Just 10 months after taking up gliding, Rudy Zondag has completed a three-hour solo flight.
It took him around Lake Rotoiti and along the ridgeline on Mt Robert, so close, in fact, he could wave to hikers below, before circling back and doing the same across the St Arnaud range.
Next week, Nelson Lakes Gliding Club is giving locals the chance to experience the sport through a five-day introductory course.
Based at Lake Station Airfield near St Arnaud, the club welcomes anyone aged 14 or older.
Rudy hopes younger people in particular will seize the opportunity. He says the club has a wealth of experience, including members from multi-generational gliding families, but the course is designed for those starting from scratch.
Spring and summer are ideal, he says, as heat from the sun boosts atmospheric energy and creates better flying conditions.
At nearly 500kg, a twin glider can stay airborne as long as conditions allow.
While new to gliding, Rudy has previously hang glided and has flown micro lights and fixed wing aircraft.
“I found gliding the most challenging,” he remarks.
He says the landing can be tricky. With no engine, it’s not like you can power up and go around for another try.
But the rewards are worth it, and the best part, he says, is that anyone can do it.
A typical launch begins with a long winch pulling the glider along the club’s 1500m strip, propelling it 500m into the air before the pilot disconnects. From there, pilots harness rising air currents such as thermals, ridge lift or mountain waves to stay aloft and explore the skies before returning to land.
Rudy had wanted to learn to glide when he was 15, so much so that he saved up for a youth training course in his native Holland and filled out the paperwork ready to mail.
The only thing missing was his parent’s signature, but they did not agree, so his hopes were dashed.
“When I was 18, I went hang gliding and for them, that was probably much worse,” he jokes.
He says the course offers a chance for people to find out whether gliding is for them, and some may even reach the point of flying solo.
“It’s for people that haven’t flown before, and that think, ‘hey, that is something what I want to do’. It could be students from the colleges, or somebody like myself.
“I turned 65 just a couple of months ago, and it was one of the things in particular at my age, you see people around you that are falling over, and that you think, ‘man, if I want to go gliding, I have to do it sooner than later’. And so, I’m really pleased that I made a move.”
And the views, he says, are magnificent.
He also likes that everyone in the club helps each other out.
Pilots often take cameras on the journey, and pictured is club member Lon Kelly making use of a 360 degree camera, which stitches the photo together to create a single frame, and automatically removes the selfie stick, though not it’s shadow.
The club owns several gliders available for members to hire, helping make entry into the sport relatively easy.
For more information on the course email info@glidingnelson.co.nz or go to Gliding Nelson on Facebook.
