Gliding near Melbourne

[DarkSarcasm]

Hi all,

 

I'd like to try my hand at gliding, does anyone know of anywhere that does gliding reasonably close to Melbourne? I was thinking of seeing if I could organise a '1 day intensive' sort of thing, or maybe go there for a weekend and do a 2 day thing.

 

So does anyone know of somewhere reasonably near Melbourne that teaches gliding and any idea of a rough cost estimate for it?

 

Cheers

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Mount Beauty Gliding Club orThe Gliding Club of Victoria at Benalla.

 

I did a flight with Mark Bland last year at Mount Beauty. See the links for contact details. Lovely scenery among the mountains there.

 

There's a couple of photos on my Redbubble site. (Gliding Mount Beauty, Kiewa Valley).

 

 

[fly_tornado]

you should go flying in a drifter if you haven't tried it yet.

 

 

[sfGnome]

It's easy, Darky. Just hit the magneto switches sometime. Hey presto, gliding...

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Hi Darky

 

Benalla (Gliding club of Victoria) has clubhouse accomodation and usually good gliding weather (I used to fly there and know it well). Apart from Bacchus Marsh which others have mentioned, I believe there are gliding clubs at Tarralgon and at Leongatha. A call to the GFA wouold clarify and possibly supply contact details ....... Oh and there used to be one at Euroa too ....

 

cheers!

 

RD

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Thanks all :)

 

I've looked at the websites of a few clubs, but the main thing that's putting me off is that you have to pay a yearly membership of their club. I don't particularly want to do that since I'm not planning on taking up gliding as a hobby, I'd just like to try it to improve my skills (e.g. forced landings, since you only really get one chance to land in a glider, so it's always a forced landing...), so I'm reluctant to pay the fee. I might email a few of them and see if I can organise a weekend thing without the membership fee or at a reduced fee or something...hmmm

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Same deal as RAA. You must be a member to fly as pilot, but for TIFs, you sign up for no fee for a 28 day period. After that you probably have to join formally if you want to continue.

 

On that basis you could probably do a weekend with a few hours. I don't know the limitation if any, as in RAA you have to join after 3 hours of instruction. I expect gliding is similar, otherwise everyone would be temporary members!

 

 

[.Evan.]

There has just been a new gliding club started in Ballarat. They might be keen to have new people!

 

http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/sport/general/ballarat-gliding-club-gets-off-the-ground/2030073.aspx

 

 

[winsor68]

Good on you Darky... You will love it. Just remember with gliding its not usually just a case of turning up and flying... Spend a few days and chip in with all the hard work (well if you consider being around aviation hard work) involved in getting the machines into the air. Its also a good opportunity to dabble in some aerobatics.

 

 

[Exadios]

Thanks all :)I've looked at the websites of a few clubs, but the main thing that's putting me off is that you have to pay a yearly membership of their club. I don't particularly want to do that since I'm not planning on taking up gliding as a hobby, I'd just like to try it to improve my skills (e.g. forced landings, since you only really get one chance to land in a glider, so it's always a forced landing...), so I'm reluctant to pay the fee. I might email a few of them and see if I can organise a weekend thing without the membership fee or at a reduced fee or something...hmmm

There are actually two memberships you must get: A club membership and a GFA membership. For GFA memberships see the GFA membership page. I know at our club we have done 1 month and 3 month for high school students and overseas visitors etc. I would be surprised if Victoarian clubs did not have a similar facility. To work out the club membership cost we just compute a prorata value.

 

If I undestand your post correctly you just want to go for one weekend. In that case I doubt that you will get that much out of it. A good guess is that you will get about 6 flights in a weekend. It takes about 4 flights just to learn how not to collide with the tug. With a winch it takes a few more to learn how not to collide with the ground. And, I would guess, that in your first six flights you would only do the last 2 yourself.

 

Most clubs like to teach "upper air" work first - handling and spins etc - and then circuits last. However, with your experience that may not be the case. See how you go.

 

 

[sseeker]

It took me 7 flights to go solo in a glider. (I did a lot of messing about in the T/A with my instructor like aerobatics and thermalling) I did about 5 circuits and was sent circuit solo, might not seem like much but in a glider on a 37C day you get exhausted very fast. Each circuit includes a tow to 1000ft and my first solo was to 1500ft (both AGL). I then had the option to go solo in the single seater for a thermalling flight but the weather turned crap and I decided to do my last two flights as aerobatic flights. Gliding is great fun and I considered taking it up after that 3 day camp however it isn't much cheaper than RA-Aus flying (~$90/hr with a tow to 3500ft in a DG1000, the Jabiru is $125/hr with a tow to where ever I like ;))

 

My camp consisted of 3 days gliding, food, accomodation, membership fees, tow costs, glider costs. ~$760. If you just wanna try it, do a TIF. A lot of powered pilots don't like gliding because believe it or not, it IS harder. There's a lot more skill involved with flying a glider than there is small powered plane. It will take you a while to get used to it.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Exadios]

It took me 7 flights to go solo in a glider. (I did a lot of messing about in the T/A with my instructor like aerobatics and thermalling) I did about 5 circuits and was sent circuit solo, might not seem like much but in a glider on a 37C day you get exhausted very fast. Each circuit includes a tow to 1000ft and my first solo was to 1500ft (both AGL). I then had the option to go solo in the single seater for a thermalling flight but the weather turned crap and I decided to do my last two flights as aerobatic flights. Gliding is great fun and I considered taking it up after that 3 day camp however it isn't much cheaper than RA-Aus flying (~$90/hr with a tow to 3500ft in a DG1000, the Jabiru is $125/hr with a tow to where ever I like ;))My camp consisted of 3 days gliding, food, accomodation, membership fees, tow costs, glider costs. ~$760. If you just wanna try it, do a TIF. A lot of powered pilots don't like gliding because believe it or not, it IS harder. There's a lot more skill involved with flying a glider than there is small powered plane. It will take you a while to get used to it.

