Cambridge Gliding Club

This article originally appeared in The Globe And Mail and was written by Barry Rueger. Reproduced here with permission of the author. Barry Rueger is a Canadian writer based in Cambridge.

The parachute on my back – tightened up so that it was properly uncomfortable – turned out to also be my back seat cushion in my Schleicher ASK 21 glider. After two flights I’d learned how to climb in by first perching on the side of the cockpit, then swinging one leg, then the other, into the nose of the plane, before carefully lowering myself around the joystick at the front of what passed for a seat. Shifting forward, I adjusted the rudder pedals down at my feet, and then wiggled down a bit further so that my head would be just below the clear canopy that would be lowered down and locked in.

On my third flight of the day I changed instructors.

Learning to fly a glider allowed me to forget all the troubles in the world below - Cambridge Gliding Centre This article originally appeared in The Globe And Mail and was written by Barry Rueger. Reproduced here with permission of the author. Barry Rueger is a

Another fantastic Cambridge Cloud Rally came to an end at Gransden Lodge on Sunday 9 August, bringing nine days of flying & competition to a close.

And 2026 gave us plenty of flying.

Thirty-four pilots and teams took part, with cross-country flying possible on eight of the nine days. Between them they covered 43,100 kilometres, spent 890 hours in the air and made 415 launches. Forty-four flights were longer than 300 kilometres.

Those are impressive numbers, but they do not entirely explain what the Cloud Rally is about.

A competition, but not quite as you know it
The Cloud Rally is Cambridge Gliding Centre's annual attempt to do a gliding competition a little differently.

It is deliberately informal. The rules are kept straightforward, the emphasis is firmly on safe flying, and the event is designed to include pilots with a wide range of experience.

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Cambridge Gliding Centre Cloud Rally 2026 - Cambridge Gliding Centre Another fantastic Cambridge Cloud Rally came to an end at Gransden Lodge on Sunday 9 August, bringing nine days of flying & competition to a close.

This week I entered my first gliding competition.

Whenever I tell non-gliding people about this their reaction is always "huh?" They don't understand how we compete in a glider. So here's the answer.

Again, this was my first ever competition and it was our club's own "Cloud Rally" competition, so much of this may not apply to proper fancy competitions like the Regionals or Nationals. Plus, I entered in the "funster" low-calorie category, unlike the high-falutin' "racers", who faluted considerably higher and faster than I ever will. In any case - here's how it works.

First, learn to fly gliders. Get all the way through your training so you are a Sailplane Pilots' License (SPL) holder, which means you're legally entitled to fly cross-country (XC), just like powered pilots but without those cheaty engine things.

You don't need to have done a lot of cross-country flights to be able to join in a competition, at least those like our own Cloud Rally.

What is a gliding competition, anyway? - Cambridge Gliding Centre This week I entered my first gliding competition.

Learning to fly often feels like an exclusive, prohibitively expensive club. If you've always dreamed of taking to the skies but assumed the costs of a Private Pilot's Licence (PPL) were out of reach, it might be time to rethink your flight path.

At Cambridge Gliding Centre, we've found there is a more accessible, fun, and significantly more affordable route to becoming a pilot.
The "PPL alternative" route
Traditionally, a PPL requires a minimum of 45 flying hours, plus landing fees, equipment, and nine exams, often totalling around £10,000. Even the alternative National Private Pilot's Licence (NPPL) can cost upwards of £8,000.

However, by starting with the Sailplane Pilot Licence (SPL) route, the numbers change dramatically.

Learning to fly for less: the gliding route to becoming a pilot - Cambridge Gliding Centre Learning to fly often feels like an exclusive, prohibitively expensive club. If you've always dreamed of taking to the skies but assumed the costs of a

Around the summer solstice, druids and revelers gather around sacred sites, such as Stonehenge, or Cambridge Gliding Club, to celebrate the long evenings and the beautiful sunsets.

We normally fly every Tuesday evening this time of year, and quite often lots of other evenings for group events or for Cambridge University pilots. If you want to come along, let us know. Evenings aren't always the best option for your very first flight — it's better to have a longer flight during the day — but then again the sunsets are pretty amazing.

Peak evening event season - Cambridge Gliding Centre Around the summer solstice, druids and revelers gather around sacred sites, such as Stonehenge, or Cambridge Gliding Club, to celebrate the long evenings and

Rather than edit the video as usual into a snappy minute or so, when I watched the footage back it seemed far better just to trim the ends and publish the whole ten minutes from take-off to recovery back to the launch point as the whole video gives such a lovely taste of evening flying, gorgeous conditions, an absolutely fabulous antique aircraft, and a relaxed group of people all enjoying the flying as the sun sets. Thanks to Duncan Withers for wearing the silly hat with a camera and Richard Maskell for his smooth flying and relaxed instruction.

Tuesday evening flying in Bluebell - Cambridge Gliding Centre http://www.camgliding.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Duncan_Withers_Bluebell.mp4

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.