Just about anyone can glide. In terms of medical requirements for solo flying, if you can drive a car you can fly a glider. Even if you can’t drive a car you may be able to fly a glider: the minimum age for flying solo is 14. There is no fixed upper age limit. The weight limit is about 102 kg or 16 stone, and unusually tall or short people might not fit safely and/or comfortably in a glider.

For wheelchair users and those with other disabilities there is a flourishing club called Walking on Air which is based on our site and uses specially adapted gliders. Some medical conditions or medication would prevent solo flying but you might still be able to fly with a safety pilot. If you’re uncertain whether you’d be able to fly just get in touch with us (see Contact).

Gliding is one of the cheapest forms of flying, with an hourly cost well under half that of powered aircraft training. For details of the costs, please see the Tariff. If you are starting from scratch it’s quite expensive while you’re learning, as you need to fly regularly and may have several flights in one day. Once you’re a solo pilot it gets a whole lot cheaper, especially if you buy a share in a glider of your own. In club aircraft the cost depends on how long you’re airborne. An average training flight costs in the region of £30 and most people take 40-80 flights to achieve solo standard, typically spread over 6 months to a year. There is a huge amount of variation, depending on how old you are (younger pilots tend to learn faster) and how frequently you fly (you learn much faster if you fly regularly). If you come on one of our week-long summer courses you’ll probably save yourself a lot of time and money in training.

That’s fine. You can buy a voucher for an Air Experience Flight or, for a more substantial taste of how gliding works, a half-day Mini Course. There may be a bit of a waiting list as these options are very popular and we are at the mercy of the weather.

• • Clubhouse – We have a comfortable clubhouse with facilities for wheelchair users and a takeaway restaurant providing snacks and hot and cold drinks throughout the day.  Evening meals are available by arrangement.

• • Accommodation – The club has a number of single and double rooms providing simple but clean and comfortable accommodation. Please contact the office for prices.

• • Club fleet –
    • 2 x ASK21 two-seater trainer
    • Grob 103 two-seater trainer
    • Perkoz high performance trainer
    • DG505 high performance trainer
    • 3 x SZD Junior single seater
    • private Dimona motorglider available for training
  • Launch methods – We operate a SkyLaunch winch and 2 Eurofox tugs for aerotows.  We also have a backup Supacat winch. Full training in both launch methods is available.

• Others – Workshop for members’ use, hangarage and trailer parking for private gliders, caravan site for members, plus visitor camping and caravan parking by arrangement.

A glider flies just the way any other plane does: the wings provide lift to keep it airborne. The controls – elevator, ailerons and rudder – are the same as for any aeroplane. A glider has to fly downhill all the time because it doesn’t have an engine pulling it forwards – much like a bicycle freewheeling downhill.

For a glider to go upwards it has to fly in rising air, or “lift”, and that’s where the fun starts. Gliding is all about reading the sky and seeing where the rising air – free energy – is. If you get good at this you can go surprisingly long distances surprisingly fast. Some of our members regularly fly 100s of km across Scotland at average speeds of over 100 kph. Here are some photos of a nice 425 km cross country flight around Scotland.

If you want to know more about how gliders fly and soar, there are loads of excellent reference materials.