Working with schools, youth groups, colleges, and other STEM-linked organisations, our ‘Go Gliding’ programme uses gliding – the most accessible form of aviation – as the inspirational trigger. The Go Gliding programme is supported by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Futures Fund and CAA’s Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund.

Go Gliding funded events are facilitated at gliding clubs across the UK. Each event provides hands-on gliding-based STEM activities, talks by diverse role-models including those currently employed in aviation and aerospace, a brief introduction to gliding using gliding simulators and an explanatory tour of the gliders, aircraft and launch facilities owned by the participating club. These events are designed for school-age pupils with a minimum age of 13-14 with the STEM activities aimed at Key Stage 3 and 4 attendees; older students will still find them challenging! Each session will finish with a short quiz which will result in some participants being invited to apply for one of two Gliding Scholarships worth £500 each.

For 6^th form pupils and undergraduates, we will be running a number of careers events in partnership with major aviation companies where attendees will find out more about the breadth of opportunities within aviation and again have a chance to win a Gliding Scholarship.

Additionally, we run sessions online which are open to audiences further afield and can also act as a lead-in to the club-based events. In these sessions, pilots tell their story and show how it helped to build life and work skills, bust some aviation myths, describe how amazing gliding and aviation are, and run a light-hearted quiz with a chance to win a gliding mini-course.