News

The club News section returned to the home page, after a bug was fixed that stopped it displaying the latest news.

As part of our journey to increase participation in the club, the Committee has implemented a ground crew roster to support the daily duty team. It has been great to see so many of you out and about at the airfield. If you’re not a tow pilot, instructor or duty pilot, you’ll find your name on the roster to come out to the airfield on a few days throughout the year to assist with operations for the day. 

We want you to come out, help out, and be able to go for a flight as well. I know people have commitments that come up, so the same principle applies as with our tow pilots, instructors and duty pilots. If you can’t make a day, please find a member to swap with. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

The club operations roster is back on the members web site after being repaired.

Please let Ben, Steve or Michael know if there any errors or omissions.

The club has purchased a BBQ & shade tent (photo below), please feel free to use it before and after flying, as long as you clean it after use.

The BBQ is on wheels and will be stored in the hangar with the shade tent, ready to go, along with a plastic container with cooking gear.

Please ensure it is cleaned after each use ready for the next group.

As part of our journey to increase participation in the club, the Committee has decided to introduce a ground crew roster to support the daily duty team. The first edition of the new ground crew roster is now live to kick off from the first weekend in December (see list below). If you’re not a tow pilot, instructor or duty pilot, you’ll find your name on the roster to come out to the airfield on a few days throughout the year to assist with operations for the day. You’ll see we usually have two crew for the summer months (through to the Easter camp) and then one in the winter period. We want you to come out, help out, and be able to go for a flight as well. I know people have commitments that come up, so the same principle applies as with our tow pilots, instructors and duty pilots. If you can’t make a day, please find a member to swap with. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Ground Crew Roster:

We are now well and truly heading into the season and a number of members kicked things off with some great flying at Raywood over the Cup weekend. The focus on currency continues in our operations. Please ensure you know your own situation when coming out to fly and be aware of the rules. If you’re planning a summer of cross-country flying at Wangaratta, or one of the many competition weeks, you should already be getting time in the air under your belt.

Fleet news

Some exciting fleet news to kick off – VCS should be back at Bacchus Marsh by the time you read this after its repairs. And in very exciting news – the return of TNC is imminent. Melbourne GC is about to have the best Pawnee in the country, and I’m sure that our tuggies will be lining up to fly her. I’d like to thank Steve Coulton, our Tug Master, for the significant amount of work he has dedicated to this project. Keep an eye out for her next time you’re out at Bacchus.

Ground crew roster

As I mentioned last month, as part of our journey to increase participation in the club, the Committee has decided to introduce a ground crew roster to support the daily duty team. The first edition of the new ground crew roster is now live to kick off from the first weekend in December (see list published on the website). If you’re not a tow pilot, instructor or duty pilot, you’ll find your name on the roster to come out to the airfield on a few days throughout the year to assist with operations for the day. You’ll see we have two crew for the summer months (through to the Easter camp) and then one in the winter period. We want you to come out, help out, and be able to go for a flight as well. I know people have commitments that come up, so the same principle applies as with our tow pilots, instructors and duty pilots. If you can’t make a day, please find a member to swap with. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Wangaratta Christmas / New Year Camp

We are heading back to Wangaratta this year for the Club’s Christmas / New Year Camp. The official dates are Tuesday 26 December to Sunday 7 January. You can register now on the website.

Please consider how you can get involved if you aren’t and contact me any time if you have anything you'd like to discuss.

Safe thermals, Tighe

It has been a sad few weeks for gliding in Australia with three fatal accidents resulting in the deaths of four GFA members. I know that a number of our club members knew some of those involved well and our best wishes go to them as they grieve their gliding mates. We of course also extend our thoughts to the families and close friends of those involved.  

Although formal investigations are still to be finalised, you would have seen my email recently about the importance of currency as we come out of winter and into the soaring season. This was discussed at both the recent Committee and Instructor Panel meetings. Please ensure you know your own situation when coming out to fly and be aware of the rules. I know the CFI, Paul Spooner, will be writing about this in his Glide Angle column.

Closer to home, the days that have been flyable have been busy and it's been good to see members out doing some flying. I had a great couple of flights with Jackson Keogh on the Grand Final public holiday - much better than being at work! I hope those out at the airfield on Saturday 14 October enjoyed the start of the season pizza night and we'll look to have more of these types of events over the coming year. 

The Cup Weekend Camp at Raywood hosted by our friends at the Bendigo Gliding Club is fast approaching. Please register on the website as soon as possible so that we know who is coming and what we need to take!

The club will soon be updating our membership categories to align with the new GFA family member approach that has been launched as part of the Soaring to the Future (S2F) initiative. This will include a couple of options for your own family members (partners, children etc.) to join the Melbourne Gliding Club and be part of our sport - ranging from a free membership through to a flying membership. More details soon. 

