent is so fast, I barely register it, we are suddenly 2,200 feet high, calmly soaring above the farmlands, orchards and rivers.
There's no noise except for the low hum of rushing air, which I thought would be alarming but it's calming.
“If you're up here flying, you don't have time for anything else, it's a wonderful stress reliever,” says David.
I am allowed to take some of the controls and I gingerly push forward, which means we go faster but descend at the same time.
We fly over some dark patches of land looking for “thermals” — columns of rising air formed from warm surfaces — David says you can often feel them.
“We use them like stepping stones,” he says.
Gliding is a fascinating experience, it doesn't seem to make sense we aren't dropping out of the sky. But it's much like being a bird, you have wings, which are lifted by the air passing over them.
Flying is something that has intrigued many of the club members as youngsters.
Diana Braithwaite, who came to New Zealand in the '60s from the UK, was first captured by the sight of planes during the World War II Blitz. “I thought I'd like to give that a try.”
Jim, a dairy farmer, was 14 when he had his first flight in a Tiger Moth. “I could have bought one for £50 at the end of the war but my father said ‘where are you going to keep it?’.”
Training young people has been a focus for the club.
“Gliding is a good way for a young person to learn whether they want to take up [conventional] flying.”
At one stage, the club had 40 members but now has 15. They are always looking for new members.
• Vomle Springford flew courtesy of Wairarapa Gliding.
www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11440211
