Booker Gliding Club

Booker Gliding Club is one of Britain’s premier soaring and glider pilot training sites. Whether you are a seasoned pundit or just fancy a trial lesson, we can offer you exactly what you want. Employing professional instructors, we have an excellent fleet of gliders and tow planes maintained by professional engineers. All this, combined with a seven-days-a-week operation throughout the season, makes us one of the UK’s most effective gliding clubs.

We operate from Wycombe Air Park , one of the busiest airfields in the country. As well as the gliding club there is a helicopter school, two flying schools and many vintage aircraft such as the Spitfire, which fly from the AirPark. The airfield is situated in the Chiltern Hills, about half way between London and Oxford.

There is a tarmac runway and grass runways for powered aircraft. Gliders operate on their own grass areas, which are parallel to the active ‘power’ runways.

GPS co-ordinates are: N51°36.693′ W000°48.510′

CASC logo
Gliding is a sport, and our club is registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC). As one of the premier gliding sites we provide great gliding facilities for our members. Booker Gliding Club fully supports participation in gliding by all in the community. If you want to participate in gliding activities with us, but are worried about the cost, please contact the Club Secretary to discuss the options in confidence.

Food and drink are also available on the airfield at “The Pad” and you can relax after a hard-days flying and have a beer while watching the late finishers zoom across the airfield from the upstairs balcony. Further details can be obtained from “The Pad” on 01494 525188.

The Gliding Club has its own building with clubhouse, briefing rooms and offices. We also have a members and guests tea bar. The vast majority of our club fleet stays rigged and ready to go in a modern hangar.

Food and drink are also available on the airfield at “The Pad” and you can relax after a hard-days flying and have a beer while watching the late finishers zoom across the airfield from the upstairs balcony. Further details can be obtained from “The Pad” on 01494 525188.

The surrounding area is good for exploring. There are many excellent pubs and restaurants, shops, entertainments and countryside areas.

Situated between London and Oxford and convenient to the M40 (Junction4), we offer flying amid outstanding countryside. Booker is easy to reach by road via the M40 from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, West London and the Midlands. Travelling via the M4/A404 provides easy access from Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, South London and Wiltshire. High Wycombe railway station provides good access from Central London (Marylebone) and has a bus link (or a taxi journey of around ten minutes). Alternatively, trains are available from London Paddington to Maidenhead (taxi journey of around 20 minutes).

To ensure we have the gliders, tugs and instructors available, all lessons require prebooking. Once booked, you just need to call on the day to check if we are flying.

Evening flying is ideal for those who are fairly local and it provides a great opportunity to unwind after a day in the office! There is something particularly special about soaring in the silky smooth evening air as the Sun begins to set. We recommend you try it if you can! During the colder months we’re closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

After purchasing your lesson or course online, we will send you details about how to arrange when you’d like to fly, how to find us and we’ll provide some additional information about gliding in general.

We also accept group bookings, so if there is a group of you who’d like to try gliding (perhaps a social group, team or work colleagues) get in touch with the office for details of group discounts. We can also accommodate groups on weekday evenings from Spring through to Autumn. We’re delighted to welcome back each year groups from local businesses as they always have great fun.

Part of being a Club is that we like people to become involved in helping out as well. So, if you come along on a course we’ll encourage you to help. This may involve retrieving the gliders with our buggies, keeping the flying log and helping to launch the gliders. Whilst not obligatory, help is always appreciated and it’s a good way to maintain a sociable, co-operative culture. This will all be supervised and you’ll receive training on what to do. It makes the day more fun for you and assists with the smooth running of the Club.