Minister praises gliding attitude

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33730, 31 December 1974, Page 8

Minister praises gliding attitude

Gliding enthusiasts in New Zealand were able to boast of a reasonable safety record, having had only 22 accidents during 1973, the Minister of Police (Mr Connelly) said opening the national gliding championships at Omarama on Sunday.

Such a record was an indication of the responsible and matpre attitude' of the gliding movement, and of the sound working relationship between the Gliding Association and the Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Transport, said Mr Connelly. Gliding was a hazardous ; sport, because the pilot always had to cope with vari|ables that were difficult to i predict, he said. “Wherever ’there is an element of the i unpredictable, there is always ( some measure of risk attached.”

Every’ effort should be made to learn from the accidents that did occur, and he was interested to learn that the Gliding Association had recently appointed a safety operations officer, said the Minister.

The officer is responsible for co-ordinating the standards of glider training and for the supervision of safety aspects of gliding. The association had reicently been given $5OOO by ’the Ministry of Recreation land Sport to promote the 'scheme, said Mr Connelly. !, Thirty-three gliders worth more than $400,000 were on I the airfield at Omarama yesterday when the championships began.