A view of Lake Waikareiti in Te Urewera National Park from the cockpit of one of the two gliders.
A view of Lake Waikareiti in Te Urewera National Park from the cockpit of one of the two gliders.
Two gliders from Taupō have flown along the Raukumara Range, going as far as inland of Te Puia Springs before making the return journey home.
The high-performance gliders - a Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2cT (piloted by Tim Bromhead) and an Alexander Schleicher AS 33 (Patrick Dreissen) - would have covered far morethan the straight-line distance of more than 500 kilometres.
According to tracker app Flightradar24, the gliders took to the air around midday last Sunday.
They first flew south to the Kaweka Ranges, then followed the line of consecutive ranges, which stretch past Lake Waikaremoana and the Ureweras to the Raukūmara Range reaching up East Cape.
After flying in tandem through the afternoon they reached inland from Te Puia Springs on the east coast, north of Gisborne.
The flight path glider pilot Patrick Dreissen took in a 500km journey that started in Taupō and took them along the Raukumara Range towards East Cape before heading back home.
The two silent soaring machines passed over Rakauroa and Wharekopae and reached as far as the Mata River.
It was a hot day over the Gisborne-East Cape region, reaching in-the-shade temperatures in the low 30s.
This would have created strong thermals along the line of the ranges and helped the gliders maintain altitude, reaching over 9000 feet (2.7km) at one point.
On the return journey they retraced their northward flight path, but headed as far south as the Kaimanawa Ranges, then turned towards the Desert Road east of Tongariro National Park before heading home to the Taupō Gliding Club airstrip.
They landed about 6.20pm after a flight lasting about six hours.
Tim Bromhead was one of the two Taupō Gliding Club members who flew further up the Raukūmara Range than they had ever done before.
“Because of the altitude we had to talk to air traffic control for most of the flight to ensure we didn’t get in the way of arrivals or departures going into Napier or Gisborne,” Bromhead said.
“Airways and the air traffic controllers were very helpful at making sure we were allowed to climb as high as we needed, so a big thanks to them for making the flights happen.
“Up near the northern-most end we encountered rain and even a bit of hail due to one cloud overdeveloping into a rain cloud.
“Patrick managed a distance of 531km at an average speed of 127km/h, and I managed 495km at 119km/h.”
It was the first time flying that far up Raukūmara Range for both of them.
“There aren’t many landing options up that way, so being high makes it much safer.”
Bromhead said anyone interested in gliding could contact their local gliding club through gliding.co.nz
- Roger Handford is a retired Gisborne Herald and radio journalist
