The Gliding Federation of Australia (GFA) is the governing body for the sport of gliding

Gliding

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...

 in Australia. It was founded in 1949. The GFA is responsible to Civil Aviation Safety Authority

Civil Aviation Safety Authority

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is the Australian national aviation authority , the government statutory authority responsible for the regulation of civil aviation.-History:...

 for the conduct of safe gliding operations in Australia. This includes the setting and maintenance of flying standards and in particular training standards. It provides services to its members such as:

• Regulatory issues covering pilot training, licencing and airworthiness handled under the delegations from the government regulatory body (CASA)
• Liaison with government agencies (such as Airservices Australia
  Airservices Australia
  Airservices Australia is an Australian Government agency, responsible for providing safe and environmentally sound air traffic control management and related airside services to the aviation industry within the Australian Flight Information Region...
  
  , particularly in terms of that organisation's airspace management responsibilities
• Liaison with other sporting and recreational aviation bodies on matters of mutual interest (e.g. through the Australian Sports Aviation Confederation)
• Arranging and managing liability insurance coverage for all members and clubs
• Awarding badges and managing Australian gliding records
• Encouraging and staging competitions at the national and international level
• Technical matters
• Promotion of gliding
• Liaison with international gliding organisations (such as OSTIV
  Organisation Scientifique et Technique du Vol à Voile
  Organisation Scientifique et Technique du Vol à Voile is a body associated with the FAI Gliding Commission . The FAI IGC oversees the sport of gliding worldwide and is a department of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale ....
  
   and the FAI
  Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
  The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
  
  )
• Publishing a magazine Soaring Australia

In Australia, glider pilots are exempt from holding pilot licences. The GFA is responsible for the establishment of pilot certificates which are regarded highly enough by CASA and the aviation industry to be considered as a satisfactory substitute for licences. This however does cause some difficulty to pilots when traveling overseas and there has been discussion of a more formal licence from time to time.

As the inclusion of 'federation' in the name suggests, the GFA is a tiered structure based on regional associations, which are in turn based on gliding clubs. It is only possible to be a member of the GFA if one is also a member of a gliding club which is affiliated to the GFA through the applicable regional association. The five regional associations are

• Gliding Queensland (GQ), which covers all of Queensland and the northern New South Wales border region south to Byron Bay
• the New South Wales Gliding Association (NSWGA), which covers NSW except as noted above
• the South Australian Gliding Association (SAGA), which covers South Australia and the Northern Territory
• Victorian soaring Association, which covers Victoria and Tasmania
• the West Australian Gliding Association (WAGA)