Gliding

The air cadets had the largest number of gliders and instructors than any other organization in the world, and it is their job o put the 'Air' in Air Cadets. We use two types of glider, the Grob 103 TMk1 (Viking) and the Grob 109 TMk1 (Vigilant). The Viking is a conventional glider, and is able to launch by winch or aero tow, whereas the Vigilant is a Self Launching Motor Glider.

   There are various stages to glider training in the Air Training Corps, the first being Gliding Induction Courses (GICs). There are three stages to the GIC, and they are numbered one, two and three, and each has different things that are demonstrated. In the Viking, GIC one is three launches, GIC two is four launches and GIC three is five launches.

  The second stage of glider training is the Gliding Scholarship (GS), where cadets learn all the necessary techniques for flying a glider, for example launch, landing, turns, straight glide, lookout and stalling. Also they learn how to cope with engine failure in the Vigilant. Upon completion of the course, which is 10-15 hours in the Vigilant or 40 launches in the Viking, cadets are issued blue wings.

Once the cadets have achieved their blue wings, the staff decide whether they are capable of going solo in an aircraft, and if they are, the cadet is given further training until they are ready. Cadets who go solo achieve silver wings.

Qualifying for solo standard is very difficult, and takes a lot of hard work, dedication and skill and is seen as a great achievement. Cadets who show that they have these qualities amongst others may get the opportunity to stay at the glider school and receive Advanced Glider Training (AGT). This is very rare, and once they have got gold wings, they are able to become a Flight Staff Cadet, and potentially become instructors themselves.

We have one cadet with gold wings, and another working on their gliding scholarship on our squadron.