South Wales Gliding Club

28/07/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Keith for re-soloing today after a 40 year break from gliding! 🎉

SWGC students are flying all week this week as part of our student development course. There has been lots of progress already and who knows, maybe some more solo flights on the way!

If you’re interested in learning to fly, why not start with one of our air experience flights. Each flight includes 1 month of membership so you can start your journey to gaining your pilot licence!

21/07/2026

🏁 First 300 km completed! 🎉

Congratulations to Dave N on completing his first 300 km cross country flight this weekend.

Launching from Usk, Dave flew a fantastic task to Worcester, across to Lake Vyrnwy, before returning safely to Usk, covering more than 300 km in a pure glider (no engine).

Cross country flying is one of the most rewarding aspects of our sport, combining meteorology, navigation, decision making and flying skill to complete ambitious flights using nothing but nature’s energy. Dave used thermals to stay airborne, allowing him to climb to over 5,000 feet.

A brilliant milestone and one that has undoubtedly whetted the appetite for even bigger adventures.

Congratulations, Dave, from everyone at South Wales Gliding Club! 👏✈️

21/07/2026

Floating above the clouds… ☁️ ✈️

A fantastic wave soaring day over South Wales, with smooth air, incredible cloud formations and breathtaking views stretching for miles.

Photos taken by Andrew J, flying from our airfield in Usk, sharing the sky with an RAF A400 👀

Wave lift is one of nature’s most remarkable flying phenomena, allowing gliders to climb to altitudes that would be impossible on an ordinary soaring day.

Days like these remind us why we love this sport.

Interested in experiencing gliding for yourself? Whether you’re looking for a one-off trial flight or thinking about learning to fly, we’d love to welcome you to South Wales Gliding Club.

📍 Usk, Monmouthshire
🌐 www.uskgc.co.uk

14/06/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Holly Thomas! 🎉

We’re delighted to announce that one of our junior members, Holly Thomas, has been awarded an Air League Gliding Bursary to support her training towards the Sailplane Pilot Licence (SPL).

The Air League bursary programme helps young people progress in aviation by providing financial assistance towards their training and development. Holly’s award is a well deserved recognition of her commitment, enthusiasm and progress within the sport.

Holly has also recently taken on the role of Junior Gliding Ambassador at South Wales Gliding Club. In this position, she will help promote gliding to young people and work with our growing junior membership to support their development both on the ground and in the air.

Pictured here with SWGC’s Chief Flying Instructor Geoff Williams, Holly continues to be a great example of the opportunities available to young people in gliding.

Please join us in congratulating Holly on this achievement and wishing her every success as she works towards gaining her SPL. 👏✈️

The Air League British Gliding Association UK JUNIOR GLIDING

05/06/2026

Welcome to the fleet, RJ!

We’re delighted to share the latest addition to the South Wales Gliding Club fleet, K13 G-DDRJ.

Purchased from RJ joins our training fleet and will play an important role in introducing new pilots to the sport, helping members progress through their training and supporting our growing club.

The K13 remains one of the most respected two seat training gliders ever built, renowned for its forgiving handling, excellent visibility and ability to teach pilots the fundamentals of soaring.

A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this acquisition possible and to Lasham for their support throughout the process.

We look forward to seeing RJ launching from Usk very soon.

03/06/2026

The weather might not have given us booming cross country days but May has been a fantastic month at South Wales Gliding Club!

Congratulations to our latest achievements:

👏 Huw completed his first solo flight on the winch.

🙌 Rhodri completed his first solo aerotow flight, becoming the first student to be sent solo by instructor Dave.

🌟Darren successfully completed his instructor training and is now our newest instructor.

🏆 Dave, our Treasurer, passed his skills test and is now eligible to apply for his Sailplane Pilots Licence (SPL)

🧭 Visitors from joined us for our cross country task week at the beginning of the month. It turned out to be a really fun week of flying even if the weather wasn’t spectacular.

📈 The club also continues to grow, with 12 new members joining SWGC in the last couple of months.

These achievements represent hundreds of hours of flying, instruction, mentoring and volunteering by members across the club. Thank you to everyone who helps make progress like this possible.

Whether you’re taking your first flights, working towards solo, progressing to your licence or training as an instructor, it feels like there’s never been a better time to be part of South Wales Gliding Club.

Well done everyone and here’s to a big summer of flying ahead! ☀️🛩️

19/05/2026

Well done to everyone on the course. But a big congratulations to Darren for becoming South Wales Gliding Club’s newest instructor 🙌

Congratulations to Michael, Richard, Darren and Mark, who successfully completed their FI(S) ratings today following a BGA facilitated instructor course at The Gliding Centre. Pictured with coaches Simon and Paul.

15/05/2026

Well done to our treasurer David Smith (left) who passed his SPL skills test today with Ian Kennedy. He's now a fully qualified glider pilot!

We're looking forward to him joining in with our other cross country pilots.

07/05/2026

Task Week Day 3. The weather worked out nicely for us in the end Usk members and our visitors from set off on their preferred choice of cross country task. The “Usk Blue Hole” resulted in a few interesting starts to tasks but things got better further from home.

05/04/2026

Happy Easter from above the Usk valley 🌤️

A proper mixed bag this weekend. Yesterday was a write-off, but today delivered everything from rough, punchy air to climbs topping 6,000 ft. Not one for first flights, but a brilliant day for sharpening skills, stretching legs and building experience for our students and solo pilots.

Thanks to Martin, Darren and Paul for capturing it 📸