Women's Gliding

Female Competition Pilot Development

Members of the British Team will be running development training during 2006/7 for up-and-coming female glider pilots. We would like to hear from ALL women pilots who might be interested. Please don't rule yourself out due to inexperience or experience - we would like to hear from anyone who is regularly flying cross-country or has the ambition to do so. Plans for this year include development days of flying and ground school, objectives setting and mentoring. Please contact Liz Sparrow - ebertoya@iee.org - to get involved, and to hear of future events, simply sign up for the free BGA email subscriptions, making sure you tick the box for Women.

We’ve set up this web page in response to the great success of our first initiative – a development day at Bicester on January 14th, which was enjoyed by all who attended, see news section for details.

NEWS

Women Pilots' Development Weekend 2008 15th February 2008

UPDATE 10th March 2008
There are a few places still available on the development weekend.  If you're an up-and-coming comp pilot and want to learn to fly faster, book your free place ASAP - numbers are limited.  Plans for the weekend include flying as weather permits, and briefing /discussion with members of the British Team in between times.  There will be a very limited amount of 2-seater flying available, so do bring your glider to put it all into practice.  Contact Liz Sparrow to book a place. Please note that if attending and intending to fly, you must bring your current medical declaration with you.

The women’s development group ran three very successful weekends during 2006 and 2007 which were designed to help pilots move their cross country and competition flying forward to the next level.  The group is now planning another event for early 2008 with one major difference to the earlier events – having a Y chromosome will not disqualify you from participating!

All pilots, male or female, who have flown in a rated competition (regionals or nationals) and who want to improve their skills are invited to the competition development weekend at Sutton Bank on 5-6th April.  Run in conjunction with the BGA coaching operation, the weekend will offer a ground school and practical flying designed to improve competitiveness.  This is a great opportunity to learn from current British team members, who will be supporting the event.

There are only 25 places available so, if you want to hone your skills ready for the new competition season with BGA coaches and members of the British gliding team – still the world’s number one – as well as, hopefully, enjoying some good flying in the process, contact Liz Sparrow to book your place.

Northern Regionals 16th July 2007

The organisers of the Northern Regionals (Sutton Bank, 4-12 August) are supporting the women's development group by offering a reduced entry fee of only £50 to all women pilots. This is made possible by generous support from Hill Aviation. To take advantage of this opportunity, please contact Josephine at Yorkshire GC, stating that you are from the Women's Development Group. (You should also quote this when completing your entry form). More details are on the Yorkshire GC web site.

Hexencup 2007 11th February 2007

The German Aero Club invites British women pilots of all levels to join them for the Hexencup 2007. The Witch Cup will be held in Klix, Germany - scene of the 2005 Women's Worlds - from Friday 27 July to Saturday 4 August 2007. There will beh two classes: Beginner for pilots with a Silver C but little or no competition experience, and Professional for those with competition experience. Famililes and other women pilots of any level or nationality will also be warmly welcomed for this 'adventure holiday'. For more information, please contact Thomas Kirsch at aeroteamKLIX Segelflug.

Women Pilots' Development Weekend at Nympsfield 14/15 April 2007 6th December 2006

After the success of the Lasham weekend last year and bearing in mind the feedback you sent us, we have arranged a development weekend at Nympsfield in the spring.  Pilots of all ability/experience welcome - please don't assume it's not for you if you don't fly xc/comps yet.  Bring your own glider, but we also hope to have have a number of two-seater places available (list to date is a DG505, a Nimbus3DT and a Duo).  As last time, the weekend will include a mixture of flying and ground events/lectures - and we'll be asking the Nympsfield committee  to organise the weather...  Detailed arrangements will be circulated nearer the time, meanwhile book the weekend in your diary and we'll see you there!  Any questions to Liz Sparrow ebertoya@iee.org

Development Meeting – 11 November 25th October 2006

The Women's Development initiative continues with a meeting at Husbands Bosworth on 11 November, from lunchtime until 3.30pm. All are welcome: the agenda will include a debrief of the season just past, feedback and ideas for development events for the year to come and some inspiration to fire you up through the cold weather with X-C techniques you can work on through the winter.

