I travelled down to New Zealand from Brisbane in Australia to do the five day Alpine Soaring Course with Kahu Soaring from 2nd to 7th November 2025.

The course was run out of Omarama Airfield, some 160 km NE of Queenstown. I was able to find very comfortable accommodation on the airfield and only a five minute walk to the hangars.

The course was run by Milan Kmetovics assisted by Phil Penney. They used two Schempp- Hirth Duo Discus’s and a Schempp Hirth Discus CS.

I am a retired high hours commercial pilot with a military background but quite new to gliding.

This course exceeded all expectations! It was an absolutely superb introduction to all aspects of mountain flying. In the five days, under the very expert guidance of Milan, I experienced ridge soaring, thermal flying and the utter magnificence of wave flying at high altitude. All this in the stunningly beautiful scenery of the Southern Alps.

Milan is an exceptionally experienced mountain glider pilot and a truly excellent instructor.

I have no hesitation in strongly recommending this course to all glider pilots.

Gliding has been on my bucket list for ages and I couldn’t think of a better place to experience it than in New Zealand. I came across Kahu Soaring and liked the vibe I got from the website. After a few back and forth messages with Milan, the date was set. My flight day was Oct 29th, 2025 – a day with clear skies and great views all the way to Mt. Cook! After orientation around the cockpit, we got hooked up and were on our way. This flight definitely made the all time list of the greatest adventures of my life! The mountain tops were full of snow – gorgeous! We spent about an hour and a half in the air, and I got a chance to take control of the glider myself for a bit – amazing! Then Milan showed me a couple of acrobatic stall maneuvers – I will remember the excitement of going weightless for a brief second forever!

Milan was great at describing how things worked in the cockpit and what to expect as we went through the flight searching for the thermal updrafts.

If you are planning on gliding in NZ, look no further – Milan, with Kahu Soaring, is awesome.

It’s may not have gone as planned but what a great afternoon; I was booked for the Thursday, then Milan called and asked if I could be there on Wednesday afternoon, sure can, cya then.

I arrived to be advised Milan had out-landed 🤔 what do I do, I went on my first NZ Out-Landing retrieve, I had nothing else planned. Back at the airfield we re-rigged DD and Milan asked did I still want to go, the sky looked awesome and the next days forecast was not encouraging, we took a launch.

What a great flight; we worked the local ridge, had a couple of goes as pushing forward before we eventually cracked the wave and climbed to FL140. Daylight soon became the limiting fun factor and we made our way back to the airfield where me wife was waiting and asking what were we doing for dinner.

The lights were on at the Pink Glider Cafe where there was a large group having a dinner party, we kinda joined their party from an adjacent table, what a great finish to a memorable day. Was I lucky, weather wise yes but I also had a very competent instructor/coach; thanks Milan for a memorable afternoon.

As an experienced glider pilot, I have wanted to fly at Omarama for many years. I had a fantastic week, building my skills in mountain and wave flying and seeing some amazing sights as we soared over this beautiful country.

Milan did a great job of keeping us safe, explaining what we were doing and why, and coaching me to help me get the most out of the experience. 100% score for enthusiasm, patience and persistence, especially when conditions were more challenging!

It was my first time to glide, but I enjoyed very much because the pilot, Kieran explained things clearly and supported me. I also got to experience a bit of handling a glider. it is worth gliding at least once in your life.