Great Lakes Gliding is a non-for-profit group of local pilots who enjoy the sport of soaring, much like the other gliding clubs across Canada. We rely strictly upon volunteer help  from our own membership, and all revenues collected are used to offset the costs of fuel, insurance, maintenance of the field and fleet, and our limited peripheral equipment. This year will see an increase in the number of outreach programs undertaken by Great Lakes to increase public awareness of the sport of gliding, and at the same time to attract new pilot candidates into our club.

Field:
We made great use of the wider runway this past season and the grass has really taken root. This has overcome some safety concerns that were voiced during our first season. It has also made it easier to handle the increased glider activity in terms of both ground handling and multiple landings. The gap in the eastern fence was widened as well by at least 40' making approaches much easier. Parking was added closer to the field making it easier to get to and from the flightline, and a few more little improvements were made here and there to make all our lives easier.

Equipment:
We made good usage of our two Krosno two-seater gliders, increasing our ability to handle instructional and solo flights. For the second Krosno, we were able to secure the registration GLGC, our club initials. These are  joined by five private singles at the field, two ASW-19's, a Jantar Std. 2, a Turbo Discus, and an SZD-55, as well as an interesting collection of powered aircraft of various vintages.

A note about our towplane:

In order to launch a glider, we must use a towplane with enough horsepower to pull a glider into the air. The towplane has a powerful engine, and it must use full power for the first 500' of altitude to ensure maximum safety for the pilots of both the glider and the towplane. A by-product of the engine is noise. Our aerotows are only 6-8 minutes in duration with maximum power being used for only the first 1-2 minutes. We reduce engine power to 75% after that, and often return to the airfield in a powered glide in the towplane, with almost negligible engine noise. We are very conscious of the noise concerns of our neighbours, and we invested in a greatly improved muffler system for our towplane, which yielded a significant reduction in engine noise during take-off. It was well worth the large amount ot time and money that was volunteered for this effort. We also had the propeller repitched so that it would not snarl at higher speeds. We redirect each launch direction so that the same houses and farms are not overflown more than twice in an hour, and in the middle of the day, weather permitting, we shift operations and change the direction of our take-offs and landings in order to give our neighbours a reprieve. We average 20 flights per day which means that one house may be overflown 3 times, maximum. We also limit our operations to begin after 10am. We further subject our towpilots to a limit of areas where they can fly, and areas where they cannot, e.g. over the town of Colgan below 1000' is a non-flyable area for our towpilots.

We remain concerned, however, by the number of erroneous reports of our towplane flying over neighbours. Our towplane was once reportedly doing aerobatics during the last winter when, in fact, our towplane was being stored in a hanger at that time, and there was 2 feet of snow on the runway!!! Local residents may not be aware that there is a large restricted airspace around Pearson International Airport which pushes light aircraft movements away from the city, and ironically, directly overhead the Tottenham area.

We continue to improve our operations policies to avoid noise-sensitive areas while maintaining safe parameters of operation.

Members:
Joining the five founding members are many of last year’s students, who have now graduated to the solo stage or are licensed. We have also been joined by some new instructors and licensed pilots. A hearty congratulations to all who came out and got airborne!

Our promotional efforts of the past years (including this website, a display at Square One Mall, Mississauga in March, 2001, a VRland TV News report, and many magazine/newspaper articles) have yielded a new crop of members eager to experience the joys of soaring flight. We welcome them, and if you are also interested, please send us an email so we may contact you about your questions and our activities.


Other Attractions:
Tottenham is ideally situated about 40 minutes northwest of Toronto. Growing tourist traffic is attracted throughout the Summer by the steam-train that commutes daily to Beeton. The town has a wide variety of eateries from fine dining to casual.

Families will enjoy the other attractions in our immediate vicinity which include a falconry centre, Woodington Lake Golf Course, a golf driving range and coaching centre, and
an attractive campground.

Mike, who continues to extend to us his seemilngly endless generosity by allowing us to use his airfield; Ben , who took a great interest in our sport and allowed us use of his field; Ed , who was of invaluable help in obtaining our equipment and took great joy in seeing our return to a "grass roots" operation; Sue Davidson, Debbie Fyke, and Lois Parsons, our ever-patient Transport Canada officers who helped our fledgling pilots earn their wings; and Robert Wappel who remains a river to his people.