We've also decided as part of our journey to increase participation with the club to introduce a revised ground crew roster in the near future. The Committee and I really want to see our members out at the field, and, as the classic saying goes "many hands make light work". What does this mean for you? Essentially any member who isn't already part of our regular duty roster as an instructor, tow pilot, or duty pilot, will be asked to come out to the airfield on a couple of days throughout the year to assist with operations for the day. We'll focus in on the soaring season (October to April) for maximum benefit. The hope is that you'll come out, help out, and be able to go for a flight as well. This kind of approach is used in a whole range of clubs - I know of some great examples from sailing clubs, dive clubs etc. Again, more details, including notification of dates, on this soon.

On the airfield situation, we await a date for mediation between BMAM and the Council at the Small Business Commissioner. At the Committee, we'll spend some our time at the next meeting planning out the next 12 months. Thank you to Roger Krueger who has volunteered to take one of the three Committee vacancies. The Committee has accordingly co-opted Roger for the next 12 months.

There's plenty happening, so please consider how you can get involved. Please contact me at any time if you have anything you'd like to discuss, and enjoy the next month of flying, including the Raywood camp.

Safe thermals, Tighe

President's report

Thank you to those at the AGM who confirmed me as the new MGC President for 2017-18. It is a really great honour for me, particularly given I become the third Patching to be President of the club, following my granddad Alan, and father Ian.  I'd like to thank our outgoing President, Ben Loxton, for his leadership in the role over the past five years. Ben took over as President when my Dad became ill in late 2012 and has done a mountain of work in that time – including a lot behind the scenes in working with the other clubs and BMAM. I wish you well in your next adventures, Ben, and please don't be a stranger at Bacchus.

At the AGM I spoke of how we have three roles as the Club Committee. First, we are the custodian of the club’s history and the collective efforts of those before us. Second, we must make sure we meet the needs of our current members. Third, we have an important role in planning for the future.

You won’t see a large change in direction of the club as we will continue the disciplined approach of the committees over the past five years or so and to continue to build our culture.

Central to this is my belief that we are first and foremost a club of people who want to enjoy the sport of gliding. And if you are a member of the club, then we need you to help support us in both small and big ways. I’m often asked by people to be specific about the help that we need and we have been working more on this over the past year or so. Expect to see more about this soon including setting the expectations of all as club members.

The AGM elected the new Committee for the year. Returning with me are Tony Carling (Treasurer), Michael Aldridge (Secretary), Paul Spooner, Steve Coulton and Ian Northey. Retiring from the Committee were Ben Loxton, Mark Hunt, and Bob Hickman. This means there are three vacancies. If you have an interest in assisting us with our goals for the next 12 months, please give me a call.

There are a couple of new volunteers for some important positions in the Club. Firstly, thank you to Richard Traill for becoming the Club's new Airworthiness Officer. This is a really important position within the GFA system of club management. In partnership with Richard, I'd really like to drive a greater awareness of the club's airworthiness needs over the next 12 months. It's not a one person job! Keep an eye out for how you can be involved in small or bigger ways. One reason why we continue to offer such competitive rates is that much of the airworthiness effort is done in-house. But this has been shouldered by too few people in the last couple of years. On that note, thank you again to Tom Van Blaricum for your service as Airworthiness Officer (and to Ben for acting in the role over the past few months).

Secondly, after probably close to a decade as our Expeditions/Camps Officer, Max Callingham has passed the baton onto Mark Hunt. Mark's first camp will be the November Cup Weekend at Raywood where we will join onto the VSA coaching event. Thanks to Max and to Mark.  Details on the Raywood Cup Weekend camp will be forthcoming very soon.

Don’t forget our ‘start of the season’ (we hope!) pizza night on Saturday 14 October. No need to register – just be there after a good day’s flying and we’ll order some pizza and enjoy some of the remaining annual awards night wine courtesy of Mark Hunt.

Please contact me any time.

Safe thermals,

Tighe 

Private passenger flight vs AEF flights

This is a reminder to all members that there are two options when conducting a passenger flight, which may also be known in the club as a family and friend flight.
The basic rules:

1. An AEF passenger (e.g. Adrenalin, Red Balloon) must complete both the GFA form and the MGC day member form

2. A private passenger only needs to complete the MGC day member form

The first option is to have the passenger complete the GFA form (at a cost of $40 - in addition to the flight - as we have to buy these books from the GFA) and fly with an instructor AEI-rated or above. This allows the passenger to be introduced to basic aspects of flying, but the passenger is not permitted to touch the controls when the aircraft is below 800ft AGL. The Club’s day member form must also be completed.

The second option DOES NOT allow the passenger to touch the aircraft controls while the aircraft is flying. For this option, the passenger MUST complete the club's day member form ONLY (not the GFA form). The pilot in command must have at least their private passenger rating. As a private passenger flight, the PIC must pay at least half of the flight cost. In reality, this means that if you don't have at least a private passenger rating and want a friend or family member flown, they'll be flying with an AEI-rated or above pilot. As the PIC needs to pay at least half the cost (and unless you have a really, really generous friend!), your friend/family member would be flying as an AEF and needing to sign and pay for the GFA form.

The best place to complete the MGC day member form is directly on our website (but there are hard copies in the bus - restocked last weekend). There is no such thing as a Family and Friend form anymore – the day member form has been adapted to cover liability and club issues.

Please refer to section 11.1 and 10.5 of the GFA operations manual for more detail.