To learn to fly in the UK is an ambition that many people harbour and through the sport of gliding you can learn to fly easily and effectively.

To become a Member of NVGC you must first join as a Trial Member for 2 months. This gives you the opportunity to see if you want to pursue Glider flying and the Gliding Club can see if you a suitable person to train as a Glider pilot.

Joining NVGC (Trial Membership) click here for details

All training at NVGC is carried out by BGA qualified instructors, in one of the club's tandem 2 seat training aircraft. Training is provided free of charge and carried out to an approved syllabus, with the pace of training tailored to the individual, as some people learn to fly faster than others. At NVGC, we use the winch method of launching and on average 65-80 launches are required to attain solo standard. The number of launches required will depend on the person's age (younger people tend to pick up skills quicker), individual aptitude and finally, time commitment.
For more information on Costs --- Click Here

As the minimum age to fly solo in a glider within the UK is 14 years old, training can start as soon as the young person can understand and follow instructions, and is of a stature to handle the aircraft.  Not everyone at this age is ready to go solo and our instructors take great care not to expose anyone to situations they cannot handle.   Learning at this age, they will often quickly advance to solo standard.

Pilots who can attend weekly will progress quickly because they achieve continuity of training. Those pilots who can only make a sporadic attendance, although they will hopefully achieve solo standard eventually, will require additional launches to recap on things covered from their past attendance.

So if you wish to learn to fly consider the time you have available. With learning to fly a powered aircraft, you book a specific one hour slot with your instructor, turn up, fly, pay your £120 and then go home.

Gliding is totally different!! Gliding is a sociable team effort which although has the advantage of keeping costs down, does require an amount of time commitment from the members.

Trial Lesson Frequently Asked Questions