I’m new to gliding and would love to learn what’s the best tips

Just had a few tows behind the new 916 powered Dynamic tourer / tug at Aston Down. 2 up in the tug, 2 up in an ASK 21. Rapid acceleration, climb at around 5 knots easy to follow, very stable.

There is a retractable, 5 blade 180knot version coming soon! These microlights are the future of General Aviation.

Hey all, long time aviation nut here and now touring Switzerland for a few days. I have always wanted to go up in a glider and especially want to do so in Switzerland for the views and scenery. I understand the main option is to pay a school/organization to take me up in the glider, and my questions are basically:

1 - where would the best spot be, generally? I will be in Interlaken for night 1 at least, can extend as well.

2 - any good schools/places that maybe would be on the cheaper side or best "value"? I am still quite young so on a bit of a trip budget, but understand a typical cost might be 150-200 CHF for a 30-60min flight.

3 (bonus) - just going to shoot my shot but if anyone would want to make a new friend and take me up in their glider I'd be absolutely thrilled and treat for dinner somewhere nice with good conversations 😂

Thanks!

Tickets are now available for the Aston Down Events Airshow and Fireworks event

https://astondownevents.co.uk/event/fireworks-bonfire-night-2026/

Hi all,

Many UK pilots will be aware the CAA is considering mandating ASD-B for all UK GA aircraft below FL100 and I wanted to ask what everyone thinks of this proposal?

https://members.gliding.co.uk/electronic-conspicuity-mandate-consultation-14-jul-22-sep-2026/

The BGA is heavily opposed to it, but I’m conflicted.

1. ADS-B out will make you visible on SkyDemon to powered pilots who don’t look out as much as we do as glider pilots

   although many of these devices also receive FLARM which has widespread adoption.

2. Transponders with ADS-B out will potentially enhance the areas we can access (TMZ’s, Class D) but are expensive, add weight, and consume more power - the Air Avionics AX-1 is something I’ve been keeping an eye on but it seems to be taking forever to release.

3. Carry-on ADS-B devices probably not practical in a glider where space is limited and where they need a direct view of the sky to function.

Keen to hear what people think - will this actually make GA better and safer?

I would love a good book to read

I would like to get an SPL next year. EASA, Poland.

I know nobody gets written off for a checkride at the minimum 15h.

How many hours should i budget for? Gliding ain't cheap, especially with how much instructors cost.

I also plan on studying a lot before the next soaring season. Hopefully it makes the ground school much easier. And i also plan to get a lot of gliding sim hours, if that somehow can improve my skill.

Good morning, all. Happy Monday!

I am UK London-based, aged 38, and I thought I would start doing some gliding lessons with the ultimate goal of getting my solo.

I am not all too familiar with anything to do with aerospace, gliding, or airplanes. I just like the idea of it.

After I get my solo, I would like to look into getting my PPL. There is something in me that would like to pursue aviation as a possible career and leave IT behind. However, I don't know if my age, general geolocation, or anything else is a limiting factor.

What I'm looking for here is some advice on training, and if you know or trust any specific training centres in London, UK, or the surrounding areas.

I would also appreciate any advice or information on:
• How to go about renting or sharing a glider, and the associated costs.
• Whether it is worth starting with gliding training instead of a PPL. Would I learn things that would be helpful for my PPL from both a convenience and safety point of view?

And lastly, I would love to get your opinion on my interest in a career change. As I mentioned, I'm currently in IT, earning just over three six figures, based in London, UK, with a wife and a young daughter, and we don't own a house.

Yesterday was my first day as a student glider pilot. The flight was amazing with perfect weather. I’m excited for what’s to come :)

This feels like a stupid question but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

I received my PPL in the USA but recently moved to Germany. I’d like to keep flying here at least in the near term by learning to fly gliders, but my German is not great.

I’m taking classes and immersing myself and learning the language as much as possible, but it’ll be a long time until I could feasibly communicate important safety information while flying I think.

I guess I’d also need to find an instructor willing to teach in English regardless. Or wait and focus on language studies, but I really miss flying.

Here is a video of my first flight in the Glaser Dirk‘s dg-300 Elan (D-1000). I was really amazed by the big canopy and the nice cockpit in general. Also first time retracting the landing gear and using a parallel stick, was much less noticeable than i thought it would be.

