Try Gliding
"How do I get started?"
It's simple! Any Saturday or other publicized flying day the public are welcome to come to our airfield, meet the pilots and speak to our chief duty instructor. From here if you decide that you or a friend would like to take an Air Experience Flight, the duty instructor will arrange you a time slot. Your flight will be in one of our two-seat gliders (Twin Astir or IS-28) and is generally around 25 minutes. A qualified Air Experience Pilot will guide you through the flight, while giving you the opportunity to take to the controls yourself.
Gift vouchers are available and are a great idea for a friend or family member. Sunraysia Gliding Club gift vouchers are available from the Deakin Visitor Information Centre in Mildura, or by phoning a club committee member. More information can be found in Contact Us. Air Experience passenger flights cost $150.
Becoming a Member
Once you've decided that you're hooked, membership application is a simple process. The necessary membership forms are available on the field, and a member of the committee would be happy to assist you in the process.
To begin training, this requires membership of both the Sunraysia Gliding Club and the Gliding Federation of Australia. The benefits of membership include:
Access to the full Sunraysia Gliding Club fleet
Glider hire charge at extremely affordable club rates
Access to free and professional instruction
Full access to club facilities and glider launches
Membership fees and Documents can be viewed HERE. (Coming soon).
Learning to Fly at Sunraysia
The club offers professional instruction free of charge in our three dual-seat gliders.
The process of learning to fly is specified by a syllabus according to the Gliding Federation of Australia's standard operating procedures. This can be different for everyone! Some students with past flight experience may solo in as little is 20 flights, whereas it is not uncommon for some learning pilots to take greater than 100 flights to achieve solo status.
However, there is much more to look forward to after solo. Pilots have the opportunity to increase their experience and work towards a series of certificates and badges specified by the Gliding Federation of Australia. Such accreditation forms the basis of various endorsements each pilot may achieve, such as being able to perform aerobatics or being qualified to take family and friends for joyrides for example.
After beginning to gain further solo experience, pilots are converted to other glider types, particularly single-seaters. Single seat gliders are generally higher performance and have better handling characteristics than their bigger brothers. This makes flying single-seaters very rewarding, and opens up prospects of sport flying - specifically cross-country or competition racing.
Learning to Fly at Sunraysia
So you're solo, but you want to fly more?
Gliding is the ultimate flying experience. It meets the needs of a diverse group of people, a sport that can be enjoyed at all levels: from relaxation on a quiet local flight, to experiencing the thrills of soaring across the countryside, to the excitement of aerobatics, to the regional and international racing competitions.
Once you have access with one of the club's single seat gliders, you are able to enjoy the freedom of cross country soaring. The longest flight ever completed from out club was 1030km!
Gift Vouchers
Gift vouchers are available and are a great idea for a friend or family member. Sunraysia Gliding Club gift vouchers are available from the Deakin Visitor Information Centre in Mildura, or by phoning a club committee member. More information can be found in Contact Us.
What do things cost?
(Coming soon).