Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a glider – an agile carbon-fibre and glass aircraft that Victorian Soaring Association championship director Murray Stimson says allows pilots to explore the atmosphere without leaving a carbon footprint.
Between January 13 and 18, about 15 gliders took to the skies over Moorabool. They started at the Bacchus Marsh aerodrome and competed in cross-country tasks, each pilot covering more than 300 kilometres.
The aerodrome, which is also home to the Australian Gliding Museum, has the largest fleet of gliders based at any one airfield in the country. Across three clubs, there are 250 members.
Mr Stimson, an aerospace engineer who visits Bacchus Marsh every weekend to pilot his glider, says the joy of the sport is pitting your knowledge of the atmosphere against Mother Nature and harnessing it to maximise speed.
He has been gliding since 1985 and says gliders have advanced greatly since the 1950s and ’60s when they were made of wood and fabric.
“It’s a sport for anyone who’s been bitten by the flying bug and thrives on exploring the atmosphere,” he said. ‘‘There’s an element of danger, but no more than any other sport.”
Each glider has long, thin wings designed so that the craft covers long distances for every metre of descent. It’s the world’s fastest sport without engines.
“We want it to be as efficient as possible at pushing through the atmosphere,” Mr Stimson says. “Because there’s no engine, we’re always descending across the air – that’s how we go distances. The winner is the pilot who can consistently fly the fastest around our set task.”
While gliders generally operate between 1200 and 2400 metres, last week’s extreme heat meant pilots began at heights of about 3350 metres.
Mr Stimson says average gliding speed is 130-150km/h, but they can get up to about 300km/h in the right conditions.
“The biggest challenge is collision,” he said. “There’ll be someone looking out of the cockpit most of the time, and we have a radio system to warn us when other gliders or aircraft are near.”