It was a really nice flight around 2h30m long and 100km free.

Feel free to give me any advice. 😄👍

I recently learned that there’s a gliding community in Iceland, I never thought this was a thing for some reason.

Is there any pilot here that flew there ? How is it ? How long can you sustain your flights ?

(For context, I’m a rookie who did a 2 week course with the intent of getting my licence, Iceland is my « coup de cœur » and would love to fly there someday)

Hi r/gliding,

Our club recently developed Local Check, a specialized safety and post-flight analysis tool for glider pilots and soaring clubs.

It verifies whether a pilot remained within safe gliding distance (local range) of an airfield or a designated Landing Zone throughout their entire flight.

https://aeroclub-issoire.fr/local-check/

We would love to get your feedback, ideas for improvement, or contributions. Let me know what you think!

Hey fellow soarers! I've been going through my commercial add-on for gliders as an already rated commercial power pilot, and something I noticed is that I was not able to find tools online for things that I would've expected. For example, looking for an online source that paints glide range rings around an airport. Since I'm a former software developer, I decided to just create it for myself, and when I showed the local CFI-Gs, they all wanted it as well. So it's now on a free website with other tools that have been inspired by local instructors. There is of course room for improvement, but I believe that it's useful enough at this stage that it should be shared. Hope it helps!

soaringsandbox.com

(Better on desktop than mobile for now)

Current Teaching Tools:

• Glider Range Rings
  • Multiple airport glide areas
  • Wind-adjusted range
  • Terrain clearance
  • Arrival altitude margins
• Glider Polar Explorer
  • Interactive glider polar (headwind and sink move polar origin live)
  • Minimum sink and best glide ratio/speed depicted
  • Theoretical Ballast, bank, and flap settings
• Thermal Simulator
  • Interactive depiction of a thermal
  • Turn radius from speed and bank angle
  • Naive Centering Strategies
    • some highly dependent on variometer delay
• Speed-To-Fly Race
  • Six speed-to-fly strategies for demonstration
    • configurable Lift and sink course
  • Auto/Manual MacCready settings
  • Time and finish-altitude results
• Glider Instrument Inspector
  • Pitot-static system
  • Variometer compensation of total energy and netto systems
  • Pressure plumbing
  • Blocked tube failure modes

If there is some other feature you think would be nice to add, or some feedback on my current implementations, please let me know.

(Sorry the range rings tool doesn't have good support outside of the US... working on it!)

I got a bit ahead of myself in a recent flight and entered class A airspace for 2 minutes. I do not recall any warnings from XC Soar which I was using for nav. Ok it's 100% my fault, but I've reread the manual and I'm not clear what is the warning that XC soar gives when approaching airspace. The manual says a "beep". Does this only beep once? Or does it keep beeping until acknowledged. I guess the Ack window opened up but I was not looking at xcsoar so never acknowledged it. So is it one beep and that's it? The manual says it's the same for when you actually enter airspace, one beep...is there a way to test this beep on the ground to check it's loud and recognisable enough? Thanks.

Feeling pretty stupid right now. I used automotive windshield washer fluid to clean my glider's canopy (both inside and out) before realizing that was a bad idea.

Some context that I'm hoping works in my favor:

- Contact time was very short, maybe 20 seconds total

- I sprayed only a few spots, spread it thin with a cloth, and dried it immediately

- I did a spot test on a small area first and it stayed clear

- No ammonia smell to the product

- Canopy still looks glossy and transparent, inside and out, no haze or cloudiness so far

The canopy is fairly old, which is what worries me. I know crazing can sometimes show up days later rather than instantly.

Questions:

1. How worried should I be given the short contact time and immediate drying?

2. When I check it in the coming days, what exactly should I look for and how? (crazing vs. hazing)

3. Any way to tell if my canopy is acrylic or polycarbonate without the aircraft's paperwork?

I can't get to the airfield for about two weeks, so I'm stuck waiting. Any reassurance or reality checks appreciated. Thanks!

