Walking on Air is a Scottish charity enabling people with disabilities to soar like birds.
We utilise the facilities at the Scottish Gliding Centre to provide an opportunity for people with disabilities and a sense of adventure, to be able to fly a modified glider.
We welcome you to contact us and come for a trial flight. Or why don't you simply arrange to come along and meet us, watch others fly and have a relaxing day out.
New members are always welcome, from teenagers upwards - you too can learn to fly!
Club Facilities
The Scottish Gliding Centre is widely advertised (and signposted) as a significant local attraction.
We have a club house restaurant serving hot meals all day, comfortable accommodation for your overnight stay and a range of other facilities.
Accomodation
The clubhouse has a number of bedrooms available (comprising 5 singles, 4 twins and 1 double room) which offer excellent value for money at only £14 per bed per night. Please contact the club for more information and to book. Each bedroom has washing facilities and showers are available. The club has its own caravan site handily located in a wooded area in the centre of the airfield and quite a large number of members especially those from further away make use of this. It is generally quite busy - please contact the club if you wish to bring a caravan to Portmoak. Visitors are generally permitted to erect tents for short stays (small ones please - no giant or gaudy frame tents!). There is also a large range of local accomodation to suit all requirements and pockets.
Restaurant and Bar
The clubhouse restaurant offers a full meals service from a cooked breakfast through various hot and cold snacks to a full evening menu most days and everyone is welcome from members and guests to visitors and members of the public who may fancy something to eat and drink whilst watching the flying activities. Prices are very reasonable and most of the cooking is done freshly on the premises. The licensed bar serves a range of beers, spirits and soft drinks at good club prices.
Aircraft
The WA1 K21 is a two-seat glider (or sailplane), constructed of glass fibre. Although notionally classed as a pilot-training aircraft, its performance, with a wingspan of 18 metres, compares very favourably with many single-seat gliders. Despite being docile in handling and relatively easy-to-fly, it is also capable of extended cross-country flights, high-altitude soaring, and most types of aerobatic manoeuvre.
The controls of a glider operate in almost the same manner as a small power plane; a control-column or joystick being the main flight-control, and operating ailerons for roll (turning) and an elevator for speed-control. Conventionally, two foot pedals operate a rudder. The rudder is needed to "balance" the turn, and to steer the aircraft on the ground. It is this need for foot-control of the rudder which the design of WA1 eliminates, by substituting an extra hand-lever for the pedals.
As in most two-seat gliders, the pilot-under-training sits in front, and the instructor at the rear. Whilst a number of other aircraft, power and glider, have been modified for hands-only control, WA1 is in a minority having a full 2-seat hand controls system. With dual hand-controls, instruction can be given by a person using the same control configuration as the pilot-under-training, or either seat can be reconfigured for conventional hand/foot control as required. This also provides for the ability for a hands-only pilot to becoming a fully-qualified instructor, able to train able bodied pilots in the art of flying.
