Duty Pilots roster coming soon...

We've suddenly realised the duty pilots roster has run out, a new one will be online again very soon. We'll send an email out when it's ready to view.

Instructors Training Course 16th-18th October

This year the Gliding New Zealand instructors training course is being held at Matamata. It runs from Friday 16th Oct to Sunday 18th, usually finishing up around lunchtime Sunday. The course will involve many gliders and instructors from other clubs around the country, including our twins and instructors.

For our club, the twins will be in use all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon club members are welcome to use them as usual. All Friday and weekend, towing will be available for our club singles and private owners.

Labour Weekend 24th-26th October

Whenuapai is coming down for Labour weekend, and we'll be flying on Monday, so it should be a great weekend.

We're planning a dinner at the gliding club Saturday 24th Oct, so book it in now. We'll send out more details closer to the time.

Central Plateau Competition 31st Oct-7th Nov

The Central Plateau competition is on in Taupo, details and entry form can be found on gliding.co.nz.

X-Country Course & Regionals

Starting 23rd November to 5th December are the XCountry course (23rd to 27th) followed by the regionals (29th to 5th Dec). More details to come.

Looking forward to a great season! Any day now the weather will come right... have fun and fly safe.

Here is the latest FlyPaper, thanks Jan for putting this together again. Again there are two versions, one PDF, one Word Document, both the same.

Flypaper Sep09.doc

Flypaper Sep09.pdf

Don't forget the compulsory start of season briefing & FREE LUNCH this Sunday 13th September, 10am at the clubhouse.

One other note about the webcam/weather - the Internet connection to the clubhouse is broken, thus both the weather and webcam are down. We'll get it back up and working as soon as possible.

Thanks to Chris Scales for this video, made during our winch training day recently.

Full event on Sunday 13 September, with repeat of the pilot briefing on Wednesday 16 Sept for those that can’t make the Sunday.

Start time 10.00am (both days) finish 12.00 for lunch and afternoon flying.

This is a compulsory briefing for all glider pilots (to attend either day). Glider pilots who have not attended the briefing will not be cleared for solo flying and will have to make arrangements for a special session with the CFI.

Agenda –

• Duty Pilot’s daily duties including new timesheet software,
• Airspace and Radio Procedures,
• Gliding Safely,
• Club Tasks,
• and some time for pilot feedback and discussion. 

To be followed by BBQ lunch and flying fun. Club members can make bookings for BFRs or currency checks in the afternoon.

See you there!

Anyone else wish they were out gliding today?! Taken at 12pm looking towards the Kaimais from Hamilton

We've still got a couple of spaces for the learn to fly course starting this coming Saturday - if you're interested, or you know anyone who might be interested get in touch with Anna on 07 888 8782 asap, or see the website homepage for details

www.glidingmatamata.co.nz

We had a great day winching yesterday, thanks to everyone who came along and made it happen. We'll be aiming to make more use of the winch over the coming season. Here are some pics from Keith and Tim.

We're looking for beginners for the next Learn to Fly training course is coming up, starting Saturday 22nd August and running 6 consecutive Saturdays.

The course aims to teach the fundamentals on how to fly, and know to safely take off and land. You'll be flying with experienced gliding instructors in our 2 seat training gliders.

More details and information can be found here, otherwise contact AnnaDoerr on 07 888 8782, or email training@glidingmatamata.co.nz

Instructor Steve care with 2 recent students

Flying over the Waikato

Here are the award winners for 2008/09 - these have been updated on the club awards page.

Club Trophies

DeRenzy Pot - Neil Raymond - Most improved new pilot

Ken Bartlett Trophy - Tim Bromhead - Most outstanding Personal Best for winning Sports Class Nationals 

President’s Pot - Robin Britton -  For an outstanding flight during Sports Class Nationals

Tom Martin Trophy - Joan Wine - for providing outstanding friendship and service to the club in the past year. Joan doesn't fly, but puts a huge amount of work and effort into the club as committee member and secretary of the club.

Wooden C - Not awarded this year. Almost awarded to Jamie for setting his altimeter to 1182 feet instead of 182 feet, and wondering why releasing at 2000' AGL felt 'a little low'. Well done for dealing with the situation properly.

Club Task Trophies

Care 200 Trophy - Bill Mace - fastest time around the Care 200 course

Catlin Trophy - Unawarded!

Les Riesterer Short Course Trophy - Unawarded!

Dave McPherson 1 Diamond Trophy - Unawarded!

Well done Bill for being the only person to complete a club trophy task this year!

This is an open challenge to all Piako pilots to compete for these trophies this year. 

The Les Riestererer short course in particular is great for newer pilots, and is great practice for using GPS's and preparing for a task.

The task details are available on the website here.

Other Achievements

Tim Bromhead - C Cat Instructors Ratings
Dom Stevens - C Cat Instructors Ratings

Brian OBrien Regionals Contest 1st Club Class
Bob Gray Regionals Contest 2nd Club Class
Tim Bromhead 3rd Sports Class

Carl Henderson – first solo and A cert
Neil Raymond - first solo and A cert
Josh Money - first solo and A cert
Aimee Dawson - first solo and A cert
Manda Connor - first solo and A cert
John Krukerink - first solo and A cert
Robb Munn – first solo

Well done everyone!

The Care 200 Trophy