The prejudice against glider pilots always amazes me. It is possible for all types of pilots to exist happily together and even to fly in the same bit of airspace - shock, horror! All it takes is the ability to look up and out of the cockpit on a very regular basis. After all, shouldn't we all be flying by attitude and not by instruments. (Unless you are in IMC and to be honest, in that case you aren't particularly likely to bump into a glider coming the other way!)
I will admit that perhaps having a competition close to a military airfield can be viewed with some trepidation but as long as people in the organisation talk to each other, there should not be any problem. I was involved in the organisation last year of a gliding competition held at an airfield in East Anglia very close to our American friends and by establishing a basis of co-operation between us, there were no incidents and everyone was very happy. It can be done and will be done again next year.
The proposed changes which mentioned a bit earlier will not make the skies safer thanks to eliminating the "threat" from gliders. The number of accidents caused by a mid-air with a glider are minute.
It is not just gliders who use the sky. By introducing compulsory transponders across GA, all the little puddle jumpers will also have to have them fitted. There will be a massive increase in radar traffic and for what? So that the CAA can bring in through the backdoor the means to start charging for the privilege of using airspace in the UK.
The BGA is naturally concerned about this, not only because of the fact that a large proportion of the glider fleet in the UK will end up not flying again as it will not be economically viable to fit the transponders but also because of the way the CAA seem to be moving towards charging everyone for the privilege of flying.
If you want to read more, go the BGA website at
www.gliding.co.uk