How much does it cost?
Membership
The club operates a two tier membership system. Paying a £5 deposit entitles you to join the club's social activities and ground school seminars, however full flying membership is an additional £20 (total cost £25). If you pay your deposit at the Freshers' Fair (29th September) the total cost of flying membership is reduced to £20. If you are a student of another university you may join as an associate member, costing £30. Membership must be paid in full before you fly for insurance reasons.
Flying
Aerotow launch prices are as follows:
Altitude (feet) Price 500 £10.00 1000 £20.00 1500 £23.00 2000 £26.50 Each additional 500ft £6 Normally you would be taking launches to 2000 feet, and only rarely to less than 1500 feet.
When we are flying our own K13 two seat glider, there is no charge for your time in the air, but if you want to fly the sleek Ulster Gliding Club two seat aircraft the first 30 minutes flying are free, but you will have to pay 35p per minute (£21 per hour) after that.
If you are solo you can fly the single seat Grob Astir. The first 30 minutes flying are free, but you will have to pay 27p per minute (£16.20 per hour) after that.
All instructors are volunteers so instruction is free.
Price Comparison
There are only two gliding sites to fly from in Ireland, and the Ulster gliding Club is both the closest and cheapest. The Ulster Gliding Club's student membership charge is a substantially larger £80 per year. You can join our club & fly for an hour before deciding if you like it and want to do it again at cheap members rates, all for less than the cost of membership with the Ulster Club.
This may all sound expensive, but for one hour flying with a (standard) launch to 2000 feet, the absolute most you will pay is £37.00 (and that is only if you are not flying our free glider). Compared to training for a powered pilots licence, costs are around £120-170 per hour.
If you want to fly power eventually, gliding certainly gives you a head start, and gliding experience beyond the silver badge can count towards a private pilots licence qualification, so fewer expensive hours are required.