Gliding – “Soaring with the Eagles” – We practise our fascinating, silent hobby from our club-owned airfield 10 km north-west of Balaklava, South Australia. Gliding is a sport for all ages, as evidenced by the wide spectrum of our members – people from all walks of life including students, mothers, grandparents, even entire families are involved. Pilots as young as 15 until well into retirement can and do fly gliders solo.
Our club offers flying training at all levels. Our instructors are fully qualified volunteers who are passionate about teaching others to fly a sailplane safely and competently. Whether you are interested in experiencing the beauty of nature from a different, quiet perspective, want to rely on your skills to fly long distances on just the power of the sun, are competitively mindend and like to pit yourself against other pilots in racing competitions, or perhaps enjoy the thrills of aerobatics, the Balaklava Gliding Club has a fleet of modern, well maintained gliders to cater for all these purposes.
Soaring flights from Balaklava have been undertaken as far north as the Flinders Ranges and east to Mildura and back. Pilots from our club regularly take part in regattas, competitions, and aerobatics displays. The club has hosted the state championships several times and organises flying camps at other sites, internal competitions, as well as regattas that are open to other clubs or individuals.
To keep operating costs at bay we mainly use winch launching, i. e. the glider is pulled into the air by a wire – much like a kite. To that end the majority of maintenance tasks on our sailplanes are carried out by interested and qualified members.
You might be surprised how affordable gliding can be!
This web site provides a wealth of information about our club, our facilities, where and how we operate, and what's on when. If you still have questions, if you would like to join us, or if you want to arrange for an air experience flight to try whether gliding is for you contact us or just drop in at the Balaklava airfield.