Theory Course

On Saturday 30 June Graham Garlick held a Cross Country theory course at the State Soaring Centre. The course was pitched to give background and confidence to those pilots who have little or no cross-country experience and wish to achieve Gold C distance. What made the course highly relevant was not only the subjects, but the relevance to Australia and Benalla. The majority of the forenoon was spent on Meteorology which I thought the most informative section as Graham tailored it to the local and Australian conditions which showed to me the difference between the Australia's climate and than of New Zealand (other than the obvious lack of rain and strong winds). The afternoon was spent on Macready theory and planning and executing a cross country flight. One observation I had during my first season of cross country flying was that I did not see much formal flight planning akin to that conducted for a power cross country flight, which I thought was a bit amiss. From what Graham showed was that such planning can and probably does take place and provides structure to assist in achieving the flights goal. Such techniques including setting decision and safety heights and changing the thermaling tactics depending on which band you are in. It turns out that I was doing this without realising, however the course will assist in providing more structure to planning a cross country task and executing it. Many thanks to Graham for providing his time to pass on this knowledge, and to Ron Grant for providing a fantastic 3 course meal. Unfortunately my first ship will be undergoing Contractor Sea Trials the week of the Going for Gold Course so I will not be able to attend, however best wishes for good conditions and great flights to those who can take part.

At Rennie looking NW

First Year of Soaring

Attending the cross-country course finished my first year of cross-country flying in a glider. Unfortunately for me my job can be a somewhat disruptive and since starting gliding I have had to re-solo 4 times as I moved cities and countries in my early stages of learning to fly gliders, and had to repeatedly gain confidence of new instructors and adapt to the nuances of different gliding clubs. It is interesting the differences between clubs who insist in the perfect circuit (while claiming not to be flying to numbers) and those that require evidence that the pilot has planned each circuit and adapted to the conditions (where I believe GCV is at). I soloed with GCV in Easter 2006 following spin training with Alby James and at that time had never been more than 10kms from an airfield in a glider. having only just bought my Std Cirrus before being posted to Melbourne , and having only a few solo hours gliding, I shipped my glider from NZ and flew as often as possible over winter to maximise the return on the cost, build experience and adapt to the flat country and what would turn out to be a very hot summer. My first tentative steps were taken in early October and only to the Chesney hills, but that experience which included getting low, preparing for an out landing, and then finding a low thermal to get me back left me buzzing for weeks.

Looking north through the smoke haze (7000ft)

My first cross-country was in late October in company with my Friend Tim ('Tem' in Australian) with an out and return to Yarrawonga. Its was a blue day which provided an extra challenge (and would be all too familiar for the rest of the season), however we succeeded after 2.5 hours. I will not forget the relief I felt arriving over Yarrawonga airport at 5000ft, and the realisation that I would have to leave the safety of this new found sanctuary in the north to return back to Benalla. This flight also unveiled something I didn't realise - I get air sick in gliders! (probably not too surprising as I get sea sick too)

On the way to Yarrawonga

In order to combat the airsickness, and to ensure I got to know my Std Cirrus better I decided that rather than do dual cross country flights, I would challenge my self by flying my own glider. From my PPL flying I am quite comfortable navigating away from my home airfield. Unfortunately conditions in the weekends Tim and I journeyed to Benalla in November and December were not that good, and with Tim returning to New Zealand at Christmas I was left to take my next steps on my own over two weeks of my Christmas break. With my newly purchased caravan in the aeropark as home base, I had a fantastic couple of weeks, with some great developmental flights and a number of cross countries. My best flight was to Yarrawonga, then Rennie and return. Though only 180km, I extended to flight to 5:40 to achieve my Silver Duration. My goal for the 06/07 season was to gain my Silver C and start extending to 300km flights. Despite the smoke from the December fires I achieved that goal before returning to work in the second week of January, which rather than leave me content, actually made me want to do more. My goal for this season is Gold C and a few flights into the mountains.

I would like to thank all of those who have chatted about Cross Country flying with me over the season, in particular Graham Garlick, Laurie McKinely, Ron Grant, Nick Woods and Mike from the UK. With the absence of a formal course last year, these pre and post flight chats became my de-facto instruction as I took lessons from each discussion and tried to exercise them in the air. Armed with the knew knowledge from Graham Garlick's theory course I am sure I will achieve my Gold this season.

The day of my best flight

Finally - For those new pilots looking to do their first cross countries this summer I recommend:

• Do your out landing training early so you can take advantage of the good days
• Get an experienced pilot to take you away from the field, just out of your comfort zone, stay there a while before returning to Benalla
• Yarrawonga and return is a great, safe flight with a good airfield at both locations
• Learn about managing dehydration. I suffered quite badly following my Silver Duration flight having only taken 2.5 litres of water with me and won't make that mistake again.

Jeremy Miller