Gavin Wills

Total time: 10,000 + hrs
Gliding 6,000 + hrs since 1957 (then aged 9). Gavin was born into a soaring family and grew up flying in the mountains.

A successful racing pilot he won the US National Sports Class Championships in 2005. He is also the task setter for National and International races at Omarama.

Gavin is the founder, owner and director of GlideOmarama and Gavin Wills Mountain Soaring School. He holds a US Commercial Gliding license, NZ Gliding Instructors Rating, and is an Executive Director of Gliding New Zealand.

Gavin has owned and operated his PA18a, ski equipped, 180hp, 3 seat mountain flying Piper Cub since 1972 and has recently added a grunty GA200 Fatman with 260 hp to the GlideOmarama fleet as principal tow plane.

Previously occupied as a Geologist, an internationally qualified Mountain and Ski Guide, a professional River Guide and an Avalanche consultant Gavin has operated businesses in New Zealand and various wild parts of the globe. As a documentary film maker he produced and directed the prize winning gliding movies "Windborn" and "Champions of the Wave".

Gavin loves to share his joy of soaring taking pilots on adventurous flights deep into the NZ mountains or far across the high mountain deserts of Nevada and Utah.

Visit Gavin's logged OLC cross country flights.

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G Dale (just G!)

Total time: 7,000 hrs
Gliding: 6,500 hrs

As UK National Club Class champion and National team member G is a successful racing pilot. He achieved his 1000 kilometre diploma at Omarama with a flight that took only 5 hours and 53 minutes and averaged 174 kph!

In July 08 G competed as part of the GB Club Class team in the World Championships at Rieti in the mountains of northern Italy. His campaign gained creditable 2 day wins and 10th overall; a pleasing performance at this hotly contested event.

G holds a US Commercial Gliding license and is a UK Gliding Full Rated instructor and Regional Examiner. He has been teaching mountain soaring skills with GlideOmarama since 2000 both in NZ and the US.

G has been British National Coach and Chief Flying Instructor at Nympsfield and then Booker Gliding Clubs in England. Before that he was a professional pianist and piano teacher. (Have him play for you on the decks of the Kahu with the sun going down over the distant mountains, it's a treat!)

G is a talented soaring instructor who loves to share his deep technical understanding of the sport with all who care to listen.

Visit G's logged OLC cross country flights.

*****

Lemmy Tanner

Total time - 21,000 hrs
Gliding - 5,000 hrs
Helicopters - 13,000 hrs
Fast jets - 1,500 hrs
General Power - 1,500 hrs (including about 50 types)

Winner of several UK Regional and National Soaring contests, Lemmy has been soaring continuously since 1956! During this time he has been Chief Flying Instructor for a number of English and RAF Gliding clubs, on the British Gliding Executive for six years and was one time British National Team captain.

He has been on the GlideOmarama team since 1999 teaching mountain soaring skills in both NZ and the US and is now our Chief Flying Instructor.

Lemmy flew with the RAF as a fighter/bomber pilot and then as a commercial heavy helicopter pilot with world wide experience. In Scotland he ran an International Mountain Flying school for helicopter pilots.

There is nothing that Lemmy has not done in gliding from racing to repairs, from teaching to politics but his first love is soaring. Ask him about his first glider, a 1938 German Minimoa that he bought and refurbished in 1963. Or ask him about the weather - he is much sought after as a weather man and forecasts for gliding contests around the world. 'Lemmyweather' is pronounced daily to those at Omarama briefings and he is given rapt attention by those pilots trying to claim badges and planning tasks.

Visit Lemmy's OLC logged cross country flights.

*****

Philip Plane

Philip has accumulated around 2000 hours since taking his first glider flight in 1977 while based with the NZ airforce at Ohakea, a North Island coastal site subject to sea breezes and low skies. He started instructing with the Wanganui/Manawatu Gliding Club in 1993 where there was easier access to the inland mountains and moved to Omarama in 2004. Enthusiastic North Island Regional contest participation in his syndicated Ka6 progressed to a partnership in the first DG1000 to come to NZ.

Philip came to Omarama from the IT world. He still maintains the GNZ turnpoint database and works with GlideOmarama to produce a current list of known useable landout sites for pilots flying out of Omarama - visit Philip's website at http://map.xinqu.net/

Philip is a valued course instructor at GlideOmarama where he flies his DG1000 'to keep the Duo Discus pilots honest'. He is currently CFI of the Omarama GC.

'I never cease to be amazed at what a beautiful and complex environment we fly in at Omarama - it is always changing and offering something new. Having flown at Omarama since 1999 I find I've only scratched the surface of what's available. There's always another valley to explore, another ridge to run.'

