The weather over winter hasn't been very conducive to flying. With this in mind we recently floated the idea of moving Wednesdays with crappy forecasts to another day of the week, and this week proved a good opportunity to try out the idea.

It worked well. Wed was forecast for too much rain and the wind was more northerly, while today was for a more direct westerly and in theory, less rain. It proved to be a bit wetter than we hoped, with a lot of showers to fly around. The ridge however was working well, with a steady 20knots everywhere, except behind the showers as Paul from Auckland found out.

We did have to wait around for a shower or two to past before flying, luckily we had GPK and GNI to rig to keep us busy.

We had 6 club members flying, and a few from Auckland. Alan and Brett had a great flight up past Thames to Kereta and back, so well done guys.

We'd like to do this more often, especially as the weather is so crappy at the moment, and often the good days don't align with our flying days. We'll aim for Wednesdays, and try and organise a different day if one is going to be obviously better.

Also for any day of the week don't forget to book on the website. That way the instructor, duty pilot and tow pilot can decide wether to cancel the day or not, and so we don't waste their time if there is no one planning to fly.

A couple of handy ridge flying tips

• If there is a lot of cloud around, give regular position reports so we have good situational awareness of each other. Today there was a lot of cloud, some at low level that we often had to fly around. Giving regular reports of position, altitude, and heading helped a lot.
•  We now have a common frequency zone up past Paeroa for the coromandel area. Check the VNC charts before flying up this way. You should report your position when entering the zone and when passing airfields such as Thames.

Hopefully we'll have more good ridge flying soon.

Taupo Gliding Club is to hold a training course for prospective scorers at the TGC Clubhouse

Sat 9th—Sun 10th Oct

Applicants should have a laptop available with See You and have computer skills.

The course will be at N/c in the interest of improving our base of scorers.

Rob Lyon of the Taupo Gliding Club will be the course trainer.

Accommodation is available at the Clubhouse at very cheap rates and some meals/bbqs will be available.

Please contact Tom Anderson Manager gliding@reap.org.nz for bookings and information.

www.taupoglidingclub.co.nz

Yesterday I thought up a clever, cheesy middle name for the bookings, going with the classic "Wave Bird". An easterly wind was forecast, although only 2 notches on the little weather arrow, so I wasn't expecting anything too amazing. I thought an overly optimistic booking name would be good for moral during this 'bad patch' of weather.

When I woke up this morning the first thing I noticed was the lack of wind. "I'd better wait it out a bit and see if it's worth it" I thought to myself. Later in the day the weather probe at Matamata said 10knots gusting to 20, yet in Hamilton everything was as still as could possible be. Almost didn't bother going out although figured I'd go and worst case, do a circuit.

Anyway long story short, it was an absolute rip snorter of an Easterly wave. When we were pulling the gliders out of the hangers a small patch of what looked like rotor had started, but by the time we were in the air there was a distinct line of thickening cloud running from Te Aroha down to the waterfall. Throughout the day things picked up, and at it's peak there were 3 distinct lines of rotor.

It was rough as guts, big downs, but oh so amazing ups to go with them. GSN, GXP, GPC and GPK all flew today. Here are some pics from GXP.

A big thanks to Jeff for towing on a day he described as a "tow pilots nightmare" :) Hopefully tomorrow will pull off something similar, although it may be raining...

Ian Hector, one of our intrepid tow pilots, had a starring role tonight on Campbell Live. The segment was about JetStar's pilot training programme through CTC.

See it on the TV3 website if you missed it. Well done Ian!

We'll be aiming to fly all weekend including this Queens birthday Monday. The weather isn't looking too good for Sunday & Monday, but we'll see how we go. Hopefully Sat and Mon will be clearer.

A note that if we cancel any day we will aim to put a note on the calendar on the homepage so it's a good idea to check it before you go out, or ring the instructor of the day.

Garmin releases new handheld GPS's

Garmin has released the new GPSMAP 62s which may be of interest to glider pilots. This device is the ultimate handheld GPS, and has a number of features that mean it can be used for gliding:

• Sunlight readable screen (assuming it's the same as the previous model, it's one of the best around, see it easily in direct sunlight. To be confirmed).
• 20 hour battery life, so no need for power from the glider battery.
• Barometric altimeter so your 3D trace is accurate.
• Ability to add a scan of a map eg. our Aviation charts (a useful upgrade over the previous version).
• Glide ratio to destination (giving a very simple final glide calculator).
• Proximity alerts, so you know when you've reached a turnpoint
• GPS track from Garmin's accepted for competitions.
• Can be used to give road directions on a retrieve!
• Has serial port to connect to our clubs IGC loggers, and USB port to connect to SeeYou easily.
• Simple & Reliable. Turn it on, and it's recording.

Disadvantages

• Not IGC approved, so you have to use another IGC logger with it for badge flights or world records.
• Not as good for navigating competition tasks as a PDA.
• Small screen.
• Glide ratio doesn't take into count wind, so not a real final glide calculator.
• Expensive at $450USD. You can get almost get a PDA with SeeYou Mobile or an iPad for that!

Check them out on the Garmin website. Also there is an equivalent model, the 78s that floats incase you're planning on landing in water. There is also the Oregon 450, which does much the same stuff, but with a bigger screen, unfortunately it's hard to see in sunlight.

It was good to see a full house for our Gliding Safely seminar in April. From the feedback that I received, the message was well received. Our three speakers went through the recent accident record in NZ, then personal safety awareness and finally Landout decision making.

We also welcomed glider pilot visitors from Taranaki, Tauranga and Thames and also Don Waters, the regional CAA Safety officer came along for the seminar and had a few words for the group.

I know that some pilots could not be there because of commitments elsewhere and for those there is a copy of the written presentations available as well as video of the proceedings which is available to club members. If you would like a copy of these, please send me an email, or phone call. I’ll be looking to catch up with those that couldn’t make it personally over the next couple of months.

I will be aiming to provide at least two opportunities each year - at the beginning and the end of the season - for safety and currency theory training for all our glider pilots. Our next session will be at the start of next season, mid September, where we will be talking about dehydration and Motor Glider operations, as well as general pre-season information on Club and Local Operations and update on Airspace for the season.

Also go along to the CAA AvKiwi Safety Seminar – the next one is in Hamilton at 7.00pm on 31 May Waikato Aero Club. See CAA website for other dates and locations.

Remember – the pilot is the last line of defence against an accident, think safety and fly safely.

Bob Gray - CFI

Hi All Glider Pilots

Gliding Safely Seminar

 Saturday 24 April, 10am to 12noon, Clubhouse.

Reminder notice of our Gliding Safely seminar for all of our glider pilots.  This is mandatory for all current QGP Glider pilots. 

 This seminar is for you!

Also come for Jan Mace’s famous morning tea beforehand and free lunch after the seminar. 

Fly safely,

Bob Gray - CFI