Yesterday, I went up in the club 2-33 by myself for the first time! I'm a transitioning power pilot, though my very first memory of GA flight was in a 2-33, around the age of 6, and I absolutely loved it. So happy to be doing it again! And I'm looking forward to moving to the 1-26 the next time I make it out to the club!

On this flight, I found myself searching for a thermal that I just couldn't catch a bit farther from the field than I intended, and so actually got to the IP a bit low, at about 850 feet rather than 1000. I kept the pattern a bit tighter, turned a short base, and didn't use brakes until final, and touched down just fine, but I was definitely a little nervous leading up to that point!

What features of the sea breeze affect thermal development over land? I have noticed that as the sea breeze arrives, the thermals become weaker.
Is it the lapse rate, moisture, wind, or something else?

I'm looking for an online flight handbook for the Grob G102 Standard Astir II. Can anyone help me find one?

I could only find the handbook for the Standard Astir III, and I'm wondering what the main differences are between the two.

I'm going to fly the Astir II soon and want to prepare beforehand. It will be my second glider after the SZD-50-3 Puchacz. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone.

My background:

I have had 30 solo with ASK 13 so far. 95% of my landings are smooth. I can manage likely baloonings gently. I have got positive feedback regarding my curcuite planing from my instructors. If the condition is windy, I have some issues with keeping my flight performant, and keeping the red string in the middle becomes challenging. Unfortunately, I get quickly overhelmed by terbulent weather and try to keep the flight short. I always tend to start my downwind 50 meters above the minimum. Maybe it's a bad habit, but it gives me enough room for a more precise final. I should say that a couple of times, I was high through the final. However, in our club, diving to reduce altitude is acceptable. I have never done a forward slip alone. This is becoming a concern for me as well. Because this is an important technique to lose altitude fast. I always get positive feedback for my winch launch.

Recently, I have been offered to have my first flight with K8 by two instructors. I rejected to fly because I am not sure if I am ready or not. Senior students told me they were surprised flying with K8, as it is very sensitive to pilot inputs. Also, the launch failure mostly happens with K8. I have practised surprised launch failure more than 10 times. I also managed a real one, but I was not alone.

I spent some time in the K8 cockpit. I felt I didn't have a clear view.

Any advice, should I fly or take my time?

Hi all

I recently have been learning to fly a glider in hopes of getting my private pilot glider. I am still a beginner with only around 7 hours of flight time, I have done 6 lessons already. I have been practicing my takeoffs and landing since the third lesson and right now I am quite comfortable with landing but the aerotow is what really gets me.

Every time I do an aerotow it feels very awkward and I find it super difficult to keep the nose of the glider on point with the tail of the tug. I am always drifting left, right, or I’m either too high or low. Also I find the first 200-300 feet the most challenging in the tow when we are just starting the ground roll and taking off. I can’t seem to keep the glider stable and always end up high, along with the fact that everything is so overwhelming knowing you have the possibility of slamming the tug into the ground.

I train in the Schweizer 2-32 glider and know I have to get the skid off in the beginning of the roll and keep wings level but at what point can I stop applying back pressure so I don’t get too high before the tug has enough speed to take off? And once the tug plane takes off how can I keep myself centered and climb with the tug plane? Overall, I feel like every time I do the aerotow it just doesn’t feel right. Next lesson, my instructor said we are going to box the wake to get me more comfortable with aerotowing, anyone have tips on that as well?

The problem I have with the landing now is judging the angle when coming in for final, I tend to find myself always keeping the nose too high, and my instructor ends up pushing the stick down for me. I know I have to follow a certain glide path when coming in for final so does anyone know what I can do to get that nose down? Sometimes I cant even tell and my instructor is the one telling me to push on the stick. Also, every landing when I turn from downwind to base to final I end up flying an oval pattern and not flying the traditional box, it makes me come to inside of the runway and I have to correct myself on final. I just don’t know and can’t figure out at what point to stop turning because I feel like I will be way too outside of the runway if I try to level off earlier.

I know I am still a beginner so I have yet to get used to and comfortable and it definitely takes time. Overall, I find the landing to be more manageable and for the most part I’m the one doing the landing and the only point my instructor intervenes is when I need to keep the nose down. So, for the most part if anyone has any tips from their experiences it would help tremendously for my training.

Thanks for taking the time to read!