North Wales glider pilot completes historic 14-hour British record flight

Nation.Cymru staff

A north Wales glider pilot has completed one of the most remarkable flights in British gliding history, flying for more than 14 hours and covering a total distance of 1,340km — roughly the distance from north Wales to the south of France.

Chris Gill, Chief Flying Instructor at Denbigh Gliding Club, completed the record-breaking flight on Thursday 2 July 2026, flying from Lleweni Parc near Denbigh with fellow club pilot James Roland.

The flight is believed to have broken the British 20m and Open Class distance records, including a declared distance task of 1,114km and an additional free distance record of 1,282km.

Unlike powered aircraft, gliders are able to travel huge distances by using invisible rising air. On this flight, Chris and James used a series of powerful “wave” systems created by strong winds flowing over mountains and hills. These wave systems allowed them to climb to almost 20,000ft and travel across large parts of the UK using the natural energy in the atmosphere.

The route took them from north Wales across the Irish Sea to the Lake District, into Scotland, out over the North Sea, back across the Lake District, and finally south through the Welsh Borders towards the Severn Estuary. Around 300km of the task distance was flown over water.

The flight lasted longer than many long-haul airline journeys and demanded extraordinary concentration, teamwork and judgement. At one point, the pilots had to cross a live military danger area with only a narrow height margin, while later in the day they used the last dying thermals of the evening to extend the distance even further.

The flight forms a major part of PIONEERS, a documentary project created to tell the story of high-altitude gliding and the attempt to push British gliding further than ever before. The project was co-founded by Chris Gill, Simon Grice and Alan Howard of Video & TV Productions.

Simon Grice, co-founder of PIONEERS, CEO and founder of Joggle, and founder of GlidingCo, had made several attempts at the distance record with Chris over the last few years. Each time, the weather systems needed for such an ambitious flight failed to come together.

This successful attempt came at very short notice. The weather window only became clear the afternoon before the flight, and Grice was unable to join Chris in the cockpit because he was away on business. James Roland, a fellow glider pilot and tug pilot at Denbigh Gliding Club, stepped in for what became a 14-hour record-breaking adventure.

Chris Gill said: “People have been asking for years when I was actually going to do this flight. I’ve had so many failed attempts, early starts, and frustrating days where the weather just didn’t work. But every attempt taught me something.

“This time, the weather finally gave us the chance. It still wasn’t easy — at one point I thought our chances had dropped massively — but we kept making the right calls, and the sky kept giving us just enough.

“To fly that far from North Wales in a glider is something I’ve been trying to do for years. It was a huge team effort, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make it possible.”

While working towards the rare combination of weather systems needed for the full PIONEERS distance flight, Gill and Grice also broke two British gliding speed records from Lleweni Parc.

On 30 April 2026, flying the same two-seat ARCUS glider, G-ILEW, Chris Gill and Simon Grice completed a 100.3km triangle at an average speed of 179.7kph, beating the previous British 100km triangle speed record of 152kph in both the Open and 20m classes.

Grice said: “This is exactly the story we hoped PIONEERS would tell — a story of ambition, patience, weather, skill and sheer human determination.

“Chris and I had tried to make this flight happen several times, but the weather never quite lined up. Then, when the opportunity finally came, it came with less than 24 hours’ notice.

“I was away on business and couldn’t make it, so James stepped in. Of course I was gutted not to be in the cockpit, but the most important thing was that Chris had the right pilot beside him and that the flight could go ahead.

“Most people have no idea that you can launch from a field in north Wales and, using only the energy in the sky, fly the equivalent distance of North Wales to the South of France. Chris has shown what British gliding is capable of, and it’s a huge moment for Denbigh, North Wales and the wider gliding community.”

Alan Howard, co-founder of PIONEERS and Managing Director of Video & TV Productions, said: “From the beginning, we knew this was a story that deserved to be told properly. It has all the ingredients of a great documentary — risk, patience, weather, teamwork, uncertainty and a remarkable achievement at the end of it.

“This flight is not just a technical sporting record. It is a powerful human story about what can happen when preparation, experience and opportunity finally come together.

“After more than 14 hours in the air, Chris and James eventually landed at The Mynd gliding site in Shropshire, where they were welcomed with beer, steak and a room for the night before returning to North Wales the following morning.”

You can find out more about the technical flight details here: https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/131211

The record claims are expected to be reviewed through the formal British gliding record process.