A year ago, myself and the British Aerobatics team were learning to roll. Fast-forward to September 2026, and we were representing Great Britain at an international aerobatic gliding competition in Fayence, France. What could possibly go wrong and how on earth did I get there?

The road to Fayence involved training across several clubs, in the early days starting at the Mynd and Shawbury and then on to competitions starting at Saltby before moving to Nympsfield in April, with further practice at The Mynd and Shawbury in-between.

Training and Competitons

After a poor winter for weather and a late start to the 2026 season, progress was slow. I made the most of every flyable day, including two lots of ten-day training camps at Nympsfield over the summer, squeezed in between two UK Advanced competitions. Rest days were clearly overrated!

Shawbury has been incredibly supportive throughout my aerobatics journey. Gally helped coach me through the earlier levels……

……while Graham, our official coach, continued to guide us and continued coaching the team in Fayence. His coaching, mentoring and ability to keep things light-hearted when things went wrong proved invaluable.

Toby, another RAF Shawbury GC member, took on the team manager role in the lead-up and throughout the competition. Organised, reliable and great company, he always knew who was flying when, kept everyone moving and sorted the details so we could concentrate on flying rather than logistics. Calm throughout, he represented the team brilliantly and proved to be exactly the right person for the job.

The road to the mountains

Chris and I set off with the glider on the trailer, spending the night at Kent Gliding Club before catching the ferry from Dover to Calais. We picked up a hitcher hiker from Kent gliding though and decided under no uncertain terms, we do not open the trailer....

From there, we headed south, stopping at another French gliding club who kindly allowed us to park the trailer up overnight, before continuing to Fayence.

It was a pleasant drive, complete with a carefully prepared and rather large snack box, questionable games of I Spy and Chris finding great amusement in motorway signs..

We arrived a week before the competition to practice, get used to the surroundings and become familiar with the mountains. The scenery was spectacular, but those same mountains made judging the horizon during aerobatics surprisingly difficult. Temperatures approaching 40°C most days added another challenge, making hydration and concentration sports in their own right.

Aerobatics, but make it complicated

Practice was intense, but gave us a real insight into international competition. Flying the sequence was only part of the job. We also had to choose figures for the next sequence, build that sequence from the figures selected by the competing countries, check and sign our results, decide whether to protest within a limited time, and then walk through the next sequence ready to fly again.

All while trying to remember which way up we were supposed to be.

Graham constructed a box on the ground from string, complete with wooden spoons sporting faces to represent the judges.

Nothing says elite international sport quite like impersonating judges with cutlery!!!

There was something strangely comforting about watching competitors from different countries performing their own versions of the airfield aerobatics dance and ultimately watching them fly the sequences.

Everyone looked equally ridiculous rehearsing manoeuvres on the ground, and everyone was in the same boat.

We also met plenty of lovely people from other countries, who were genuinely encouraging about seeing the British team back on the international stage after a long absence.

Trusting my gut — upside down

Competition itself was a rollercoaster. Sometimes I thought I'd flown a great sequence, only to find the scores suggested otherwise. Other times, I came down convinced I'd messed it up and discovered I'd done rather well.

One sequence provided a particularly memorable lesson in trusting my instincts. While flying, I realised I was facing the wrong way. I had to work out how to correct it while managing speed, height and positioning, keeping within the competition box and staying inside the glider's limitations. All of this, naturally, while upside down and trying to minimise the damage to my score.

I eventually corrected my direction and salvaged the remaining figures, although afterwards I realised there was a better, lower-penalty way to do it. It's amazing how much easier these things seem when you're safely back on the ground!

A result to be proud of

My personal target had been to achieve around 60% overall and, quite simply, not come last. I achieved 58%, and didn't place last, so I'll happily take that!

In total, the whole competition comprised of 6 sequences. One known, which is known for a year previous usually and five unknowns, which work in two ways. One way is each country picks an individual figure and then submitting a safe sequence to fly with all the manoeuvres picked and then each country can fly their own submitted sequence. Second way is each country picks individual manoeuvres again and submits a sequence, but only one countries sequence will be picked, and every team has to fly this.

I scored around 70% on two sequences and above 50% on three others, with one particularly low score after my directional mistake affecting the remaining figures. Against a field containing many experienced competitors, including pilots who had previously flown at the level above, I was genuinely pleased with the result.

Getting the team to Fayence at all had taken a huge effort, with glider availability and plenty of other challenges along the way. Only a year earlier, we had been learning to roll, and this was just our third Advanced competition, with the previous two taking place only a few months before.

I returned with plenty to work on, but also a real sense of pride in how far we'd come.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the trip possible, particularly Shawbury and The Mynd for their encouragement and support, both before the competition and since our return and of course TAF(The Aerobatics Foundation) who have been so supportive and we could not have done it without.

And just when the adventure seemed over, our car towing glider, broke down on the way home, adding another four days to our French holiday. But that's a story for another time…

So what lies Ahead?

The plan now is to train more with changes made from the back of worlds and we are exploring a sport sociologist to help us in that area. I am still going to enter UK competitions at this level, whilst the aim is to improve on those and adapt the to match international competition structure.

We are also aiming at going to other clubs to train people and/ or instructors to ramp up interest in aerobatics and get it more out there, outside of the competition environment. It is a great way to improve overall flying skills. In addition we may look to host club competitions in a more laid back, relaxed and friendly environment.

Watch this space!!