If you know any woman pilots local to Hus Bos, please let them know about this meeting. If you are unable to make it but have some feedback on previous events, your achievements during the season, or suggestions as to what development events you would like us to offer during the coming year, then please email Liz Sparrow.

Coaching Week at Issodun 20-27 August 30th June 2006

Ayala Liran and Hannah Hay have been selected for 2 seater coaching. We would like to widen the opportunity somewhat. Anyone who has flown a Nationals or intends to do so this year is welcome to bring their own glider along and join us - please contact Gill Spreckley. It is relatively short notice but we hope that some of you will be able to join in.  If people can only make part of the time, it may be possible to broker glider-sharing arrangements - we'll have to see who wants what. The format for the week will be to set typical comp tasks each day, with one of the team piloting the Duo with one of the coachees (?!) and one in an LS4.  We will intersperse the flying with the usual groundschool subjects as well as sampling the local cuisine.  Contact Gill for all arrangements.

XC Weekend at Lasham - 10/11 June 26th March 2006

Everyone is invited to join us for a XC weekend on 10/11 June - lectures and barbecue will be fitted around the tasks.  Several of the British Team will be there and we hope to arrange some 2-seater places.  It would be useful to have an idea of numbers so please let Liz ebertoya@iee.org know if you are intending to come along.

Development training at Women's Pre-Worlds 4th March 2006

The venue for the next Women's Worlds is likely to change and we are now planning to offer development training during the Nationals at Issoudun, 13 - 19 August.  We intend to offer training places to two or three people.  All who are interested, please submit a gliding CV and covering note explaining why you would benefit from this training.  We hope to have sponsorship to by cover some of the costs, so please don't let finance stop you from applying.  Applications to Liz Sparrow by Friday 31 March.

Female Pilot In-flight Relief and NavPlot NOTAM Mapping 26th February 2006

After our discussions on personal hygiene at Bicester, I have collected all the info together and posted it at www.freeflight.org.uk.  You can also download NavPlot, Alan's NOTAM mapping programme, from this site; even if you already have this, you might want to download the the latest upgrade which now shows key permanent airspace on the map - useful for relating where the NOTAMs actually are.

Objectives Setting and Psychological Preparation 24th February 2006

Diana King offered two pointers on this at Bicester and confirms that the book she mentioned is 'Sporting Body, Sporting Mind,' by John Syer and Christopher Connolly, published by Cambridge University Press.  She writes:  'I've found it enormously useful on goal setting, planning and organising a programme to achieve the goals.  It is also good on psychological factors.  There is quite a bit on physical aspects which are of less relevance, but altogether it's a very good book for people wanting to improve their own personal performance, particularly in competitive situations.  It's still in print and I found it tonight on Amazon.'
She also promised the goal setting and assessment format she has been developing, and you can download it here.  Feedback at the end of the season to Diana or Liz please if you use it!

Bicester Development Day 15th January 2006

29 pilots turned up to listen to Liz Sparrow, Rose Johnson and Pete Masson talk about international competitions, comp preparation, objectives setting and how to fly faster.  We think it was the largest ever gathering of female cross-country pilots in the UK.  The most experienced pilot present - Jane Randle - admitted to 45 years flying experience, while at the other end of the scale we had one pilot who has not yet discovered the joys of solo cross-country.  Just over 1/3 of those present were either nationals pilots or intending to fly their first Nationals this year, another third were looking forward to their first competition, and in between we had a group of keen Regionals pilots. 
The day was very interactive, and we all enjoyed sharing knowledge and experience.  A discussion of how people would like to take this group forward started on the day and has continued since; anyone who wants to find out more or take part in any of the development opportunities to come, contact Liz Sparrow ebertoya@iee.org

Several people have written to me to say that they found it really useful and inspiring - and at the time of writing one week later, about half a dozen tell me they have entered their first competition directly as a result of coming along - so that's terrific news.

You can see the overall agenda and slides from the day here.