FAQ
Can I buy a glider flight as a gift?
Can I organise a trial lesson for a group of people?
Can my friend and I fly together?
How difficult is it to fly a glider?
How fit do I have to be to fly a glider?
Are there any age limits for flying in a glider?
How do you know you're in a thermal?
Where is the airfield?
Please see the contact page for our address, directions and other details. If you want to visit us please read this guidance page about coming on to the airfield. You will find a link to directions to the airfield on this page.
Can I buy a glider flight as a gift?
Yes. If you buy a trial lesson or one day course you will get a voucher to present to the recipient. They can then arrange to fly with us at a mutually convienient time.
When does the club operate?
We fly on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday throughout the year. When our holiday courses are running (March - September) the airfield is open 7 days a week for members who do not require an instructor. There is also club flying on several weekday evenings during the summer.
Can I organise a trial lesson for a group of people?
Yes. We often arrange sessions for groups of friends, work parties, clubs, Scouts, Guides, school parties, and others. These are usually flown on a Tuesday or Thursday evening in the summer although we can make special arrangements for you to fly during the day. Weekends are generally not available for groups because of the demand on our facilities from members. We can arrange a barbecue and visitors may use our bar (subject to licensing regulations) after flying has finished. For large groups we can give a discount on normal trial lesson prices. Please contact the club office to organise a session.
Can my friend and I fly together?
No. Our training gliders have two seats in tandem configuration, one for the instructor (usually in the rear seat) and one for you. The only 3 seat gliders are operated in the USA.
How much does gliding cost?
Full details of our chages and fees are detailed here. However, if you are a full flying member your costs will include
- the annual membership,
- launch fees for each flight you take,
- soaring fees for flights in club gliders longer than 10 min.
Our fixed price to solo package includes all flying and membership fees for the first year. Instruction, provided by volunteer members qualified to instruct, is free of charge.
Once you have gone solo and aquired further experience in the club single seat gliders you will want to consider buying your own glider. This can cost anything from a few hundred pounds for an old glider to many tens of thousands for a state of the art high performance glider. A decent entry level glider of reasonable performance can be bought for less than £10,000. To reduce costs many gliders are shared in a syndicate of 2 or 3 people.
How difficult is it to fly a glider?
To fly solo is about as difficult as learning to drive a car. However, gliding has huge scope for advancement and no one ever stops learning. There are always challenges even for the most experienced pilots.
How fit do I have to be to fly a glider?
If you're fit enough to drive a car then you're fit enough to fly solo. Before you do so you will have to make a medical declaration and get it edorsed by your GP. Details of fitness requirements for taking a trial lesson are on the trial lesson page.
Is gliding safe?
Gliding is an adventure sport that offers great enjoyment and exhilaration to those taking part. However, all participants should be aware that, like other adventure sports such as mountaineering, skiing or potholing, gliding involves an element of risk. For example, gliding is not as safe as flying in a commercial airliner. However, we believe that the balance of risk and reward is one that we can live with.
Statistical comparisons indicate that you are less likely to suffer a serious injury gliding than playing rugby. For a further comparison, the figures indicate that you are slightly more likely to have a fatal accident scuba diving than gliding.
At the Cotswold Gliding Club we place the very highest priority on safety and we work hard to minimise the risks in our sport. All our instructors are qualified by the British Gliding Association and are subject to regular re-qualification checks. Our aircraft are checked each day before flying and are subject to thorough annual inspections.
Should you have any concerns about the risk involved in gliding, or want more information, we would be pleased to discuss it with you. Please contact the office and ask to be put in touch with an instructor.
Are there any age limits for flying in a glider?
The legal minimum age for flying a glider solo is 16 so there is little point in someone starting to learn to fly a glider any younger than 14. There is no upper age limit and we have had members still flying solo into their eighties.
For trial lesson participants we have no minimum age but children must be big enough to see out of the glider. Please ask if you have any questions.
How fast does a glider fly?
A modern glider can fly at over 150 mph although more often we fly between 50 - 90mph.
How high can you go?
Gliders climbing in thermals normally stop at cloudbase, which can be anything from 3000 - 6000 ft. Pilots who have been taught to fly using instruments can climb inside clouds and reach 12000ft or more. Certain meteorolical conditions allow much higher climbs - the UK record is almost 38000ft.
How long can you stay up?
We can stay up all day long if conditions and stamina permit. Night flying is not allowed. Flights of over 5 hours are very common.
How do you know you're in a thermal?
First of all you can feel it in the seat of your pants. Thermals can lift
the glider at up to 10mph and you notice the acceleration upwards as you fly
into the rising air. Secondly, we carry an instrument that tells us the vertical
speed of the glider. We find thermals by
searching under cumulus clouds (they are made by thermals), looking for other
gliders already climbing, looking for soaring birds and flying over ground
features likely to generate thermals.