The SURREY HILLS GLIDING CLUB which runs the South London Gliding Centre has at any time up to 100 members with ages ranging from 14 to over 70 & we operate on weekdays all year round. As we have the luxury of tarmac runways we can also operate when many other airfields are water logged. We also have a club house with toilet facilities and means to make hot drinks.

Our fleet of aircraft is comprised of:

• 1 Grob Twin Acro (two seater)
• 1 Sport Vega (single seater)
• 2 K7 (two seaters)
• 2 K8 (single seaters)
• 1 Motor Falke (two seater)
• 1 T21 (two seater)

If you are thinking about learning to fly then gliding at SURREY HILLS GLIDING CLUB should be your choice. It's a particularly addictive form of flying and because it requires several people to launch a glider it tends to result in great camaraderie. You may be trying to decide what is the best way to learn. There are many books available on gliding from the local library or from the British Gliding Association. Derek Piggot is a prolific author on the subject and his books make superb bed time reading.

You can start by taking a single trial lesson or by participating in a week's intensive course. Alternatively, joining the gliding club and attending once or twice a week over a period of time can be a pleasurable and less stressful way to achieve solo status. Kenley is admirably placed inside the M25 for those who live or work in and south of London. Your learning experience will be spread over a longer period of time and different weather conditions than perhaps you would during a one week course. Although you may well be surprised by the fact that we can fly gliders in really quite varied conditions. As we fly until dusk throughout the year Monday to Friday it is perfectly feasible to come along to the club in the evening in the summer and take what ever opportunities arise to have one, two or ideally three flights with an instructor. You can then, if you wish, take a course.

If you want to achieve solo status in the shortest possible time and be fully conversant with all aspects of gliding, regular attendance is highly recommended.

Once you have achieved solo status, you progress to flying single seater gliders such as the K8. From there the next goal will probably be Bronze standard. This requires two soaring flights of half an hour each and successful completion of a written exam. This will be followed by a General Flying Test conducted by our chief flying instructor. Further badges can then be aimed at, Silver involving a five hour flight and a flight of 50 kilometers and then onto gold.

Because of airspace limitations, these higher goals may be a little hard to achieve at Kenley but the club regularly has expeditions to other clubs making use of the reciprocal arrangements that are a wonderful feature of gliding in the UK. Some of our members go on to purchase their own gliders, either individually or syndicates of perhaps 3 or 4 pilots. A single seat glider can be purchased for anything from perhaps £1500 for a wooden glider built in the sixties, through an early glass fibre glider at about £9000 to a state of the art aircraft at £100,000. It's a superb form of flying with goals achievable for everyone and something to suit all pockets.