Head over to our “Buy a First Flight Voucher” page.  After you’ve placed your order you will receive a confirmation email, followed shortly afterwards by an email with a printable Gift Voucher containing its Voucher code.  This can be printed for, or forwarded to, the lucky recipient!

You will receive an email confirming you have placed your order.  We will monitor and check your order and then send a confirmation of your booking shortly afterwards.

It is of course possible to visit the club and fly on the day, and we would love to make your dream come true, but it would need to be subject to availability and weather conditions.

We would generally advise booking in advance.  This is still subject to weather conditions, but we will ensure the club resources are there for you. This is done on the “Book your Flight” page. Here you can book and pay at the same time, or you can redeem a First Flight Voucher if you have been given one.

If you happen to be in the area and would like to see if we have availability, then give us a call or come and visit us.  We cannot guarantee to have availability on this basis, but it would be a good way to see the club and enjoy its facilities.  Our Cafe is open on club days!

Please check out our “Terms and Conditions” and “Who can Glide?” page

Lucky you!  Head over to the “Book your Flight” page and you can use it there.

If you have any difficulties making your booking or redeeming your voucher, come back here for help!

You need to enter the Voucher Code exactly as it is typed, with no spaces, and in this format…

XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

…copy and paste it from your voucher is best, and then click on the “Apply Voucher Code” button. It will tell you if it has applied correctly.

When you book your flight, the system shows the cost of your chosen flight (ie. Adult or Junior) in the cart/checkout, and the Voucher Code effectively credits this. You will be able to check at the bottom of the Checkout page that your Voucher has been applied, and the total figure is showing as £0 before you click “Place Order”.

You will receive an email confirming you have booked your flight. On the day of your flight you will need to print and bring a copy of your booking confirmation email (or be able to show it on your phone).

The only age limit in gliding is that you must be 14 to go solo, but you may also need to consider other factors, which can also be found on our “Who can Glide?” page

There isn’t one really!  You’ll need to be able to to get into and out of the Glider, which is similar to getting in/out of the bath!  If you then wish to follow up your First Flight and continue your learning journey, you will need to have the same medical fitness as beig able to drive a car.

You’ll need to arrive at least 30 minutes before your booked Flight, and you will be taken care of by your Instructor and other club members for around an hour.  Depending on the weather and conditions, your flight will be an average of 15 minutes to a maximum of 30 minutes.

An airfield is a fairly exposed place. It is possible to get very sunburned when its sunny (even when it is not hot!), and very cold if it is chilly, damp and breezy.

The best guide is to wear what you might typically wear if you were to go for a long walk on that day. Having a choice of different layers is always good!  Appropriate footwear for grass which may be parched or soggy and maybe a bit muddy (but walking boots, definitely not wellies!), and the right clothes to stay warm or protected from the elements.

Drive into the club, staying on the lane across the field (please don’t drive, stop or park on the field itself!), past the hangar buildings, and you’ll find the clubhouse on your right. Find yourself somewhere to park in the car park near the clubhouse.

We are an active airfield. This means that there may be aircraft activities at any time of day, even if it may not look that way at the time!

Come into the clubhouse and introduce yourself to someone.  Show a copy of your booking confirmation email (either printed, or on your phone!) Your First Flight instructor or another club member will then give you a safety briefing and sort out the required paperwork.  You and anyone accompanying you will then be asked to put on a visitor hi-viz jacket, and you’ll be taken to the launch point, on foot if its nearby, or in one of the club vehicles. We’ll have an area close to the launchpoint for you to sit a make yourselves comfortable while we prepare you and the Glider for your First flight!

Yes, of course! If you take some great pics, we may even ask for permission to use them on our website/socials!

However, as you will hear at your flight briefing, it is absolutely vital there are no loose objects inside the cockpit when you fly, so we ask that it is secured on a strap.  We may be able to provide one, so please ask.

If you came with someone else, they are also encouraged to take pictures of your experience. They can either do this from the visitor area or we may be able to arrange for them to be nearer you if there is a spare club member to assist.

Occasionally the weather in the UK doesn’t play ball, and sometimes we may have a technical issue with staff/equipment.  We’d love to install a “make the bad weather go away and turn up the thermals” machine in the clubhouse, but it sadly they don’t exist!

If for any reason we are not able to fly you on your chosen day, we will revalidate your voucher so you are able to use it again, or issue you a new one if you booked without a voucher

If you’ve already travelled to the clubhouse, we have a great cafe, and we also have one of the best Gliding Simulators in the country, which we would happily use to give you a virtual experience of what to expect when you next come to the club!

Learning to fly a Glider is one of the least expensive ways to get into aviation, whether for fun or as an intended future career.

Your First Flight Experience includes a three month temporary membership of the Devon and Somerset Gliding Club.  It entitles you to the same membership benefits of a Full Flying club member.

This will enable you to join us on any flying day (as close to 8am as you can!), put your name on the daily flying list in the Launchpoint and start your journey to being a pilot yourself.  You’ll be encouraged to join in with all activities on the airfield which need to be done to get everyone flying, and you will be able to start having lessons with our amazing and instructors, who provide their services to the club free of charge, so the only cost to you will be your launch cost and a “per minute” cost for the use of the club training aircraft.  To put some context on that, a typical training flight can be between 7-15 minutes (15 minutes will cost around £18.50).  On a nice summers day with good weather (and a great day out with good company!), when instructor resources and weather permits, we like to try to give students three consecutive flights or a longer soaring flight, along with time to work with and review progress with your instructor.  We always suggest budgeting £30, maybe £50 on a good day (for context, in the world of powered flight, this would typically cost over £200 and you would also have to pay additionally for groundschool).

Once you’ve been coming up to fly regularly for a couple of months, we’re getting to know each other, and you feel that you wish to continue your journey with the DSGC and commit to the sport of gliding, the best thing to do is speak to one of the Club Officers or the Membership secretary.