By Dominique Brassier
The first ever Ladies’ Day was held at Southern Cross GC, Camden 28 June. The day was sponsored by NSW Gliding and was a huge success. Thirty-six women attended, culminating in 23 flights for the day.
The aim was a fun experience to foster camaraderie, establishing connections and a sense of shared purpose among the minority group of women pilots, as well as to encourage a lively community that more women can and will want to join. After all, this is exactly how the Australian Women Pilots’ Association (AWPA) continued to grow to its current success. AWPA was inducted into the HARS Aviation Hall of Fame in October 2024.
This day is part of an initiative to encourage more female leaders and participants in our sport. NSW Gliding is participating in the National Gender Equity in Sports Program that makes funding available to all state and national sporting organisations – not only gliding – who are working towards parity on their committee or board.
Increasing women’s participation will also attract new members, both men and women, a growth our sport needs. I actually do believe we will attract new members as a result of this day, precisely because the participants have shared a day of fun and good spirits – word of mouth travels fast - as well as great instruction and flying. In fact, Melysha Turnbull, Women’s representative on the NSW Gliding Committee and instructor at SCGC, has already received a request for a one-on-one session.
For the day, NSW Gliding offered free flights for our current women pilots and SCGC offered club rates for friends and family flights.
SCGC gliding club members were all on deck early in the morning to make sure all the gliders, tugs and equipment were online before the 9am briefing. Melysha did a fantastic job of organising the day. After SCGC President Steven Waller’s welcome and Melysha’s introduction, the head instructor for the day Rod Ferrier conducted the briefing.
I was honoured to give the presentation of the day, which I called ‘From Last on OLC to WeGlide Day Winner’.
In this presentation, I described my difficult journey through early gliding training and how slow my initial progress was (to the despair of my instructors as well as mine) all the way to my progress over last 6 years or so. I also related how I now use WeGlide competition statistics, scoring and badges to improve my flying, and to set and achieve my goals. Granted, I still have a long way to go. It seems everyone enjoyed the presentation – judging by the feedback, it was informative, funny and inspirational. Even better, I delivered all that in under 30 minutes. Mission accomplished.
Thereafter and throughout the day the women enjoyed flights non-stop. We had a diverse range of ages, background and experience, ranging from young Air Force cadets and high schoolers, to seasoned competition pilots. SCGC instructors, tuggies, ground crew and helpers worked tirelessly all day. Some cadets even got a second free flight at the end of the day, thinking Christmas had come early. Everyone had a big smile on their faces, especially them.
The simulator was also on offer for all to enjoy. Thank you, Ray! I need a bit more practice on the simulator as I am not sure the glider survived my landing in Slovenia.
Catering was organised by Beryl Hartley (delicious as usual!) and the day concluded with a convivial dinner.
Please click this link for a short video to get a feel of our special day.
Many thanks to NSW Gliding, Southern Cross Gliding Club and their members who worked so hard on the day, and to Melysha Turnbull and Beryl Hartley.
Future ladies’ events include a racing week in December for more advanced pilots, a women’s cross country coaching week in February, as well an upcoming Air Experience Instructor course for women (date TBA) and another ladies’ weekend (TBA). I can’t wait!
