The Sugar Gliders - Australian Women's Gliding Team

The 3rd Women's World Gliding Championships will be held in Germany in July/August 2005, following up from the 2004 Pre-Worlds in 2004.

Official practice starts on July 28th. The competition will proceed from July 31 until August 12.

For the first time ever, Australia will be represented at a Women's World Gliding Championship. We aim to win the team trophy for Australia. We also expect our individual pilots to rank highly in the competition. Lisa Turner and Lisa Trotter will be competing in the Women's team, the Australian Sugar Gliders.

Reports from Germany

Reports from the team will be published here as they arrive. The team manager, pilots, and others will be regularly sending updates before and during the comp, and this is where you'll be able to come to read them.

The scores from the contest are on the contest web site here. There's also a tool here which provides animations of each day's flights using data drawn from the flight recorders carried by each competitor. Sorry I can't provide an English translation!

6 July 2005: Practice in Kingaroy
27 July 2005: Lisa Trotters Preparation Notes
27 July 2005: Catherine Conway's Preparation Notes
28 July 2005: Practice day 1
29 July 2005: Practice day 2
30 July 2005: Official Opening (and Lisa Turner's Notes)
31 July 2005: Contest day 1 (and Lisa Trotter's Notes, and Lisa Turner's Notes)
1 August 2005: Contest day 2 (and Lisa Trotter's Notes, and Lisa Turner's Notes)
2 August 2005: Contest day 3: Lisa Turner and Lisa Trotter
3 August 2005: Contest day 4 (and Lisa Turner's notes, and Lisa Trotter's notes)
4 August 2005: Contest day 5 (and Lisa Turner's notes, and Lisa Trotter's notes)
5 August 2005: Weather is crap -- Raining for days. Lisa Trotter has written some notes on Flying fast in slow weather.
The Babajaga Celebration.
10 August 2005: Contest day 6
12 August 2005: Contest day 7
13 August 2005: Closing Ceremony

Meet the Sugar Gliders

Hi res photos of the competitors are here and here.

Want to leave a message for the team? Visit the WWGC2005 site guestbook.

The Sugar Gliders

Pilots Lisa "Trotts" Trotter

Lisa "Turns" Turner

Team Manager Catherine Conway

Trotter Support Team

Crew Chief Peter Trotter

Crew Brendan English

Gunnar Goldhahn

Turner Support Team

Crew Chief Keith Gately

Crew Mitchell Turner

Other team members

Webmaster Mark Newton

Team Photographer David Conway

Joey (junior) helpers Michael Conway

Peter Conway

Team Sponsors

A significant part of our sponsorship comes from the pilots of the Gliding Federation of Australia. Our thanks to all our fellow pilots, and all our sponsors, for helping us represent Australia at this competition.

Lisa Trotter

Lisa is 45 years old and works as a social researcher. She started flying fixed wing aircraft when she was 18 and gliders when she was 26. Lisa has achieved a national distance record and has completed many flights of over 800 kilometres. After some years of long distance flying, Lisa moved into competition flying and has participated in 5 national championships and 10 state championships. She has been selected to represent Australia in the 3rd Women's World Championships in Germany in 2005.

Lisa Turner

Lisa is 28 years old and currently works as lawyer in Brisbane. Lisa started gliding at an early age through the encouragement and support of her father and older brother, who also glide. Lisa flew her first competition when she was 15 years old and has since flown in 4 national championships and 8 state championships. Lisa represented Australia in the 1st World Junior Gliding Championships held in the Netherlands in 1999, making her the only Australian junior pilot to have competed internationally. She is now looking forward to taking her gliding to the next level, having been selected to represent Australia in the 3rd Women's World Championships in Germany in 2005.

Image © Mal's Net Pty Ltd. Used with permission.

Catherine Conway

Catherine is the Team Manager. She is 39 years old and works as an Engineer in the IP Telecommunications industry. She started flying with the Adelaide University Club while still studying and has been flying for 18 years. Her first competition was in the club Bergfalke with an instructor before she went solo, leading to her first national competition in 1991. Catherine has represented Australia in NZ competing for the Tasman trophy.

Peter Trotter (crew chief for Lisa Trotter)

Peter represented Australia at the World Gliding Championships in Germany in 1999, so he has good knowledge of flying international competition in Germany. Most importantly, he is a dedicated husband, coach and crew.

