The Bristol & Gloucestershire Gliding Club
The BGGC
The club has around 140 flying members, a fleet of club owned gliders, two Supacat winches and a tug aircraft available, with about another 60 privately owned gliders operating on site. We welcome all members whether you are new to gliding or an experienced pilot and aim to provide a friendly environment with the potential for 7 day a week flying throughout the year.
The BGGC has its own dedicated airfield on top of the Cotswold edge with a large grass strip oriented roughly East/West. We overlook the Severn Vale looking across to the Black Mountains in Wales to the West and the Malvern Hills to the North. This means we get excellent thermal, ridge and wave offering soaring potential through the year; our members have carried out flights in excess of 750Km and reached over 20,000 ft in wave. In the winter months we enjoy around 100 km of usable ridges (in the right wind directions) from Broadway in the North to Bath in the South.
Cross Country flying for fun & competition is a key part of the club. The BGGC is glad to have among its members world class pilots as well as many pilots who regularly compete in UK National Championships. We have an active club cross country scene with weekend task briefings (when the weather co-operates) which are aimed at the full spectrum of cross country pilots from novice, through intermediate to pundit. There are several privately owned and club 2 seaters suitable for cross-country flying a formal and informal instruction is regularly available.
Flying from Nympsfield
Cross Country flying for fun & competition is a key part of the club. The BGGC is glad to have among its members world class pilots as well as many pilots who regularly compete in UK National Championships. We have an active club cross country scene with weekend task briefings (when the weather co-operates) which are aimed at the full spectrum of cross country pilots from novice, through intermediate to pundit. There are several privately owned and club 2 seaters suitable for cross-country flying a formal and informal instruction is regularly available.
We are also an active teaching club, operating throughout the year (subject to weather and volunteer availability), and offering a range of courses, as well as regular training. We also aim to offer advanced and intermediate coaching through the year and in summer run regular weekend cross country and task briefings. Our instructional flying benefits from local soaring opportunities through the year; both in thermal and on our ridges, as well as occasional wave flights.
The BGGC logo derives from the distinctive shape of the Severn River as it nears the Bristol channel - in the days before GPS systems became nearly universal in gliders this was a valuable landmark to pilots returning from long cross-country flights.