Taupo Gliding Club seeks lift in membership

John Rika (left) returns from a flight with Taupō Gliding Club captain Trace Austin. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

Taupo Gliding Club manager Tom Anderson is 90, and was flying powered craft and gliders until four years ago.

He's "slowed down a bit now", but still takes to the skies in a glider every now and then with another pilot.

"It's a selfish sport really, because you have to really want to fly."

He's been anything but selfish in his 34 years with the club, though, having towed 16,500 gliders into the air during that time.

"I've walked away from 17,500 landings," he explains, with another 1000 done without a glider involved.

That's pretty impressive given he didn't get his powered pilot's licence until he was in his 50s.

The club has a lot of powered aircraft pilots, but also a few who just do gliding.

Tom says it's far easier for glider pilots to learn powered flight than it is the other way because of the extra use of the rudders required when gliding and searching for lift.

"Glider is more satisfying, you are flying an aircraft without an engine.

"The guy who put that plane down on the Hudson was a glider instructor - Sully [Chesley Sullenberger]."

The club is hosting an open day on Sunday, November 13 - with a sausage sizzle from noon to 1pm - to "show people what's possible".

For some people, like club captain Trace Austin, there is no better place to go gliding.

Taupō Gliding Club captain Trace Austin. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

Trace, who is the chief engineer on a ship and also chief engineer for the club, moved from Australia to Taupō specifically because of his love of gliding.

Taupō's central location means cross-country pilots can fly in any direction and access a huge range of locations.

At present, the club has 32 full flying members and two students.

They would like to lift that number and are offering an introductory package for $250, which includes a trial flight and three months' membership.

For those learning to fly, instructors do it free but each trip into the air costs about $110 for the tow and the glider fee, which covers maintenance of the gliders.

It takes 8-10 hours of lessons to get to the solo stage - about 30 lessons.

Trace says skilled pilots can stay in the air for a long time and travel hundreds, or even thousands of kilometres, but there is always the chance you might have to land in a paddock, like he did a couple of weeks back.

"I had a paddock picked out and a good spot to land. Gliders are solid, they are built strong."

Basically, without lift a glider will gradually descend, which is why gliders are built tough for these types of landings. They have solid airframes and thick rubber cushioning in the undercarriage and pilots are trained to search out suitable emergency landing sites.

Everyone is welcome to come out on Sunday "and see how it is possible to fly for hundreds of kilometres without a motor", says club president Hugh de Lautour.

The Taupo Gliding Club operates under the auspices of parent organisation Gliding New Zealand.

The club owns four gliders - a couple of two-seat trainers, and two single-seaters, of which one is an easy-to-fly solo trainer.

The other solo glider is a high-performance, 15m glider that has been raced in the New Zealand Gliding Grand Prix in 2007. The club also owns and operates a Piper Pawnee, which tows the gliders into the air.

For more information go to taupogliding.com or phone the club at 07 378 5627.