Working with the ACO

Many clubs will be familiar with working with Air Cadets, but a number of clubs won't be.  Even clubs that already have Air Cadets flying at their site may not be sure of the best way to approach them to try and get them to stay and continue gliding.  Every year, thousands of Air Cadets receive Gliding Scholarships which allow them to learn to glide and many go solo. However, when the scholarship finishes they often leave the sport and do not return.  Although we are also encouraging clubs to approach civilian Juniors, if you are able to attract Air Cadets to your club you are reaching members who are already very familiar with the sport, are perhaps already solo and might just not be aware of what to do next. 

We are currently working with the ACO to inform their regional offices about the JGC initiative and associated sponsorships that have been made available by GAPAN and The Air League Educational Trust. To ensure a structured approach and to reduce the time taken by each club to contact their respective ACO units please contact the BGA Junior Gliding Development Team to be put in touch with the correct contact for your area. Should you already have contacts within your local ACO please let us know so that we can work this into the equation for the mutual benefit of all and to prevent too much overlap of effort. 

Specific Resources for Working with the ACO are: 

Air Cadet Conversion Syllabus (.pdf)

Air cadet flying overview

Powerpoint presentation ‘Club version of Air Cadet to sport gliding’ (for use with Cadets) 

Generic word document ‘General JGC offer to ACO unit’ 

Powerpoint presentation ‘JGC presentation for RGLO’ (for the local unit leaders) 

Post-GS leaflet (.pdf) 

Generic word document ‘welcome letter’