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Latest News

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2019

• November: S2F Flying Further Course

  

  
  

• September: Annual Inspector and Replacement of Components Course

  

  
  
• July: Australian Junior Gliding Instructor Course

• April: Wedderburn Fly-In.

  

  
  

• February: Our club has been awarded a $200K grant from Sports Australia to help replace our rather tired looking clubhouse!

2018

• November 2018: Instructors attended Coach Training at Narromine.

• NSW Gliding - Replacement of Components Course: Saturday 6 to Sunday 7 October and Saturday 13 to Sunday 14 October 2018 at the Clubhouse. More information…

• July 2018: ASG 29 has its first flights at Camden and is now available for members to fly.

  

  
  

• June 2018: IZU has a new home - our Jantar is now flying at Narrogin Gliding Club, WA.

• June 2018: ASG 29 has arrived

  

  
  

• June 2018: Look what has come out of the container!

  

  
  

• May 2018: Daily Inspector training videos released - check out the GFA Airworthiness Training Series on YouTube

• April 2018: What's in the container?

  

  
  

• March 2018: WVJ has a new home - our Astir is now enjoying winch launches at its new home at South Gippsland Gliding Club, Victoria.

• February 2018: Daily Inspectors training

  Southern cross members are making a series of videos for the GFA's Daily Inspector training course.

  

  
  

• January 2018: Camps and competitions

  Club President Justin Couch competed in the Gliding Grand Prix competition at Leeton in South/central NSW. While not finishing on the winners' podium, Justin reports that everyone enjoyed a lot of great flying, great camaraderie and learned a lot about competition flying.

  Meanwhile, many club members took most of our fleet of gliders to Cootamundra for our annual gliding camp. As well as Cootamundra's hospitality, our members enjoyed some very good flying conditions. Many members achieved personal best flights. Club treasurer and instructor Rod Ferrier flew every flyable day (as usual we lost a few to bad weather) racking up 53 hours in the air. Rod also, with Ian Steventon, flew a 750km flight in Ian's Duo Discus (kind of a gliding Porsche).

2017

• December 2017: Where can a glider go from Camden?

  A visiting pilot who normally flies powered aircraft wanted to experience spins and how to get out of them. This is something glider pilots train for but powered pilots normally don't. Mission accomplished, instructor Ken McCracken and visitor then flew the glider to Lake Burragorang. This is the lake behind Warragamba Dam and is about 25km West of Camden airport. Sadly, the soaring conditions are not good enough to fly so far every day, but when they are we can enjoy some spectacular views over the lake and Blue Mountains.

  

  
  

• October 2017: Women In Gliding Week

  Two of our female members attended the Women In Gliding Week at Kingaroy in Qld. These weeks are intended to encourage women to increase their flying skills and improve their confidence. Both members had an enjoyable week, with one enjoying her first flight in a single-seat glider and receiving the "Most Improved Pilot" award; and the other enjoying some challenging cross-country flying, receiving a "Meritorious Flight" Award.

• May 2017: exhibited and provided tow plane for the Wings Over Illawarra air show.

  

  

  
  

• December 2016 to January 2017: Summer camp at Cootamundra.

  Due to our proximity to other gliding clubs we've been able to engage in the fun and skulduggery involved in the exchange of wanted and unwanted NSW gliding club trophies…

  It's been a complicated trophy time at Cootamundra. Andrew collected the Come And Get It trophy for Southern Cross Gliding Club after flying from Cootamundra to Temora in his Jantar. Then Paul flew his Stemme to Cootamundra to claim the trophy on behalf of Narromine club.

  Paul advised he'd started his engine to get through a rain shower on the way to Coota - and he declined to take the trophy. Some dreadful slurs followed - claiming that Andrew had taken a tow to a great height and just glided downwards to Temora. Surely no member of Southern Cross would stoop to such tactics. Or maybe!

  However, on Tuesday a Janus arrived from Temora to claim the Come and Get It trophy on behalf of Bathurst club - and deliver the dreaded We Don't Want It trophy. Nathan from Temora club and Dominique from Bathurst landed at Coota and claimed they had soared the whole way. Like the honourable people we are, we did not doubt their word. We offered them hospitality, pushed them back to the start point and gave them a free tow to get them back to Temora.

  Now we have to figure out how to get rid of the WDWI! (There is a cunning plan…)

  

  and finally, on the last day of camp…

  Michael has single-handedly upheld the honour of the Southern Cross Gliding Club by flying an unwanted trophy to Temora and delivering it to the Canberra Gliding Club.

  The We Don't Want It trophy arrived at Cootamundra this week on a Janus from Temora. Michael volunteered to get rid of it despite facing terrible odds of failure. He was battling blustery headwinds and broken thermals rising only to a miserly 4000 ft when he set off on his daredevil mission to fly from Cootamundra to Temora (Where Canberra are having their annual camp).

  In what can only be described as an epic voyage, on a day when few glider pilots were prepared to risk the threatening skies, Michael climbed into his DG303 and struggled through a huge 50 kilometres to land at Temora. He was greeted kindly by the local glider pilots and offered refreshment (although they made him pay for his ice-cream).

  Exhausted by his gruelling journey, Michael summoned his faithful ground crew and took a trailer ride back to Cootamundra. This flight will stand as an example to our club pilots of the lofty heights that can be reached with courage and fortitude.

  

2016

• November 2016: Club members are competing in the NSW State Comps at Narromine - NSW State Gliding Championships 2016 results.
• Martin Place 7 October 2016: We participated in the promotion for the World Championships 2017 competition, Benalla.

  

• February 2016: Derek and Dave competed at the Australian Two Seat National Championships at Narromine with our DG-1000.
• December 2015 to January 2016: Another successful summer camp at Cootamundra.

  

2015

• November 2015: Southern Cross Gliding Club helps 90-year-old soar over Camden | Camden-Narellan Advertiser
• November 2015: 17 Air Force Cadets and their instructors came to fly with us.

  

• October 2015: We participated in the Martin Place promotion | Prime7 for the 9th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships held at Narromine.

  

• January 2015: Gliders soar high over Cootamundra | Cootamundra Herald
• December 2014 to January 2015: A fun camp at Cootamundra with many certificates and badges gained!

  

2014

• October 2014: Air Force Cadets had a successful day with 21 Cadet flights!
• June 2014: Two of us article | Sydney Morning Herald
• January 2014: Pilot answers help call | Forbes Advocate