Welcome to Harden Gliding
Club
Affordable Soaring in the Canberra Region
What and Where is Harden Gliding Club?
Harden Gliding Club (HGC) is a small, friendly and affordable winch-launching gliding club located in the southwestern
area of the State of New South Wales. The club operates on most weekends and
public holidays from a privately owned airfield at Bendick-Murrell, 20km north east of the city of
Young. The airfield is roughly a 110 minute drive from the centre of Canberra, Australia's capital
city. The coordinates for your GPS: South 34 Deg 10.459 Min, East 148 Deg 27.917 Min. Note: Bendick-Murrell airfield will be undergoing repairs for the next several months. During this period HGC will be operating from the Goulburn Gliding Group's airfield at Carrick, near Goulburn.
Blanik L-13 glider on final
One of the remarkable things about gliding is that it is such an exciting
and enjoyable pastime, yet so many different groups of people can participate.
Our club's members are women and men (young and not quite so young) from a
variety of occupations and age groups. We are teachers, students, builders,
farmers, public servants and retired people, among others, and all of us
share the thrill of silent flight. Students can go solo at 15 years of age, and
two of our flying members are a married couple in their sixties!
Flying Conditions
The Harden Gliding Club is located in a part of Australia that is renowned throughout the
world for its soaring conditions, especially the strength and reliability of
the rising currents of air in the atmosphere that propel a glider aloft. These
currents are called 'thermals', and are the lifeblood of a soaring pilot. In
summer, thermals often go to 10,000 feet and even higher.
Our local flying area in particular boasts superb conditions; there are
soarable ridges to the east, and to the west there are huge expanses of plains
with paddocks large enough to park a Jumbo in. Bendick-Murrell offers superb and safe
soaring conditions to cater to your aspirations, whether you're a new student,
someone venturing out on their first cross country flights, or a serious
competition pilot looking for big tasks. Airspace is not a problem
either - there is an 8,500' control zone step just to the east of Bendick-Murrell,
but in all other directions there are no restrictions for glider pilots.
Our serious soaring season runs from October to April, but even in Winter
there is usually at least one or two hours of soarable conditions in the middle
of the day. Many people consider that the period Autumn - Spring is the best
time to learn to glide, because the conditions are more pleasant and less
challenging than midsummer.
A map showing how to get from Yass to the Bendick-Murrell airfield can be found here. The coordinates for your GPS: South 34 Deg 10.459 Min, East 148 Deg 27.917 Min
The are two main methods of launching an unpowered sailpane into the
sky (information on another method: the bungee [bungy] launch). The aerotow method uses a powered aircraft, often a converted crop duster,
to tow the glider into the sky. The winch method uses a powerful motorised
winch at the opposite end of the airstrip to launch the glider into the air.
The Harden Gliding Club Winch
Compared to aerotow, things happen very quickly indeed on the winch. It
takes around sixty five seconds from the time the winch driver applies power to
the time that the glider gently floats free of the glider at the top of the
launch, some 2000 feet above ground. That's a much faster climb rate than the
average Cessna.
A typical winch launch at Harden goes
something like this:
|
Time |
What's Happening |
|
Launch -10 Seconds |
Winch Driver starts taking up slack on winch wire |
|
Launch -3 Seconds |
Winch wire becomes taut. Glider starts inching forward |
|
Launch +0 Seconds |
Winch driver applies take-off power. Glider starts ground roll |
|
Launch +3 Seconds |
Glider pilot allows glider to gently leave ground. Glider airspeed is roughly 30 knots |
|
Launch +5 seconds |
Glider achieves climb speed (roughly 50 knots). Pilot starts easing glider's nose skyward. Height is about 50 feet above ground. |
|
Launch +15 seconds |
Pilot has established the glider in full climb, at roughly 400 feet above ground. The aircraft is now travelling at 50-55 knots, and its nose is pointing skyward at roughly 40 degrees to the horizon |
|
Launch +55 seconds |
Glider is approaching the top of the climb. The winch driver reduces power, and the pilot starts easing the glider's nose down in response. |
|
Launch +65 seconds |
The glider is now flying straight and level. The winch wire floats gently off the tow hook, and the pilot and glider are now in free flight. The pilot is now 2000 feet closer to heaven than he or she was 65 seconds ago. |
What special training is needed?