 

-Andrew

Seven flights to go solo is not bad. You must have impressed the instructors.

 

I think you've misrepresented the costs a little bit. A DG1000 is usually an expensive air craft to hire. More representative is a single which would be about $35 / hour for the glider and about $30 for the tow which equals $75.

 

 

[sseeker]

I have 70 hours in powered aeroplanes, I would've thought the solo would take me no time, but it took a lot longer than expected. Although 7 tows seems like a lot because of the effort, it's not really. BSS charges 90c a min for the DG1000, 0.90*60=$54/hr + 4,000ft tow $55 = $109/hr or 3,000ft tow is $44 so $88/hr.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Exadios]

I have 70 hours in powered aeroplanes, I would've thought the solo would take me no time, but it took a lot longer than expected. Although 7 tows seems like a lot because of the effort, it's not really. BSS charges 90c a min for the DG1000, 0.90*60=$54/hr + 4,000ft tow $55 = $109/hr or 3,000ft tow is $44 so $88/hr.-Andrew

Sure. But as a solo pilot you would hardly ever fly the DG by yourself. A single costs about $36 per hour. Also you would never take a tow to 3000' or 4000' AGL. It is more common to get off between 1500' to 2000' AGL which equates to $27 and $33 for the tow. In addition a normal glider flight is 2 hours or more which halves the hourly rate of the tow. Of course not every tow results in the glider getting away and this tends to raise the cost of gliding. (This has never happened to me but I have heard of it happening to others. )

 

Costs aside gliding does teach skills that make a power pilot a better pilot, IMO. So, for the power pilot, learning to glide is money well spent.

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Back in 1981, I went solo in 32 launches - and I'd never flown before.

 

I loved gliding. It definitely teaches you a lot about flying.

 

I found that a whole day's effort was required - even if you only had a 12 minute glide. Put me off a lot. I went hang-gliding instead.

 

 

[sseeker]

One reason why I'm not a member at Beverley Soaring Society. They want you up there for the whole day (0700-1800). I could only do that if I was towing, launching and gliding. That's why I want to get a tow endorsement.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Exadios]

One reason why I'm not a member at Beverley Soaring Society. They want you up there for the whole day (0700-1800). I could only do that if I was towing, launching and gliding. That's why I want to get a tow endorsement.-Andrew

I don't understand. Most gliding clubs are happy to have more tug pilots. If you have a tail wheel endorsment they will probably check you out on one of their Pawnees and then you can use that to get you towing endorsement.

 

At one stange Beverly was short of tug pilots. I'm not sure what their status is now.

 

 

[sseeker]

Lack of a PPL. Tried to get the RA-Aus tow endorsement but that means I have to do the GA training for towing permit then send paperwork to RA-Aus.

 

By the way, your name wouldn't be Hugh would it?

 

-Andrew

 

 

[sseeker]

lol yeah was intended for Exadios. Btw I'd be more than happy to help at the club for half the day but a full day from 7AM till 6PM and it's a 2hour drive from my house, I mean c'mon.... It's on weekends. Might take it up, Exadios made a point of flying the single seaters the majority of the time. It's kinda like an instruction/solo rate.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Exadios]

Lack of a PPL. Tried to get the RA-Aus tow endorsement but that means I have to do the GA training for towing permit then send paperwork to RA-Aus.By the way, your name wouldn't be Hugh would it?

 

-Andrew

Well, unfortunately, you're not going to get a towing endorsement to tow gliders without a PPL (it does not matter if the tow plane is RA-Aus or GA registered). With respect to towing hang gliders I do hot know how that works endorsement wise.

 

No, my name is not Hugh.

 

 

[sseeker]

I've spoken to the technical manager about this. You CAN tow GFA Gliders on an RA-Aus certificate, in an RA-Aus aircraft. RA-Aus and GFA have an agreement to let this take place. You must hold the RA-Aus glider towing endorsement on your recreational certificate in order to tow in an RA-Aus plane (this is just a case of sending your paperwork through for it to be issued onto your certificate).

 

The GFA documentation is out of date and doesn't depict this.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Exadios]

I've spoken to the technical manager about this. You CAN tow GFA Gliders on an RA-Aus certificate, in an RA-Aus aircraft. RA-Aus and GFA have an agreement to let this take place. You must hold the RA-Aus glider towing endorsement on your recreational certificate in order to tow in an RA-Aus plane (this is just a case of sending your paperwork through for it to be issued onto your certificate).The GFA documentation is out of date and doesn't depict this.

 

-Andrew

Interesting. Thanks for the info.