Gliding in General

~ .....Touched the face of God..... ~ These are the last few words of a Poem, often recited by Pilots all over the world, and even today when I see or hear the poem in full written by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., I'm reminded of the 5 years I was involved in Gliding. I admit, my overall experience is slightly different to most, since I actually worked for a Gliding Club during this time as a paid Winch Driver *more about a winch later. However, the upside was I could take flights at reduced rates, so I did take up the opportunity when it arose. This is my review where I hope I can explain some of the basic fundamentals of gliding and how you can find ...  Read the complete review

Less than a week before my 14th birthday I was flicking through magazines trying to find a birthday present which would suit my rather dangerous personality, but with no luck. So when my father came into the room and asked me if I had picked a present I was stuck for words, and casually replied maybe skydiving (worth a try.) To my dismay he laughed the idea off, which struck me as odd as I was not joking. But then another idea came to mind - gliding. With a bit of luck it would crash and burn and then I could try skydiving instead! He couldn't argue then. Ok so I wasn't really hoping for it to crash and burn, but gliding had always been one of those things which you see ...  Read the complete review

A couple of years ago, myself and a few friends and ex-colleagues were gathered together for some social occasion, the reason for which escapes me now. The conversation got round to hobbies, and to our amazement, we all seemed to have entirely different ones. Then up chirruped one of our number 'I know. Why don't we all have a go at each other's hobbies?' This idea did meet with a certain degree of approval, although it did strike me as a little hasty, in case one of our number was a cross-dressing voyeur, or worse still, a TRAIN-SPOTTER or some such. For me, one of the more interesting propositions was gliding, you know, the planes with no ...  Read the complete review

Saying, 'Hello' to the angels? British Gliding Association Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Association, based at Great Hucklow, Derbyshire A short while ago I had the great good fortune to be able to have two trial gliding lessons at the Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club, based in Great Hucklow. For £80 I purchased a trial lesson voucher at the club (you can buy the vouchers for any gliding clubs belong to the British Gliding Association.) For this princely sum, I was able to have an choice of two winch launches or, at some clubs, one air tow or 30 minutes in a motor glider. The idea was to 'experience the thrill of glider ...  Read the complete review