One of the largest soaring clubs in New Zealand with a membership of around 90 active glider pilots. The Auckland Gliding Club owns an impressive fleet of two-seater training, two seater high performance, single seat training and single seat high performance gliders. Launch methods include tow plane and winch. The object of the club is to train pilots to a safe and competent solo standard, encouraging them to constantly develop more advanced skills which in turn opens up the world of local flying, cross-country soaring and competitions. The club is located roughly 40km south of Auckland City. On a weekend this is usually a 30-40 minute drive.
Being a totally self-supporting organisation that relies on the efforts of club volunteers, all club members are expected to assist in some form. Be it up front in instructing & flight line operations or behind the scene in aircraft & grounds maintenance, book keeping or just mowing the airfield once a year. This way we keep the costs down to a reasonable level.
There is no charge for instruction other than the aircraft hire and launch fees. Gliding instructors, winch drivers & tow pilots are all volunteers. This does not mean they are not competent; each instructor has passed a CAA approved instructors course managed by “Gliding NZ” our governing body.
Launching by winch or aero-tow is paid via invoice for club members. In addition the glider hire is either charged on a time used basis (per minute) called the “A-scheme” or bulk prepaid at the beginning of the year (one sum with no limit to the number of hours) called the “B-scheme”.
Membership to the club is by-way of an annual subscription, plus a one time joining fee and for new pilots a Logbook. The annual subscription covers the overhead costs, the joining fee covers our setup costs for each new member (GNZ levies etc.) and the pilot’s Logbook is a requirement to keep record of every flight you take.
