"Flying combines the fun and excitement which young people
crave with the fundamental need for self discipline which when
learned is inevitably carried forward into other aspects of a
person's life."
Youth Glide Canterbury (YGC) is
incorporated within the Canterbury Gliding Club Inc. Discounted
glider usage is provided by the parent organisation. The Clover
Hill Charitable Trust may also provide financial support for young
people participating in Youth Glide in certain circumstances. YGC
is dedicated to providing flight training, soaring experiences and
training camps for young men and women less than 19 years of age.
We believe that an early access to flight training in this way
provides an exciting opportunity to youth and can open doors to
challenging aviation careers not available to the same extend
anywhere else and bring in new members to the sport of gliding.
Youth Glide provide financial assistance in the development of
gliding skills as well as developing and fostering self confidence,
motivation, self discipline, self esteem and life skills in young
people by providing them inspiration to reach their full potential,
further challenges and experience of flying.
The parent club and Gliding New Zealand
(the national gliding organisation) with the support of the Clover
Hill Charitable Trust will provide significant financial help
to youth to assist them to access flying flight training. This
extents to a FREE club membership ($475 for other members) plus
FREE use of any club glider prior to midday and just 50% normal
cost after that.This will provide opportunities in the Canterbury
region for individuals regardless of age or social and economic
circumstances.
Canterbury is a world renowned region
for soaring. Operations from sites near or within the Southern Alps
provide YGC members with reliable conditions for long and safe
soaring flights. The club sites at Hororata and Springfield offer
operations near to the city of Christchurch while sites at Flock
Hill and Omarama have outstanding ground support facilities
including camping areas, clubhouse, briefing rooms and cooking /
eating facilities.
The YGC programme includes:
• Air Experience conducted over long weekends
• Training to Solo weekends or sometimes a week-long
camp
• Post Solo Consolidation weekends and holidays
• FAI Task Flying any time throughout the year
• Gliding Instructor Ratings training available as
experience is gained
Ground organisation and support for the Air Experience camps are
provided by members of the Canterbury Gliding Club (CGC).
The CGC and OGC (Omarama Gliding Club) provide gliders,
instructors and flying supervision for all stages of the programme
at reduced rates.
YGC members, supervised by senior mentors, raise money to
subsidise the launching costs.
The Omarama Soaring Centre gives generous discounts for camping
fees for YGC members.
The Omarama Airfield Company waives landing charges for all pre
solo training.
Privately owned single seat gliders have been made available by
generous owners for YGC members to fly at no cost.
The end result is professional flight training in all aspects of
gliding. YGC members rub shoulders and are mentored by senior
members of the parent club holding world records all at
highly subsidised rates.
Mission
Statement
Our mission is to use the sport of Gliding to inspire and develop
young people's imagination, character and self-determination along
with the excitement and possibilities of flight as a lifelong
aviation related career prospect.
A Brief History
We started
back in January 2006 with two students to trial the concept.
It was very successful so we formalised the idea by forming YGC
in Jan 07 and added four more students to the A Certificate
programme while advancing the first two students to the B
Certificate
Richie McCaw offered to be Patron for YGC as he saw the benefit in
adding his high profile support to this initiative.
We formalised the "joint venture" with the Canterbury Gliding
Club.
Another four students joined in Jan 08 and all soloed and
completed their A Certificates.