Welcome to Lanarkshire and Lothian Soaring Club web site.
The club was formed in February 1975 by a number of pilots who had been flying the Tinto area since February 1974.
For those who dream of soaring like a bird, hang gliding and paragliding are the cheapest and simplest ways to get into the air. Both aircraft are foot launched and highly maneuverable to allow the pilots to make the most of the natural rising currents of air which are their only source of lift. No noise or pollution is involved - these are truly environmentally friendly sports, entirely powered by the sun and the wind. Expert pilots who know how to exploit these natural phenomena can travel incredible distances. The distance record for a hang gliding flight from within Scotland was broken at Tinto Hill in 1996, ending south of the border.
A paraglider is a fabric canopy, like a parachute, but designed to fly off hills rather than open up in free fall. Being designed for soaring flight, it has much better gliding performance than any parachute.
A hang glider is a semi-rigid wing - fabric sail with an airframe made of aluminium tubes and steel cables.
It's about the same as skiing and snowboarding - two fairly similar sports sharing a slope. Paragliders offer quicker initial training, are easier to carry and quicker to get ready to fly. Hanggliders are bulkier and take longer to rig, require more initial training but offer higher speed and better glide.
There are people doing both hanggliding and paragliding - they choose the gear depending on weather and flying site - paraglider kit for very light days or for a long carry-up, hangglider for windier or rough days, or when it's easy to drive to take-off and landing.
Looking at another angle, on average paraglider pilots tend to be younger than hangglider pilots, and female percentage is higher in paragliding than in hanggliding.
There is some risk, as in any other kind of aviation. Old days are over, now it's not nearly as dangerous as in pioneer years. Hang gliders and paragliders are tested for stability and strength, and certified. Statistically hanggliding and paragliding are about as risky as riding motobikes or skiing, but those risks are less random - a pilot usually knows when he's about to take a risk, and usually has an option to avoid it.
It's like skiing, there's no engine. Gliders (hanggliders, paragliders and sailplanes) may need initial boost to get off the ground (most often we use hills for that), and then fly on the natural energy of moving air - wind and sun provide enough to fly for hours and cover more than 100km. Using this enery requires some intelligence though, and that's what one learns after initial training. There are foot-launched powered machines - paramotors and motorized hanggliders, but not in our club.
Not quite, hangglider and paraglider pilots perform controlled takeoff, the wing starts to fly and create lift while pilot's feet are on the ground.
There are other ways to get off the ground - towing by a winch or by a microlight aircraft, or dropping from a hot air balloon. Still, launching from a hill is the most popular and the other ways are used where there are no hills.
Pilots don't hang on with their hands, they sit or lie, strapped in a harness which is connected to the wing. Hands are used for control, as relaxed as when you drive. And you can let go for a while when there's no traffic around! So we usually fly fairly relaxed, and flying for more than 2 hours is a norm, sometimes a flight can last for 5 hours!
A paraglider is controlled with the brakes. You pull the left handle - left hand side of the canopy slows down, and the glider turns left. Pull the right one - it turns right. Pull them both - it slows down. Still, if you don't get proper initial training because you think it's THAT SIMPLE, give it a go and unknowingly do it wrong - you may need a surgeon service or worse. A paraglider is an aircraft, after all, and deserves respect.
A hangglider is controlled by shifting pilots body, this is called weight shift control. You move youself to the right in the control frame - it turns right. Move yourself to the left - it turns left. Move yourself forwards - it flies faster. Backwards - it slows down. Proper initial training is even more essential than with paragliders.
Hangglider and paraglider pilots use instruments called "vario" which is a short form of "variometer". These tell you how fast you're going up or down. And just in case you're not looking at the screen, they beep when you go up, and burrr when you go down faster than normal. Most of instruments also tell you how high you are.
Unfortunately, no. There are hanggliding and paragliding schools for the initial training. They teach the basics in a very safe environment, and issue Club Pilot rating. Initial training takes approximately 10 flying days. The more intensively one attends, the less he/she forgets between the lessons, and requires fewer days in total. As you master takeoffs, landings, turns and basic soaring - you get your CP (Club Pilot) rating and can join a club.
Every club has a few active experienced pilots called Coaches (see our Coaches page) who are happy to advice novice pilots, woudln't mind coming out to fly with you, and sometimes give lectures on club nights in winter. Being a glider pilot is not a destination, it's a path! One never stops learning to be safer and better pilot.
Fairly expensive to start, much easier after. Some rough figures to (hopefully) scare you away:
Of course! Check the message board, club members often discuss where to go for flying. Get a mobile number for some active pilot if you can, you'll be informed on the day or the day before. Hangglider and paraglider pilots often treat anyone who is interested in flying as a friend.
Yes, there are two seat (tandem) hanggliders and paragliders, and some pilots in our club have those and are qualified to fly with a passenger. Enquire at the message board or ask some club member you have contacts for. Be prepared to go on a flyable day rather than when you wish!
Alternatively, try a hanggliding or paragliding school, many of them do tandem rides commercially as a "lesson" and will normally charge something between 50 and 100 pounds.
Your flight will likely be soaring, i.e. a pilot can stay in the air as long as you wish or till he's late for dinner. Sometimes first-timers get close to sick of adrenaline after an hour of flying.
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