GLIDING through spectacular alpine scenery comes with one, big requirement — you need the training.
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The Mount Beauty Gliding Club has been doing just that for the past week, taking a group of 16 pilots through their paces.
It is the fourth time Mount Beauty has hosted the event, which is run by the Victorian Soaring Association.
Mornings have been taken up with lectures, before pilots make the most of after-lunch thermals to take to the skies.
Club chief flying instructor Mark Bland said Mount Beauty had a unique role in the gliding community.
“Most gliding takes places on flat sites — we’re one of the few mountain flying sites in Australia,” he said.
Mr Bland said those taking part were learning all the various techniques needed in the mountains.
“We have different sources of lift, navigation is different and also there’s far fewer emergency landing fields,” he said.
Mr Bland said the participants had come from across Victoria, as well as some from Sydney and South Australia.
“A lot of them are quite experienced as glider pilots, but they don’t have the experience in the hills,” he said.
Fifteen visiting gliders are taking part, with some of the craft high-performance two-seaters.
“Those people can go with an experienced mountain flyer,” Mr Bland said.
“If you’re going over Mount Bogong you’re probably 6000 feet above the airfield but you’re only a couple of hundred feet above the trees.
“It’s quite a different skill set.”
The pilots with single-seat gliders have been able to follow an instructor in the air, with guidance made by radio.
“This week we’ve been very fortunate we’ve had some great weather,” he said.
“The only dampener was a bit of burning off, so for next year we’ll probably hold it in February to avoid that.”
Flights have gone as far as Mount Kosciuszko and Mount Buller.
“Some of the blokes are staying up for most of the afternoon, four or five hours a day flying 300 to 400 kilometres,” Mr Bland said.
“They’re all really rapt.”
To learn about gliding visit the club’s website at mtbeautygliding.com.