Gliding

About Gliding

The University of Nottingham Gliding Club welcomes any University of Nottingham student or staff member to come and learn to fly. We offer some of the most affordable flying in the country, with flights starting from just £6 and free instruction provided.

For detailed instructions on how to join the club visit uongc.net/join. Feel free to message us on social media or write an email to info@nugc.net for any questions. 

The University of Nottingham Gliding Club is one of the oldest clubs in the university. We cater for complete beginners to those who have already gone solo elsewhere and want to continue flying at university. Some of our members have gone on to become national, or even international gliding champions, including our founding member, Brian Spreckley. Other members have gone on to pursue careers as airline pilots or roles in big engineering companies, such as Airbus, Rolls Royce and BAE.

Founded in the late 1970s, the aim of the club is to provide flying training and experience to members as cheaply as possible, regardless of whether someone has flown before. Our club owns two gliders, a single seater and a double seater. We are affiliated with Cranwell Gliding Club, who flies from RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire and who are themselves affiliated with the RAF Gliding & Soaring Association. The advantage of this relationship is that we have access to their extensive fleet and experienced instructors.

We run several expeditions each year, which are open to all members, including our annual Easter trip to Portmoak in Scotland, the Inter-University competition in the summer and various weekends to other clubs. We are also extremely active in the university gliding community, attending several inter university events throughout the year. UoN Gliding is also a very active club socially – we meet as often as possible for pub crawls and quizzes, bowling, cinema and other fun stuff (details shared on our Facebook group).