Exactly a year has passed since I joined the Victorian Motorless Flight Group (VMFG) in pursuit of new adventures – a year of evolving perspectives. "Where will I ever find the time?" became "Come on Saturday!" "A whole day at a gliding club?" contrasted with "Is it really time to put the gliders away?"
"It is so peaceful and relaxing" to being teamed with John Fawcett as part of a gaggle of seven gliders fighting precisely but haphazardly to climb Victoria's highest mountain in weak lift above ferocious rocks and tall gums reaching up to meet us. WOW! And on other days, amazing flights over Mt Feathertop, Mt Buffalo and Mt Hotham. Eventually George Skarbek coached me to fly over Falls Creek! Again, "escape routes" replaced thoughts of landing.
During the year, some have started at Bacchus and not returned. It could easily be the pressures of family, work, etc. but perhaps some elements of the journey, when seen without the beauty of the end results, are foreboding. For me, I enjoyed the learning and the rest has been a bonus! For months, I had expressed that I was enjoying the company of the instructors so much that I need not ever go solo! Then one pleasant Sunday morning we had practiced stalls, spins and thermalling. Whilst strolling back to the launch point after a second simulated emergency landing, Ian Salter quietly reminded me of all of the aspects I needed to practice. I became aware of a difference in tense. And then it came. "Off you go then." and "Are you comfortable with that?"
I drew strength from an eagle circling elegantly in the paddock next to us. Ian expertly managed to get me launched without any stress to haunt me and then 'ping'. The tug vanished underneath and I was alone amongst the splendid clouds with involuntary shouts of joy. What an amazing feeling, yes the best ever feeling! Thermals found me and I had no trouble keeping aloft, advice from a dozen instructors flooded into my head as each opportunity presented itself. I had time to try many of their techniques. The clouds were beautiful, but hiding me from those folk nervously gathered on the ground. Fortunately I failed to hear their worried radio calls and set about thinking of carefully ending this glorious flight. Thankful that my first flight had not been a hurried affair, I brought the Puchacz down to a gentle rest in front of a pie cart bursting with people running towards me not one of them now able to suggest that 74 minutes was far too long for a first solo!
My maths teacher was responsible. Whizzing out to the country gliding club in his bright red MG, he arranged my first flight, and yes, a loop! "Where do I sign!" After many long hot dry dusty days of driving the winch in curious isolation at the 'other' end of the strip and getting the last feeble flights of the day I gave it away. Thirty years later, amongst the screaming Avalon Air Show jets came an eerie silence, then beautiful classical music, and a polished German accent narrating his silent flight. Eyes skyward revealed Manfred Radius fluttering downward, in elegant swoops and arcs of immense beauty and extraordinary feats of energy release and subsequent retrieval. Many saw it as a daredevil exhibit. For me it awoke the feelings so long ago buried the chance to fly like a bird in motorless flight!
The Internet helped me to learn a good deal about the gliding scene. Visiting six clubs showed the vast differences between them. VMFG has been fantastic. Almost straight away, Roger Druce kindly arranged a weeks training for just a few of us during the school holidays. Five or six longish flights each day! Concentrated efforts like this provided the progress we all yearned for. Others were coming one day a month and not progressing. Clearly I had to be regular to achieve. And that was the easy part. Work had to be better organised to provide the time. Others noted my rejuvenated spirit that seemed to make everything easier. Needed to loose 10kg to fit into the smaller gliders. That happened! Curiously the diet included fresh ginger which I later learnt probably helped to quell some problems with motion sickness.
Then the camps! WOW. VMFG members have been travelling to the alpine country for ten, twenty, thirty years hunting the best scenery in the country in the most exciting, adventurous way imaginable. Lines of bushwalkers streamed like ants as we swoosh past at 150kph for hours on end. Perfect. To think that I had pondered buying a motorbike for thrills! Even golf!
Casually strolling amongst the gliders at the tiny NZ town of Omarama began my next bizarre experience. A 25m wingspan ASH-25 lay strapped to the ground in the gloomy weather. No one was flying. This was a Mecca attracting people from all over the world, but I met them despondent because they couldn't expect to reach 20,000' today!!! "Let's unleash that beauty and release it to the skies" I suggested to George Taylor brashly, who asked in amazement "Are you serious?" During our wonderful 4.3hr, 330km flight we soared around the many glaciers of Mt Cook, over countless gorgeous lakes, steep ravines and exciting bold ridges. Later I learnt that George broke the world long distance record of 1101km in 1988, that's almost from Bacchus Marsh to Broken Hill and back, non-stop, in a Twin-Astir.
During the VMFG Easter camp at Mt Beauty, Alan Payne and Bruce Abbott manage to convert me to the club's single seat Hornet "SA". Yet another incredible thrill! How can this continue? All this fun and I still haven't felt the need to do another loop! SA is as nimble as Brian Lee's MG, and seems as fast and as fun to fly as Manfred's Salto. She feels like a friend in the sky. On one memorable winter's flight I flew suspended over the airstrip for over an hour in high upper winds, looking down through gaps between huge clouds. Judy Laker, knowing of my interest in the weather, surprises me with a phone call midweek to share the beauty of the clouds as they briefly revealed the power in the air.
Well, I thought the Hornet was fast! Last week I moved to the next club ship, an LS3a equipped with flaps to adjust the wing shape to suit each speed – a glider with five gears! Now I begin to see how those big distances get covered! Those Saturday morning winter 'cross-country' lectures are becoming very significant. "Come on summer"
At the end of my first year, it seems a good time to offer a big thank you to everyone at VMFG for making my flying dreams come true, especially the voluntary teams of superb instructors and untiring workshop crews who keep the craft safe. Also to Trudy who has not quite understood why I now fall asleep at the theatre on Saturday nights! And to those of you who have been tempted to soar but have not yet caught the bug, let it happen!
Jim Kelly, September 2002.