Contents
Beginners' books
While you will be taught theory during your flights with instuctors we strongly recommend you support this with background reading. There are several good books for beginners:
- The Glider Pilots Manual by Ken Stewart
- Gliding, From Passenger to Pilot by Steven Longland
Advanced books
More advanced pilots should get:
- Bronze and Beyond by John McCullagh
- Advanced Soaring Made Easy - Bernard Eckey
Complete e-books
For a student on a tight budget there are a number of old gliding books available online for free. Free books tend to be decades old and may have out-of-date information including safety-related guidance. This a section of free complete e-books from the Wally Kahn Library.
- Teaching Harry to Fly – David Millett 1994
- Gliding in 8 Days – Adrian Morgan 1990
- Gliding and Soaring – Bill Scull 1977
- Soaring Across Country – Bill Scull 1987
- Cross-Country Soaring – Helmut Reichmann 1978
- The Handbook of Glider Aerobatics – Mallinson & Wollard 1999
- Meteorology and Flight – Tom Bradbury 2000
- BGA Manual – BGA 2002
External resources
- Free e-books from the Wally Kahn Library
- Free magazine and book archive
- FAA Glider Flying Handbook – Warning: this is a USA publication, and some information is incorrect in the UK, it also has a few known mistakes. It has limited information on winch launching as this is uncommon in the USA.