Welcome to Booker Gliding Club
Discover gliding Have you ever looked up and seen a glider soaring like a bird on Nature’s natural energy? You too could be up there. If you’re looking for a new challenge, or just an exciting day out, try gliding with Booker Gliding Club. We’re based at Wycombe Air Park, between High Wycombe and Marlow, just off the M40, easy to reach from West and Central London, Oxford and Reading.
Experience Gliding For a taster of pure flight, or a gift with a difference, we offer trial lessons and half day courses throughout the year. Once you have bought your ticket you can book your preferred date online.
Learn to Fly We have options for new starters, difference training for pilots of other types of flying, and aerobatics courses. Once you have bought your ticket you can book your preferred date online.
Become a Member We have high performance training gliders, a simulator, a large number of BGA qualified instructors and a mentoring scheme that together will ensure that your flying skills develop safely and rapidly. Whether you want to improve your cross-country speeds and technique, become an instructor or master aerobatics, look around our website and Facebook pages to see what we offer.
Booker Gliding Club
Wycombe Air Park
Clay Lane
Booker
Marlow
Buckinghamshire
SL7 3DP
Call 01494 442501
Want to know more? Follow the links below to some popular topics.
Beginner Training
Progress from first flight to solo, flexible options
Cross Country Gliding
Take on the challenge of flying away from your home airfield
Expeditions
Visit other gliding clubs, learn ridge and mountain flying
Gliding Competitions
Test your skills against your friends with cross country racing
Instructor Training
Learn to pass on your skills to new pilots
Convert from Power
Enhance your skills, have more fun
Aerobatics
Anyone can learn, from pre-solo to advanced
Find out what inspires our members to fly
Nils
Nils started gliding at his German school’s gliding club and went solo at 15. He considered a career as a pilot but instead chose meteorology. His passion is cross-country.
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Jan
Jan first flew at age 14, she now flies big jets for a living and gliders for pleasure and challenge. She has been a member of the British Women’s team in the Worlds.
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Dean
Dean came to gliding in 2021 and found progressing from complete novice to solo an exhilarating learning experience.
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Robert
Rob began flying power planes at age 16 in New Zealand, he considered being an airline pilot but decided it wasn’t for him. He got into UK gliding when he was given a trial lesson at Booker as a gift and thought ‘this is the life’.
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Richard
Richard is the Club’s Chief Flying Instructor and Head of Training. He started flying at 16, and now has around 5,000 hours of flight time on both gliders and light aircraft.
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Club members enjoying some of the aircraft in our fleet
Nils was lucky to enough to start gliding at his German school’s gliding club and went solo at 15. This was where his interest in cross-country flying began. He considered a career as an airline pilot, and then air traffic control but instead chose meteorology. He joined the nearest gliding club to his university and competed in regional and county competitions. After university in 1995, he joined the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading and stayed there until 2022 when he moved to Bonn (retaining his Booker membership). He finished his PhD in 2005, while working on improving the model used for global numerical weather prediction. Soon after arriving in England he joined Booker and then bought his LS4.
Jan had to wait until the then minimum age of 16 to go solo. She started training as a vet at 17 and chose the vet school at Edinburgh University because it had a gliding club. Once qualified, she applied for vet jobs near airfields in order to get a PPL, and flew tugs at Aboyne [Deeside GC] where she had a share in a glider. After three years as a vet she spent a year instructing power pilots at Edinburgh while getting a frozen ATPL. She flew a number of types before joining BA and now flies the 787 Dreamliner as captain. After joining Booker in 1990 she started doing National and Regional comps, and was a member of the British Women’s team in the Worlds in 2001 and 2003.
Dean came to gliding as a liberation from the pandemic lockdown. He made a beeline for the Booker ‘Get your Solo’ course, and found progressing from complete novice to solo an exhilarating learning experience. After going solo he enrolled in an aerobatics course, which sharpened his handling skills to allow him to perform complex aerobatic manoeuvres. He enjoys the stunning views and being close to nature, and says ‘gliding is an accessible, affordable aviation sport that anyone can enjoy’.
Rob started flying power planes at 16 in New Zealand, when he came second for a scholarship and the bloke who won was scared of flying. Rob thought it was a load of fun and carried on. After school he got a job with a part time degree course so he could go flying. Intending to be an airline pilot, he got a commercial licence and worked as an instructor for a year, but decided it wasn’t for him, so at age 22 he came to the UK, met his wife, children came along and he stopped flying.