What is the furthest a glider has flown?

The current world record for the furthest a glider has flown is 3,008km set in 2003 by Klaus Ohlmann. This was flown using mountain waves in South America.

The UK record is 1108.7km, set by John Williams in a 20m wingspan glider in 2007.

Outright distance attempts are rare. To beat the world record it would mean an expedition to South America and the Andes. Probably with a very specialist glider.

To beat the national UK record is difficult, partly due the actual size of the UK. This is a limiting factor as the various distance records have to be flights of a number of allowed ‘shapes’. These are straight line distance, out and return, triangle and a flight that goes around no more than three turnpoints (excluding the start and finish).

Most gliding clubs will see some of their pilots completing 300+km flights on good spring and summer days, while on exceptional days, and with the best pilots in high performance gliders, flights 500 to 750kms are regularly achieved.