Brendan English (Crew for Lisa Trotter)

Brendan is a member of the Gliding Club of Victoria and has known Lisa and Peter Trotter through many years of flying at this club in Benalla. Apart from a good knowledge of gliding, Brendan speaks German fluently.

Gunnar Goldhahn (Crew for Lisa Trotter)

Gunnar is German and lives in Chemnitz. He is an aeronautical engineer and has a great passion for gliding. Gunnar was crew for Lisa Trotter last year at Klix for the Pre-Worlds. He has a good knowledge of the local area.

Keith Gately (crew chief for Lisa Turner)

Keith crewed for Lisa Turner at the Pre-Worlds last year. Now he's back to help out again.

Mitch Tuner

Mitch Turner is an Engineer who flies a Jantar. He also happens to be Lisa Turner's brother. He'll be helping Keith crew for her during the comp.

Mark Newton

Mark is providing web server space, editing, and promotion for this web site.

David Conway

David Conway has spent more on his camera equipment than he's spent on his airfares to Germany, so it's only natural that he'd be team photographer. Most of the shots that'll be published with the articles on this site during the comp will come from David.

Joey Helpers

Michael Conway Peter Conway Michael and Peter will be essential parts of the crew, with duties such as holding canopies, running for fresh water bottles, and pre-task reminders to the pilots urging them to remember to flare when it's time to land.

Lisa Trotter
Lisa is 45 years old and works as a social researcher. She started flying fixed wing aircraft when she was 18 and gliders when she was 26. Lisa has achieved a national distance record and has completed many flights of over 800 kilometres. After some years of long distance flying, Lisa moved into competition flying and has participated in 5 national championships and 10 state championships. She has been selected to represent Australia in the 3rd Women's World Championships in Germany in 2005.
Lisa Turner
Lisa is 28 years old and currently works as lawyer in Brisbane. Lisa started gliding at an early age through the encouragement and support of her father and older brother, who also glide. Lisa flew her first competition when she was 15 years old and has since flown in 4 national championships and 8 state championships. Lisa represented Australia in the 1st World Junior Gliding Championships held in the Netherlands in 1999, making her the only Australian junior pilot to have competed internationally. She is now looking forward to taking her gliding to the next level, having been selected to represent Australia in the 3rd Women's World Championships in Germany in 2005. Image © Mal's Net Pty Ltd. Used with permission.
Catherine Conway
Catherine is the Team Manager. She is 39 years old and works as an Engineer in the IP Telecommunications industry. She started flying with the Adelaide University Club while still studying and has been flying for 18 years. Her first competition was in the club Bergfalke with an instructor before she went solo, leading to her first national competition in 1991. Catherine has represented Australia in NZ competing for the Tasman trophy.
Peter Trotter (crew chief for Lisa Trotter)
Peter represented Australia at the World Gliding Championships in Germany in 1999, so he has good knowledge of flying international competition in Germany. Most importantly, he is a dedicated husband, coach and crew.
Brendan English (Crew for Lisa Trotter)
Brendan is a member of the Gliding Club of Victoria and has known Lisa and Peter Trotter through many years of flying at this club in Benalla. Apart from a good knowledge of gliding, Brendan speaks German fluently.
Gunnar Goldhahn (Crew for Lisa Trotter)
Gunnar is German and lives in Chemnitz. He is an aeronautical engineer and has a great passion for gliding. Gunnar was crew for Lisa Trotter last year at Klix for the Pre-Worlds. He has a good knowledge of the local area.
Keith Gately (crew chief for Lisa Turner)
Keith crewed for Lisa Turner at the Pre-Worlds last year. Now he's back to help out again.
Mitch Tuner
Mitch Turner is an Engineer who flies a Jantar. He also happens to be Lisa Turner's brother. He'll be helping Keith crew for her during the comp.
Mark Newton
Mark is providing web server space, editing, and promotion for this web site.
David Conway
David Conway has spent more on his camera equipment than he's spent on his airfares to Germany, so it's only natural that he'd be team photographer. Most of the shots that'll be published with the articles on this site during the comp will come from David.
Joey Helpers
Michael and Peter will be essential parts of the crew, with duties such as holding canopies, running for fresh water bottles, and pre-task reminders to the pilots urging them to remember to flare when it's time to land.