Rules, costs ground gliding firm
After 22 years of operation, Glide Omarama has closed due to the cost of re-licensing some of its operations with the Civil Aviation Authority.
The company had been operating under a recreational aviation certificate but the CAA ruled that some of its operations are classed as adventure aviation and it must re-certify and re-licence its pilots to continue those activities.
Glide Omarama managing director Gavin Wills said the company, which began as a volunteer-run operation, formerly operated under an exemption but since the business has grown the CAA has determined they are non-compliant.
‘‘I don’t know what’s happened in the last three or four months, I know there’s been a huge change over of staff. White Island has stirred them up and they obviously have other issues in the aviation world,’’ Wills said.
Glide Omarama was offering ‘‘trial flights’’ which Gliding New
Zealand – the body that oversees recreational gliding – describes as ‘‘a flight in a two-seat training glider with an instructor, designed to introduce you to the joys of gliding’’ before the person decides whether to pursue a training scheme.
‘‘We are basically a soaring school and we take people on flights to promote gliding and hopefully them coming on to learn to fly.
‘‘Everyone that flies with us signs off to say they are interested in learning about the sport of flying and everyone who flies with us becomes a member but that’s not enough, the authority say we are using that as a backdoor to get into tourist flights.’’
Discussions have been ongoing between Glide Omarama and the authority, with the company highlighting that other countries do not require this ‘‘unnecessary’’ level of certification because the costs are prohibitive to the sector succeeding.
‘‘The authority say it’s because New Zealand is leading the way, but they are leading the way to bankruptcy.’’
Wills said despite an incidentfree record and meeting all the regulations, except random drug testing, the small business cannot afford to go through the paperwork process of proving it, particularly as he could not persuade CAA to give him until the end of the season and has had to refund prebooked trips.
He said a man who had booked to travel from the UK to learn to fly in Omarama has now cancelled his three-week trip because his lessons are cancelled, so there are knock-on affects for tourism.
Wills said the company is not viable without trial flights and he has had to make the difficult decision to cease all operations and let 21 staff members go.
‘‘The staff are devastated. I’ve got $2m worth of assets sitting on the airfield here and I can’t afford to sit on those so I need to either find a buyer for the business as is, and there is some interest out there, or I have to get rid of the assets and then the operation will never reform in the same way.
‘‘The problem is endemic in aviation, in tourism, in health and safety, and it’s the small businesses that suffer.’’
CAA rules senior communications adviser Blake CraytonBrown said ‘‘at no time have CAA stated that Glide Omarama must cease all operations, only those that are not permitted under their current certification’’.
‘‘It must be stressed that the CAA has offered to assist Glide Omarama throughout the certification process and it was the operator’s choice to cease all operations,’’ Crayton-Brown said.
‘‘Glide Omarama are still able to operate under the auspices of the Gliding New Zealand certificate, providing they ensure those operations meet the requirements for the certificate type. If they wish to continue with the type of flights they were operating, that were not genuine trial flights, the operator would be required to submit an application for Part 115 certification, which enables them to offer the adventure aviation flights.’’
He said the cost of certification depends on the size of the operation but was $12,000-$14,000 and would require the company to have things such as an operations manual, aircraft maintenance programmes, and senior persons responsible for safety.
Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean said the closure is a double-edged sword with the loss of tourism revenue and potentially 21 jobs.
‘‘The closure will have an economic fall-out for Omarama and the wider region and I will endeavour to speak with both Glide Omarama and CAA to ensure no more could have been done to avoid this situation and what the community will need moving forward.’’