North Wales pilot flies 1,340km in 14-hour glider record bid
A North Wales glider pilot has completed a flight believed to have broken British gliding distance records, covering 1,340km in more than 14 hours.
Chris Gill, Chief Flying Instructor at Denbigh Gliding Club, flew from Lleweni Parc near Denbigh on Thursday 2 July 2026, alongside 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 a further free distance record of 1,282km.
The claims are expected to be reviewed through the formal British gliding record process.
Gliders cover long distances by using rising air rather than an engine.
Gill and Roland used a series of wave systems, created by strong winds passing over mountains and hills, to climb to almost 20,000ft.
Their 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 south through the Welsh Borders to the Severn Estuary.
Around 300km of the distance was flown over water.
The pilots landed at The Mynd gliding site in Shropshire after more than 14 hours in the air.
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.”
The flight had been attempted several times over the past few years by Gill and fellow pilot Simon Grice, co-founder of the PIONEERS documentary project that is telling the story of the attempt.
The weather window needed for the flight only became clear the afternoon before it took place, and Grice was unable to fly because he was away on business.
James Roland, a glider and tug pilot at Denbigh Gliding Club, flew instead.
Simon 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.”
On 30 April 2026, Gill and Grice had broken two British speed records from Lleweni Parc, completing a 100.3km triangle at an average speed of 179.7kph in the same two-seat glider, beating the previous British 100km triangle speed record of 152kph.
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.”
The flight also required cooperation with air traffic control, including Scottish and Newcastle controllers, to allow the glider to pass through UK airspace used by commercial aircraft.
Chris Gill said: “The support from air traffic control was outstanding.
“There were several points where a delay or refusal would have ended the attempt, but they worked incredibly hard to help us fit safely into very busy airspace.”
[Photo:PIONEERS]
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