Nice story on BBC, about a 17 year old girl that is a glider instructor!!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-shropshire-68569220
The teen teaching people to fly from RAF Shawbury
Seventeen-year-old pilot Amelia Richardson says she wants to inspire more women and girls to take to the skies.
She qualified to fly a glider solo at the age of 14 and is thought to be one of the youngest instructors in the UK.
The Buckinghamshire resident is part of the RAF Shawbury Gliding Club in Shropshire.
While other 17-year-olds are learning to drive, the A-level student said flying had opened up a “whole new world” for her.
I watched the video last night with the children. Impressive.
If you don’t have an aeroplane in the family, gliding gets you flying younger and far cheaper than a school C172/PA28.
No idea how much gliding normally costs, but their website has £25-£52 depending on height for an aerotow, plus £0.45 per minute (capped at 3 hours) for a 2-seater. On the other hand, membership is limited to military, family members, or volunteer instructors.
She mentioned funding from e.g. the British Gliding Association. It sounds like the bursaries/scholarships have to be applied for, and are only awarded to a limited number of people. This isn’t very egalitarian, but may be more efficient than providing a smaller amount to all student pilots below a certain age, who might stop flying when the money runs out.
I did a bit of gliding at age 15/16, but it wasn’t for me. There was a culture that students had to pay their dues, which meant spending 8+ hours at the airfield for literally a few minutes instructional flight. Also, the people were a bit odd, maybe a result of spending all weekend hanging around an airfield 
I also attempted gliding before, thinking it would be a nice stepping stone, but quickly realised that what I wanted was traveling, seeing places, and gliding would not cut it.
Still think that gliding experience probably does make one a better pilot, maybe one day I will try it out with some sort of self launch / motor glider.
I went gliding flight once. Winch launch
I remember the bang as the hook was released and then we glided back down. It was over in 5mins. I thought what a waste of time.
Obviously not a day for the pump (thermals). Many here are up for hours at a time. Some are doing aerobatics with 15min exercises. But not in winter, then it is up and down. But today we have 20°C and all the gliding club members are turning up to get a while in the air.🙂