It often takes around a dozen launches for an experienced aerotow pilot to
convert to solo on the winch, although this is obviously dependent on a range
of factors, including pilot currency and skill level. For a student pilot, it
usually takes a little longer to solo on winch than on aerotow, because of the
requirement to be thoroughly familiar with cable break procedures.
Is it safe?
Absolutely, and here's why:
As pilots, we are often asked, "what's it really like?", and
our answer is - come try it for yourself!
Trial Instructional Flights
Unless you are flying as a passenger guest of a club member, your first
few glider flights with the Harden Gliding Club will be Trial Instructional Flights. This means
that you will be flying in a Blanik 2-seater
with an instructor approved by the Gliding
Federation of Australia, who will give you the opportunity to 'have a
go' at flying the glider, but only as far as you feel comfortable.
If you're just a little lucky on your flight, you might get to soar with
eagles - literally! We regularly have one or more wedgetail eagles share our
soaring with us, often hovering just above the glider's wing tip and wheeling
through the skies in unison with us. It really is a privilege to share the
skies with these magnificent birds of prey, thousands of feet above the earth.
At the Harden Gliding Club, you are charged based on how much air time you actually get,
rather than a fixed fee. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, gliding is
dependent entirely on the weather. In Summer, flights of several hours are
possible, but Winter flights are generally shorter. Secondly, different people
have different needs; some people are happy for their first flight to be
20 minutes or so, while others want to stay up forever.
We have tried to keep our visitor rates as close as possible to our club rates, to make sure that people on modest budgets
can experience the thrill of silent flight. After all Gliding should be a sport
for everyone!
One last thing, though. While we do fly on most Saturdays and Sundays,
you should always contact us on the Thursday or Friday
before the weekend you want to come flying. This way, we can make sure that
gliders and instructors are available for you.
| Item | Fees with effect 1 May 07 | Notes |
| Joining fee | $75 (Students $0.00) | 1 |
| Annual Membership fee | $150 (Students $50.00) | 1 |
| Aircraft hire fee | $33/hr (55c/min) - $100max/flight | 2 |
| Winch launch | $10 | 2 |
| Airfield access | $5.50 | 3 |
Example of Trial Instructional Flight
Charging
|
Gliding Federation 3 day Membership (one-off) |
$5.00 |
|
|
Winch Launch Fee (per launch) |
$10.00 |
|
|
Glider hire (per minute) |
$0.60 |
|
|
Airfield access fee |
$5.50 |
|
|
Total for 1 x 30 minute flight |
|
$38.00 |
Members of other
Australian Gliding Clubs
Members of all Australian gliding clubs are welcome to fly with HGC at
our normal club rates, which are:
|
Winch Launch Fee (per launch) |
$10.00 |
|
Glider hire (per minute) |
$0.60 |
|
Casual Hangarage at Derneveagh , Harden (per day, when available) |
$3.00 |
Please include the Airfield owner's access fee (per day) of $5.50 per member (if you fly on the day).
If you are going to be flying regularly with us, we would like you to
take out Associate membership, at $30.00 per annum. Casual hangarage for your glider
might be available, should you require it. Contact
us first, though.
The club has two Blanik 2-seater
gliders available for instruction and hire. A Ka8 single seater can be made available if demand
warrants it.
Other HGC Aircraft based at Bendick-Murrell include:
|
VH-UIO |
Pilatus B4 PC11-AF |
|
|
VH-UIV |
|
You can contact the Club Secretary on 0411 107 694.
Or you can send email to Robert Howdin or Roger Browne
Remember, you should always contact the club before coming on to the
field. It would be a real shame to travel out to the club, only to find that
you had come out on a non-flying day.
Links
Australian Atmospheric Sounding Information
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
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This page viewed
times since 17 December, 2001
This page maintained by Bob Kyle
Last Modified 27 April 2008
