Club News

News about general club activities, such as changes at the club, elections, new facilities, open days, etc

Fairford Airspace & Aerotow Noise

Club News /

On 30th March 2026, a new Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued affecting flying around Sandhill Farm and the wider area.  (NOTAMs are alerts and mandatory changes to airspace, and typically warn of activities such as low-flying or new obstacles, as well as activating or deactivating existing danger zones;  for example, when military parachute jumping is taking place,.  It can also impose temporary new airspace limitations) This specific NOTAM imposed a new Transponder Mandatory Zone (TMZ) in a radius around RAF Fairford, to coincide with its use by American heavy bombers involved in the conflict between the USA and Iran. 

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Ice-creams-in-the-cockpit

Ice-creams Welcome on Sweltering Gliding Day

Club News /

It was another of the recent very hot days at the Vale of White Horse Gliding Centre today.  ON days like this, pilots try to avoid too much time waiting in the cockpit, but occasionally it doesn’t work out quite as planed – maybe the tug stops to refuel, or there’s an issue with the tow rope, or another launch needs to take priority for some reason.   Thankfully we get regular visits from our local ice-cream van on flying days, and pilots trapped in their planes can usually rely on another club member to deliver an ice-cream to the needy (in this case me – thanks Adrian!)

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Ians-new-ASW-19

Congratulation to Ian on His New ASW19

Club News /

A busy day today, lots of launches, including club member Ian’s first flight in his newly acquired ASW 19, which looked in beautiful condition after its years of care by another of our club members who sold it on to Ian.  The club now has a handful of private owners looking forward to our cross-country task week starting on 15th June 2026 –  fingers crossed for some decent soaring weather to put the 19 and our other gliders (and their pilots) through their paces.

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sunset at VoWHGC

Progress On Getting Our OGN Ground Station Installed

Club News /

Work is progressing on getting the Sandhill Farm Open Glider Network (OGN) ground station operational.  Yesterday, Mark (that’s me!) installed our PoE switch in the clubhouse and ran a direct burial Ethernet cable out to the main hangar.  We plan to position the antennas for the system on a mast mounted at the front of this hangar, and tests yesterday indicate we should get good line-of-sight across the whole airfield from this position.  Once the system’s up and running, we should be able to log

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New Record For Aerotows At VoWHGC

Club News /

Our small gliding club has a long history in the area, with 40 years of operation at our Sandhill Farm airfield celebrated this year, and also 65 years since the club was founded. But a few years ago, the club was quite depleted of members – we recorded just 199 launches in 2017, and 135 in 2020.  However, in the last couple of years, the club has really flourished again, with lots of new members of all ages, and lots of visitors taking trial/experience flights.

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New Year’s Eve Flying at Vale of White Horse Gliding Centre

Club News /

Today was another fantastic winter flying day at the Vale of White Horse Gliding Centre near Swindon.  After a heavy frost and mist in the early morning, the sun burned off the mist and melted the frost by mid-morning, leaving a clear blue sky and a light headwind from the southwest, straight down the runway.   Solo pilots took the opportunity to fly club gliders in the beautiful conditions,

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Winter Aerobatics at VoWHGC

Club News /

The first flight of the day on Saturday gave club-member Ian the chance to experience some aerobatics with one of of our aerobatics-rated instructors, Milan.  With some broken cloud and lots of blue sky, the views were stunning. See some images below, as well as a video of the amazing figures they flew

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A Classic Blue Sky Flying Day in Late Autumn

Club News, Introductory Flights /

Amongst lots of wet days, overcast days, and high wind days in the last couple of months, we did have a beautiful blue sky day last weekend, when club members took the opportunity to work towards going solo, or kept their currency up to date, or fixed any gaps in their recency status. We also had a visitor flying with us from another club, which is always welcome. What’s the difference between currency and recency, you ask? 

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