I have always held a passion for flying and was involved with the creation of the Hang Gliding Club at college in the London in the 1970's.

Unfortunately my hang gliding experience ended when I crashed on take off in the South Downs, suffering a broken wrist.

However, this did not dampen my enthusiasm for flying and I enjoyed a few flying lessons from Leeds Bradford Airport. The lessons included taking over the controls of a single prop Cessna, which was both thrilling and rewarding. Flying to 1500 feet over my house in Shipley, across Ilkley Moor, towards Menwith Hill, Harrogate and York. Visibility was good and the views spectacular.

I subsequently experienced a gliding lesson from North Yorkshire Flying club. The glider was launched by an air tow, where the sailplane is connected by a cable to a single prop Piper Pawnee. The glider was released from the tow plane at about 2000 feet over Sutton Bank.

This in itself is a great experience as the glider shoots over Sutton Bank and suddenly the beautiful North Yorkshire landscape unfolds beneath you.

Luckily we manged to locate a thermal under a large cumulus cloud, which the instructor skilfully banked into and the glider gained height, levelling out at 7000 feet. We were in the air for over an hour and due to excellent visibility and weather conditions could have stayed up all day.

This is the beauty of gliding, after an initial launch you are completely dependent on weather conditions to remain in the air. A sound knowledge of meteorology is required to benefit from any available uplifts of air currents to stay in the air as long as possible.

The fantastic feeling of freedom and sense of being one with nature is only possible through unpowered flight. The complete calm and quiet of a gliding flight is totally different to the excessive cabin noise and vibrations of single engined aircraft.

You have all the necessary aviation instrumentation, height, speed, compass, but "yaw", where the aircraft is flying sideways can only be detected by a string attached to the outside of the cockpit.

I received a "Gliding Experience" voucher for my 66th birthday, which entitled you to 30 minute lesson at the Bowland Forest Gliding Club (BFGC)

This was indeed a flight to remember as BFGC use a cable launch winch to propel the glider into the air.

This time I was surprised, to put it mildly, when Tony the instructor said I needed to wear a parachute. Some "gallows humour" took place when Tony went through the evacuation procedure, i.e. pull the large red canopy release handle in front of the cockpit and jump.

"We haven't had to send many parachutes back for rewrapping recently" said Tony with a wry smile.

"In the unlikely event of an accident, just jump, don't wait for me, because I will already have gone".

The launch was exhilarating, from 0 to 60mph in three seconds. WoW, the G - force is something else and the glider reached 1500 feet in 20 seconds.

BFGC is located in the gorgeous Forest of Bowland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the views towards the Three Peaks and Morecambe Bay are fantastic.

Blackpool Tower was clearly visible as we flew towards the coast.

The gliding club is located near a natural ridge in the landscape, this creates air lift all year round and enables the sailplane to maintain a safe flight elevation.

The flight training included hands on control of the joystick and pedal operated rudder and elevators. I experienced a controlled stall and the effects of Zero Gravity.

At first I was a bit apprehensive to take control., but the plane was very responsive and actually flew in a straight line on its own.

The landing was awesome, as we banked slowly round until the airfield was in sight and the instructor executed a gentle turn and landed on the grassy airfield, although being so low to the ground you could certainly feel every bump and divot.

I have taken several flights in the dual controlled gliders, despite my advanced years and initial launch nerves, I hope to join BFGC as a full member in Spring 2023.