The links on this page are not the usual "Everything to do with Gliding". The aim of this particular page is to steer you towards reference sites that will be of help in some way whilst you work towards your Silver.

If you are looking for a more general list of gliding related sites, then the club's main site will be more helpful. That said, there are a few "Pretty Pictures" sites on here because sometimes, all we want are pretty pictures. The list is in no particular order unfortunately, so it's a case of Seek and you Shall Find!

If you know of a site that would be useful to list on here, please send me the link and I'll pop it on for all to see.

General Info

• BGA Badge System A description of what's needed for each Flying Badge
• SGC Badge Table The Scottish Gliding Centre's version of the Badge system
• Lasham's Flying Cross Country Page
• The White Planes picture co. Pretty Pictures of Gliders
• The Sailplane Directory. A what's what and Who's Who guide.
• The Glider Pilot Network. On line forums, articles, stuff for sale etc.
• Gliding New Zealand. Exactly what it says on the tin. Some really useful stuff though

Reference site

• Speed to fly! An interesting explanation with good animated graphics.
• Field Landings.co.uk A web site dedicated to Field Landings.
• The Cloud Spotters Guide Not big on info but some interesting photos in the gallery.

Weather sites

• Weather Jack
• XC Weather. A forecasting site
• National Weather Service. A US based site with a simple but good explanation of flying weather
• AvBrief. Very handy for TAFs & MeTARs - requires free registration.
• NOAA Soundings.
• RASP. This has to be the starting point for most pilots!
• RASP Decoder. An explanation of terminology

This is a link to a page on the Wikipedia web site. It's their definition of Gliding. It's meant to be a brief description of what gliding is all about, but it's the best link I've found so far. Within the pages, their are links to all manner of things - dynamic soaring, wind gradient, inversion layers, ridge soaring etc, the list is almost endless. Here is the hyperlink to the page, it's well worth a look.

For a basic explanation of who a glider works, this may be worth a look. It contains info on How they stay up, Why they carry ballast, the different types of lift and much more. It's quite basic, but it might be of use. How Stuff Works