Cambridge Gliding Club

Congratulations to Iris Black for soloing yesterday! Here she is with her instructor Shaun.

Iris solos! - Cambridge Gliding Centre

Last weekend was our 2026 open weekend. If you came along, thanks!

We:

- Flew 89 flights
- Flew for 56 hours and 59 minutes
- Gave (roughly) 65 different people one or more flights
- Flew four kids in the motor glider who were too small to fit in "normal" gliders
- Had seven flights in Bluebell
- Taught dozens of people flying in our simulator
- Had two car clubs visit to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first post-war motor race (thanks MG club and CUAC!)
- Ate lots of sandwiches and cake
- Most importantly: gained seven new members, most of whom had never flown before, but have now decided they want to learn to fly!!

Some photos below...

A quote from one of our guests who was kind enough to write in!
"I just wanted to send a huge thank you to you and all the folks at the Cambridge Gliding Centre for hosting such a wonderful event yesterday. We all had an excellent time and the centre staff could not have been kinder or more helpful.

Open weekend 2026 - what happened? - Cambridge Gliding Centre Last weekend was our 2026 open weekend. If you came along, thanks!

Today was a day with lots of activity at the airfield: an inter-club cross-country competition, scouts flying, normal flying lessons, and... the relevant bit... lots of trial flights. We effectively had two gliders occupied by trial flights for most of the day.

Today the sky looked like this:

So, not a fantastic day - ideally we want blue skies with litte fluffy clouds - but not bad. There was definitely rising warm air, which is what gliders need to stay up.

However, we don't normally do that during first flights. Staying in thermals means making very tight turns, at a very precise speed - very tricky for someone who has never flown a glider before. The instructor could take control and gain some height from thermals, but even from your first flight we want to get you do do as much of the flying as possible.

Whether to use thermals in trial flights - Cambridge Gliding Centre Today was a day with lots of activity at the airfield: an inter-club cross-country competition, scouts flying, normal flying lessons, and... the relevant

Some photos here from a glider flight today from Cambridge to Oxford and back.

If you'd like to give it a go, come to our open weekend next week!

Thanks to Kristian for the photos!

East-west sail - Cambridge Gliding Centre Some photos here from a glider flight today from Cambridge to Oxford and back.

Bluebell takes to the skies at Cambridge Gliding Centre with the National Women Go Gliding Day. https://www.camgliding.uk/womens-go-gliding-day-learn-to-fly/13891/

Last week we were visited by students (16-18) from Stansted Airport College. They are all on the Pilot Enrichment Programme so are all very keen to learn to fly! They took winch launches, aerotow launches, spent time in our simulator and some flew in the tug. Many were able to experience the joy of finding and climbing in thermals - they didn't want to come down.

They were a brilliant group of individuals: curious, bright, proactive and a pleasure to have around. And they learned fast. Feedback indicates that they really enjoyed themselves, too! We hope that some will return to the club to do more 'pure flying' - that could be a stepping stone to a career in aviation, or even a lifelong passion for unpowered flight.

Pilots of the future - Cambridge Gliding Centre Last week we were visited by students (16-18) from Stansted Airport College. They are all on the Pilot Enrichment Programme so are all very keen to learn to