Sport
Soaring ahead: Benalla hosts first Women’s Glider Airworthiness Course
Do you ever look up at a bird high in the sky and wonder what it would be like to fly?
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The women who took part in the inaugural Women's Glider Airworthiness Course at the Gliding Club of Victoria, located at the Benalla airfield, from June 30 to July 4, know that feeling all to well.
As a Gliding Australia and Gliding Victoria-associated event, women pilots descended on the airfield from all over Australia.
Women and girls only make up 35 per cent of participants in the sport of gliding nationally and only 12 per cent in Victoria.
In response, the "Rockettes" movement has been established to encourage more women to become involved in gliding, whether that is flying planes or performing maintenance.
Harbanns Mann, one of the founders of the "Rockettes" movement and women's board representative for Gliding Australia, says the program is about being inclusive.
"We want to create the comfortability that they (women) can ask questions in that cohort," Mann said.
"We want them to feel welcomed and part of the conversation.
"We have a similar course coming up next year because we couldn't fit everyone in this course. We also have a flying instructors course coming up next year.
"The reason why we advertise it (the courses) a year in advance is that, in the gliding scenario, women do feel imposter syndrome, so it gives them the summer to work on their skills and mentoring programs and peer relationships so they feel empowered to take on that challenge."
The course in Benalla consisted of a number of lectures and practical sessions on glider maintenance in the gliding club's hangars.
There were all levels and ages involved in the course, including Leonie Furze, who has been flying for 20 years and made the trip down from Temora in New South Wales.
"A lot of the girls have met before, but because they're from all across Australia, we don't get to see each other very often," Furze said.
"It's a lot of camaraderie, and it's nice to have a bunch of girls because it's very common for us to be the only girl in a club.
"I've done this course before. When you do it a second time, you hopefully get passed to do the full form two certification, so then you can work on your glider on your own."
The course provided the pilots with an opportunity to extend their abilities in glider maintenance but also the chance to network with other women pilots from across Australia and be taught by some of the best authorised glider inspectors in Australia.
Anthony Smith, the chair of Airworthiness for Gliding Australia, was happy to see that the event had attracted women from around Australia.
"We have had a person who has come down from North Queensland; we've got someone from Bathurst," Smith said.
"This has been a national event with people from right across the country.
"It's been a bit of a rarity (coming across female pilots). I started off flying with the University of Adelaide Gliding Club, and that's where I met my wife.
"It's a magical experience to find the rising air, climb up, cruise off it, and achieve up to 500, 600-kilometre flights off it."
Experiencing the magic of a glider flight is not inaccessible for newcomers, as Mann described that it was simple to get into the sport.
"It's very easy," Mann said.
"With the 'Rockettes' initiative, we have mentoring programs, and for people who have never been in a glider before (and want to learn how to fly), we can train them up as well.
"You can go solo from 15, so you can fly a glider before you can drive a car."
While the training may have ended on Tuesday, it's clear that the course is just the beginning for women already in the sport and encouraging for anyone who is looking to get involved with gliding.
You can find more information on the Victorian Gliding Club on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GlidingClubVictoria/