HASTINGS GLIDING CLUB

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 35, 25 January 1932, Page 6

HASTINGS GLIDING CLUB

TRAINING IN EARNEST. WEEK-END ACTIVITY. The Hcretaunga Gliding Club (Hastings) now has the elastic launching rope necessary to training and instruction, and during the week-end the clug’s course of training was begun in earnest. A good number oi flying members attended, and all were given several preliminary skid flights and short hops. Altitudes of ten feet were reached, which means a very creditable performance lor beginners oil Hat ground. The achievement is all the more creditable m view of the fact that all members made a good landing, an accomplishment that is not so easy as one would imagine. As some members and others interested may not be aware, the flying ground is situated about a mile from Bridge Pa along the Raukawa road. There is a large sign erected at the entrance to the ground, so that those seeking the paddock should have no difficulty in finding it. The purpose of the club is not to produce spectacular gliding experts, but to do what is being so successfully done by gliding clubs in all the leading aviation countries of the world; namely, to teach the first and most vital principles of flying. Aero clubs the world over have now come to realise that the best aviator is the man who has learned to fly without the assistance of mechanical power, and for that reason arc warmly encouraging their prospective pilots to learn I "ig first by learning gliding. The Heretaunga Gliding Club has now decided to limit its membership so that all members may have the opportunity of training during the week-end, and the executive’s aim is to ensure that no member goes out to the flying ground without receiving his fair share of flying.