Cross Country Pilot Resources
Files, links and external websites commonly used by Booker Cross Country Glider Pilots.
Mostly links to other sites, but also some file downloads and information to help early cross country pilots set themselves up for cross country gliding. Click on the header boxes for the sections below to hide/reveal the topics.
Links to popular topics or sites to save you finding them in the text below!
Waypoint file downloads.
Use the link(s) below to download waypoint files in CUP format (SeeYou, LXnav, XCsoar, Navigator etc). You probably only need one of these on your device. See the Waypoints section further down this page for more information about how waypoints, landable sites and field databases work, how to obtain these files, and a link to documents describing how to load various flight computers..
Click button above to download .cup file.
BGA Waypoint .cup file 2025, entire UK including “use with caution !” waypoints, 1392 waypoints. .
NOTE; V2 identical to BGA List but amended with March 2025 Frequency updates, Halton, Little Rissington, Upavon.
The file BGA_2025v2code has the same list of waypoints. It been coded with the BGA trigraph in front of the turnpoint full name for ease of use. Works well in LX9000 devices. eg Turville Windmill becomes BO4-Turville Windmill.
Click button above to download .cup file.
Waypoint file entire UK from JohnO via WhatsApp. BGA 2025 turnpoints file combined with outlanding airstrips from Paul Ruskin’s site (see below). The file has been coded with the BGA trigraph in front of the turnpoint full name for ease of use. Works well in LX9000 devices.
The outlandings are UK airports and airstrips which are not in the BGA TP list. Fields and strips below about 25m width are generally not included. Frequencies up to date as of publication. This is a ‘reasonable efforts’ piece of work. The strips and fields, in particular, may change with crop growth, animals on them or for other reasons. You are responsible for checking the data, and making your own judgement at the time whether any of these are landable.
Map and Satellite view of UK Waypoints (Blue) and Landables (Brown)
Note that this map is illustrative and about 98% correct, but is not updated.
Always use details in current files for navigation.
Waypoints including airfields and landing sites
BGA Waypoint files
The British Gliding Association waypoints are managed by Tim Newport-Peace and the BGA will redirect you to this page on his website. Extensive details are provided about how UK Gliding Waypoints are defined.
To download an (easy to view on your PC or tablet) Excel list for the 2025 waypoints click here. You can click on the MAP and PHOTO (columns M and N) entries in the spreadsheet to view images of the waypoints in Streetview or Google Maps. Very few flight computers accept the Excel format, but it is easy to view and print on a desktop or laptop.
Older electronic systems had limitations on the number of waypoints that could be loaded so tools were used to select and reduce the number of waypoints. TPselect is a utility that enables sorting and filtering of Waypoints. Modern flight computers and flight planning tools can generally accept the full list of BGA waypoints, and most will allow more than one file, therby offering many different options for managing Waypoints. Pilots may have files with popular landout locations and their own Waypoints. Flight Computers often require waypoints in different electronic data structures with these structures identified by the last three digits of the filename.
Waypoint files for landout fields.
Paul Ruskin provides a UK wide database of well known landable sites. If you wish to use these files it is strongly recommended that you register on his site here to receive updates. The outlandings are UK airports and airstrips which are not in the BGA TP list. One of these files is included above and includes both the BGA Turnpoints and the Landable Sites. Fields and strips below about 25m width are generally not included. Frequencies up to date as of publication. This is a ‘reasonable efforts’ piece of work. The strips and fields, in particular, may change with crop growth, animals on them or for other reasons. You are responsible for checking the data, and making your own judgement at the time whether any of these are landable.
Airspace, NOTAM files, and gliding areas
Please see the separate Airspace Page on this website.
There are inidividually downloadable files for certain Restricted Areas (Temporary) (RA(T)) at the bottom of the RAT area of the NOTAM and Airspace page of the Booker Gliding website.
There are inidividually downloadable files for certain regularly NOTAM’d areas at the bottom of the Members NOTAM page of the Booker Gliding website.
Badge flights and records. Official Observers
Planning and flying early BGA/FAI Badge Flights.
There are documents at the bottom of the Members Training Information page on this website that povide some guidance for early badge flights for Booker club members.
Official Observers (OOs)
If you are making a claim for an FAI Badge, Diploma, or a National or World Gliding Record you will need an Official Observer to process your claim.
The following club members are Official Observers.
Paul Brice, Dave Byass, Richard Crockett, Bob Davy, Jane Moore, John Otty, Chris Rowland, Bob Smith, John Sugden. Contact via the club WhatsApp group.
If you are unsure about the rules or equipment needed for your planned achievement, please contact an OO before you make the attempt.
Flight Planning – SeeYou Cloud
SeeYou is used as the name of a number of software packages used for task setting, in flight task management (Oudie) and post flight analysis tools. The software is produced by Naviter.
SeeYou Cloud is a free on-line package. The SeeYou Cloud Task Planner can be used to plan cross country flights (tasks) and transfer them to SeeYou Navigator for use by the pilot in flight (usually on a mounted mobile phone or Oudie). Using these free tools is a cheap way to start planning cross country tasks.
Flight scoring and sharing – BGA Ladder, OLC, SoaringSpot, WeGlide etc
Click the tabs to view further information about each utility,
The On Line Contest (OLC) is a website that enables glider pilots from around the world to share their flights.
You can view Booker Gliding Club flights.
All Booker Solo pilots are encouraged to share their flights on OLC. This is easy to do once registered, you do not need to log in, just remember your birth date. It’s a great way to monitor how much productive soaring you are doing each season, and whether you are improving. You do not need to declare flights in advance, but you do need to load them within 24 hours of the flight.
Club members need to register here before they can submit flights.
The British Gliding Association (BGA) Ladder has been in use for a few decades. Most UK Cross Country pilots load their flights to the ladder. Flights are scored based on a formula that takes speed, distance and task area in to consideration, there is a bonus for completing a declared task.
SoaringSpot is a system for scoring gliding competitions. It is used worldwide. You can view the task on the day and look at the results, usually a few hours after the last flight has landed.
You can use the search box to find competitions, eg “UK” or “Nationals” or “Bidford”.
Here is an example of the home page for the 2024 World Gliding Championships.
When viewing the results for a task day, you can click on the pilots glider competition number to open the igc file flight trace in SeeYou.Cloud (no account required). For example, click on IT in the CN column (Comp Number) to see how the day winner flew this AAT in the Junior Nationals.
WeGlide is a relatively new platform for sharing glider flights. Great for pilots that like to share their flights and experiences with other gliding friends. Lots of “levels” and achievements to provide some fun, and targets, along the way.
Simple drag and drop igc flight file submission.
There are paid memberships that feature some new ideas such as Thermal Maps, although these are much more developed in mainland Europe than in the UK.
The free version also includes basic task planning tools.
Flight Tracking – watching the gliders from systems on the ground.
For a handy QR code view this document from the launchpoint folder.