Site last updated : 20-04-08 (Newsletters)
Ever given a thought to flying free as a bird? You can in a Taranaki Gliding Club glider at Stratford on a Sunday.
For many years now, scores of Taranaki pilots have soared high over the province using the thermals that dot the sky on a summers day. Or, lofted thousands of feet higher in giant standing waves generated by the Mountain and adjacent ranges.
Gliders can seemingly drift with languid grace in the sky or fly faster than some powered aircraft. The writer of this article has raced along the Kaimai Range at 200kph and on another occasion, soared the face of Mt Cook.
Gliders are relatively easy to fly, cost less than many powered aircraft to fly and offer the pure recreational challenge of harnessing the solar energy in the form of air currents and demand the pilots to think their way from A to B.
Peter Miller (Club Captain)