About Us

Established in 1976, the Mt Beauty Gliding Club is a group of enthusiastic alpine glider pilots based in Mount Beauty, at the head of the magnificent Kiewa Valley. The club uses its two two-seater gliders – an ASK-21 and a Twin Astir for training and Air Experience flights and a Hornet (single-seater) glider for solo flights. The club aircraft are pictured below and the Club’s dual-drum winch is also shown ready to deploy and when in operation by two members.

The club operates a powerful two-drum winch to launch the gliders. It can launch a glider to over 2000’ in just over 40 seconds – quite a rush!

The Club has about 50 members from around Victoria, many of whom are resident in north east Victoria and the Upper Kiewa Valley. Club members also operate several privately owned gliders and motor gliders. The Club has multiple highly experienced instructors to train pilots. Training is conducted to solo standard, and progresses to focus on cross country and mountain flying techniques. Flying members have to also be members of the Gliding Federation of Australia.

Visitors to Mt Beauty may take an Air Experience Flight and view the magnificent mountain scenery from the air.

We fly on nearly all weekends weather permitting and many Public Holidays across the year. Please contact us for more information about availability of flights using our online email form.

It is important that we provide you with a basic outline of the Club structures so you are aware of our formal rule-base, our strategic direction and the way we operate on a week-to-week basis.

The Club’s Affairs are overseen by a committee, the members of which are elected at the Annual General Meeting, generally held in the third quarter of each year – at which the past year’s performance is outlined and nominations for office holder roles are voted for.

The Club’s Committee consists of:

President – to represent the club in public, our members or other external interactions

Vice President – To assist the president and act on his behalf if he cannot be present.

Secretary – to administer its formal functions and communications

Treasurer – to oversee and attend to the club’s financial matters

Safety Officer – to address all safety concerns raised and resolve these with the Safety Sub-committee

Airworthiness Coordinator – to address airworthiness issues identified & lead the annual Form 2 processes

Member Support Officer – a point of contact for members to express concerns over interpersonal matters

Two ordinary members – one is the Chief Flying Instructor as direct liaison channel to the Operations Panel

The club’s flying operations are overseen by our Operations Panel, the members of which are all those club members who hold Instructor ratings; the group is chaired by the Chief Flying Instructor.

The Operations Panel oversees all training-related matters – sharing their expertise in relation to each pilot’s competencies and monitoring their progress through training and once having soloed, including the Biennial Flight Reviews conducted to re-confirm the currency of flying skills and airmanship of the pilot concerned.