Cross Country Flying

For those new to gliding, cross country flying is combined with challenges of height and distance to enter a National Gliding Ladder. Our chief flying instructor, Frank Keyes, invited Paul Cunnington, our marketing manager, last week to experience a 200k distance challenge. This involved taking off from Bidford, then climbing to sufficient height to then pass the starting beacon. We then flew to Northampton, staying as high as we could without flying into restricted airspace. We turned pass the Northampton beacon and flew as close to a straight line to Ledbury as we could keeping on the edge of clouds with some lift. As we neared Ledbury, it was obvious that the blue sky was not going to give us the lift we needed, so we circled over The Malverns until we felt we had enough height. Then a dash to Ledbury, followed by a return to The Malverns and the edge of the Severn to gain what we hoped was enough height to do a long glide back to Bidford.

It was a nervous period next as we had to pass the control tower beacon at Bidford before circling back to land, with (just) enough height to do so.

All of this is made possible using computerised navigation, that tracks where you fly, logs passing off the beacons and measures height and distance on the system. Concentration and efficient flying are vital to do these tasks well.

Frank Jeynes taking a back seat driver to experience cross country flying

Gaining height after the aero tow before heading for the start beacon

PIt stop over The Malverns for some height to help get to Ledbury. Great spot for lift!