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he peak summer season
this year has brought some terrific
soaring conditions. During the
winter months, many glider pilots
just can’t seem to stop thinking
about gliding and spend their
free time planning for the
next season and the big flights they are
going to make. One of Australia’s top
competition pilots, David Jansen, had
obviously been planning his record
flight for a long time.
While the fireworks were sparkling
as 2015 arrived, David was busily
assessing the synoptic weather charts
and any other weather information at
his disposal. Seeing the pattern emerge
that he had long anticipated, he planned
to fly from the Kingaroy Soaring Club
in Queensland. David said: “My goal for
the last 12 months has been to achieve
a flight of 1500 km and the preparation
has been ongoing over that time. It
has involved endless hours of time on
Google Earth searching and researching
out-landing possibilities. The first
mental obstacle was the very size of the
flight. To overcome this, the flights were
planned in one-hour segments starting
with an achievable speed of, say, 80 kmh
for the first hour, increasing to 140 kmh
in the better part of the day and finally
a high-speed final glide at around 170
kmh. This suddenly reduced the flight
to achievable and measurable segments
that made it easier for me to wrap my
head around it.”
David originally planned to fly to
Mt Remarkable near Melrose in the
Flinders Ranges, Port Pirie Airport,
Gawler or Bordertown - all in South
Australia. However, after checking the
weather and talking to glider pilots in
SA he realised that a flight to Benalla
in Victoria might be the better option.
Benalla seemed viable, but it was not a
flight he had planned and there was only
the possibility of a 1250 km Distance-
to-Goal task. Nevertheless, he decided
to fly to Benalla on 2 January.
Starting from Kingaroy, his route
would take him via Goondiwindi,Cobar and Yarrawonga to Benalla.
However, towering cumulonimbus
and a trough line extended across
his intended route forcing him to
deviate west. Having started at 8.00
am, QLD time, he over-flew Benalla
at 7.00 pm and continued on to
Wangaratta for even more distance.
After eleven-and-a -half hours in the
cockpit, David finally landed.
David ’s flight is up for several records,
but the basic and amazing statistics
are: Distance to Goal 1253 km, Free
Distance 1309 km, Free 3 Turn-point
Distance 1532 km and OLC Distance
1580 km, flown at a speed of 144 kmh.
OLC is the Online Contest http://www.
onlinecontest.org. Glider, ha ng
glider and paraglider pilots from all
around the world upload traces of
their flights to the OLC in a friendly
unofficial contest to see who and where
the best flying is being achieved. On
that day another nine flights of over
1,000km were flown in Australia, but
David ’s 1580 km is the longest soaring
flight ever flown in Australia.Ingo’s honour
Veteran gliding instructor and World
Gliding Champion Ingo Renner has
been inducted into the Australian
Aviation Hall of Fame (AAHOF).
Ingo who is synonymous with gliding
at Tocumwal, NSW, is the first glider
pilot to be so honoured. The AAHOF
serves to recognise and tell the stories of
Australia’s outstanding pilots, aiming to
inspire the country’s young pilots.
Ingo’s career spans 50 years. He
has won four World Championship
titles and numerous national and
international titles, and trained
hundreds of glider pilots. He was
born in 1940 in Bremen, Germany,
and learned to build model gliders
as a child. He started gliding at age
15 and, after receiving his license,
became an instructor.
He spent his early working life as a
ship builder, migrating to Australia in- Settling in Brisbane, he joined
the Darling Downs Soaring Club
and was immediately granted a full
instructor rating. His first glider was a
Schneider Kingfischer, and he entered
his first Australian competition at
Narromine in the 1969-70 season,
when he took second place.
In 1970, he and Bill Riley launched
the Sportavia Soaring Centre in
Tocumwal where he taught each
summer for the next 36 years.
Concurrently, he spent each northern
summer teaching at Oerlinghausen
Gliding School in Germany.
His first World Championship win
was at Räyskälä, Finland, in 1976,
and he later followed this achievement
with three consecutive wins: Hobbs,
USA in 1983; Rieti, Italy in 1985 and
Benalla in 1987. He has achieved many
other Australian and international
wins and records during his career,
and received an OAM in 1988 for his
service to gliding in Australia.
Ingo has a total of 36,000 hours
of gliding, including 31,000 hours
instructing. Ingo continues to be an
inspiration to Australian glider pilots
of all ages. He is a true gliding hero.Juniors
JoeyGlide, the annual national
competition for glider pilots under
25 years old, took place at Narromine
in December. This competition
was also the Pre-World Junior
Championships. Australia will host
the Junior Worlds at Narromine
in January next year. It was the
final selection competition for the
Australian Junior Team and four
pilots have now been selected. Top of
the list is Matthew Scutter who also
went on to win the recent Multiclass
Nationals in 15-Metre Class, not to
mention flying his own 1000 km (his
second) in December as well.
Several international pilots competed
at Narromine and familiarised
themselves with the site and soaring
conditions prior to the main comp next
year. I will bring you more information
on the preparation for the World
Championships during the year.Jansen’s Long Run
David Jansen’s 1580 km flight is the
longest ever done in Australia.A new distance gliding record fell in December,
and a gliding legend was recognised in the hall
of fame, reports Sean Young.GLIDING FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA australianflying.com.au
Soaring Heights
March – April 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYING