Welcome to the Devon & Somerset Condors!

Visitors

On behalf of the Devon & Somerset Condors, we warmly welcome you to our very special part of the world. Visiting pilots are free to fly most of our sites, but we do ask that you are a member of another UK club and of the BHPA. If you are visiting from abroad, please ensure that you have sufficient third party insurance, are a member of your own country's national association, and are appropriately qualified.

Visitor are also welcome to any of our clubnights, held on the first Wednesday of the month. Please see our calendar page for details.

Sites

Before flying any of our sites, please make contact with us and/or get a sites guide. The Open Sites Guide on this website will inform you where you can fly. On the hill, please introduce yourself to local pilots and ask for advice if you are not familiar with the site or conditions. We have lots of club coaches and experienced pilots who are happy to help - we all want everyone to fly safely and have fun!

If you become a member you will also have access to our members only sites. To fly two major sites, namely Charmouth and Branscombe, you MUST be a fully paid up member of the Condors. You must also have your name and car registration on a list held by the landowners. This is at the landowners' stipulation. These are both excellent south coast sites, which have entailed lengthy and sensitive negotiation for our use. We also have one or two other members' only sites, and a number of sites which, whilst not members only, are sensitive and/or occasionally closed.

If you do not know the rules or status of a site, please do not fly there without first contacting a club member who does.

If at any time the landowner asks you to leave, please do so without fuss, and contact the Sites Officer (Jon Harvey - 01308 423202) as soon as possible to inform him.

Club Membership

Pilots living within the Condors catchment area are urged to join the club. Stating the obvious perhaps, but without sites we cannot fly. All of the private landowners from whose land we fly receive some sort of recompense for their generosity and hospitality towards us, and we pay fees for some of our Council and National Trust sites, so it is only fair that all local pilots should contribute. Please do the decent thing if you live locally and join our club. At only £25 a year becoming a Condors member will be the least of your flying related costs and is excellent value for money! Benefits of club membership include:

• access to all Condors flying sites
• reciprocal sites access with four neighbouring clubs (excluding members' only sites)
• lots of excellent informative and entertaining club talks and events throughout the year
• members's subsidy for club coach and first aid courses
• annual parachute repacking event (free to members)
• use of extensive club library (DVDs, videos, books)
• club lectures and coaching for post CP progression through the BHPA pilot rating scheme
• unrestricted access to all areas of our website and online discussion forums, giving you up-to-date information regarding all our sites, clubnights, social events, contact details of all members, news, views, articles and general flying chit-chat. "Flying today/tomorrow" is a particularly helpful forum for planning where to go flying
• the magical "flyphone" number, providing the latest updates giving information about flying conditions on the day
• the opportunity to carry off any of our wide selection of annual trophies

Enjoy Yourself

Most importantly, we hope that members and visitors alike have fun and fly safely.

John Fielder
Chairman

More Information

For more information please contact Patrick Peglar (Club Contact) on 01392 204253