Top-ranked female glider pilot Ailsa McMillan will this year make her Women’s World Gliding Championship (WWGC) debut and compete for a third and final time at the Junior World Gliding Championships (JWGC) in Europe. She secured selection for both events after two successful seasons and a second place finish in the 2016 Australian National Gliding Championships. She previously represented Australia at the 2013 and 2015 JWGCs.

Ailsa’s first encounter with gliding was with Geelong Gliding Club at Bacchus Marsh, Victoria in early 2009. The coaching team at the Club are focused on cross-country and performance flying, so even before Ailsa was flying solo, she had plenty of hours being coached to gain the core skills required of a racing pilot. She showed that she had taken these lessons on in her first season flying distance flights - completing a 350km flight from Bendigo to New South Wales and back.

While undertaking her university studies in Information Systems with Swinburne University, Ailsa has been able to continue training for competition, as well as providing coaching, presenting lectures, and travelling interstate to help run Women in Gliding and Junior events.

Although Ailsa receives support from the Gliding Federation Australia and the Victorian Soaring Association, this and her own savings are only enough to cover the basic costs of competing at both events. This is because she was initially planning to only compete at the JWGC. However, Ailsa was also invited to represent Australia at the WWGC - especially important because the next WWGC event is at Lake Keepit, NSW in 2019.

Money raised through this platform will help Ailsa to meet the additional costs of competing, and training between the two events.

Your support will help Ailsa towards her goal of stepping up onto the podium at both the Women’s Worlds and Junior Worlds in the same year.

You can follow Ailsa’s progress via Instagram and Facebook at the links above. You can watch her scores, see photos and follow live tracking of flights day by day at each event.

WWGC (13 May - 4 June) is at: www.wwgc2017.cz
JWGC (23 July - 13 August) is at: www.jwgc2017.lt

Help Ailsa put Australian gliding on the world map, and donate now!