Visit Philip's OLC logged cross country flights.

*****

Bo Nilsson

Total Hours 4,300
Gliding 4,000 hours

Bo has been teaching soaring at Omarama since 2001 first with Alpine Soaring and then with GlideOmarama.

In his usual modest style Bo writes: 'As you know I am not a top gliding pilot...but I have 4000 hours, FAI gold, a diamond, a CPL-G and a PPL. In NZ I hold a gliding A Cat Instructor privilege and in England, where I have completed 6 seasons of professional instructing, I have the privileges of a Full Category Instructor. For the last 7 years I have been in Omarama, flying with numerous visiting pilots and have enjoyed every minute.'

With his smile, a Duo Discus T and Piper Cub in the hangars and airside chalet as home, Bo does not need to think of much else! Those who have had the privilege of soaring with him will agree. He loves nothing better than a good red wine and showing visiting soaring pilots around his beloved mountains!

Visit Bo's OLC logged cross country flights.

*****

Annie Laylee

Mike Till

Gavin Wrigley

Darren Smith

Ash Hurndell

Annie has been flying gliders and tugs for about 20 years and has accumulated some 2300 hours as a pilot. She maintains her currency as a syndicate owner in an ASW 24 with partner G Dale and with other glider pilots in an RV4, both aircraft being based at Lasham, Britain's premier gliding site.

She adds a welcome touch of glamour and style to the gliding scene at Omarama as towpilot to GlideOmarama in the handy Super Cub and GA Fatman. Annie enjoys retrieving errant glider pilots from remote strips out of Omarama, finding the back country mountain valley flying a constant challenge to her accumulated piloting skills.

*****

Mike joined the Southern Soaring team in 2005. Now with over 10,000 glider hours and over 2000 hours towing, Mike isn't new to the gliding game! He has worked at the Coventry and London Gliding clubs in the UK - as well as with the Wellington Gliding Club during New Zealand 's summer months. Mike will make your gliding experience pleasurable, whether you are trying it for the first time or are learning advanced soaring.

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Gavin Wrigley first flew for Southern Soaring in 2004. During the 2009 NZ winter he was instructing as Deputy CFI at Husbands Bosworth in England. Total time in gliders is 4000. Originally from Yorkshire, he has been based in Darwin, Australia, since 1978. He owns his own motorglider, which he uses between seasons to teach flying to pupils at The Essington School in Darwin. He is among the few who have regularly soared the world famous Morning Glory wave over the Gulf of Carpentaria. An experienced yachtsman, Gavin has a circumnavigation of the globe in a 10m sloop among his many accomplishments.

*****

Darren is an highly experienced and multifaceted pilot and aircraft engineer with over 2000 hours fixed-wing flying time and 1000+ hours as a glider pilot. Besides being Chief Tow Pilot for Glide Omarama and Southern Soaring he is an experienced gliding instructor who was, until recently, the Chief Instructor for the South Canterbury Gliding Club. He also flies turbine powered jump planes for the sky diving operations in Wanaka and Queenstown.

During the northern summer he flies gliders and tow planes at Inveremere in the Candian Rockies.

Before stating to tow Ash worked as an instructor on powered aircraft for a Dunedin flight training school. He holds a New Zealand and Canadian commercial pilot’s licence, B Category instructor rating, aerobatic and night instructor ratings and a multi-engine instrument rating and has more than 1500 hors in the air.

Ash began gliding and towing with Youth Glide Omarama and gained his tow rating in a 160hp Cessna 172. Needless to say he now enjoys the extra power of our GA200 Fatman tow plane! As an enthusiastic and capable glider pilot he has completed his Gold bage and two Diamonds.

Ash not only tows full time at Omarma but also spends the Northern summers towing at Inveremere in the Candian Rockies.

*****

Rod Drew

Rod Dew joined the Southern Soarng team in 2006 and has been a great asset in helping prepare gliders and equipment each day. Rod, who has been gliding since 1992, is well known for his work as Sports Editor for the Christchurch Press and in writing Master of The Wave, the biography of Terry Delore. His help on the airfield ensures a smooth operation and his ability to talk to visitors about all aspects of gliding is greatly appreciated.

As Equipment Manager he and his team ensure that the gliders are in top condition and ready for an efficient launch.

Mandy Gerard

Mandy has been the administration manager for GlideOmarama for five years and is often heard on the airwaves collecting ops normal calls from distant pilots. She is not a glider pilot but loves to fly accompanying Gavin on excursions in the Super Cub. She enjoys long hot gliding summers both in Omarama and the US and balances her life with the Omarama gliding activity with her 3 daughters.

*****