How much does it cost to fly a glider?
Nobody publishes a straight answer to this, so people ask on forums and get a shrug and a range. The honest version is that it depends almost entirely on which club you walk into — and clubs publish their prices, so it is knowable. We went and collected them.
The short answer
There are three numbers, and they behave very differently. A joining fee is a one-off, often the largest single cheque you write, and sometimes payable over several years. Dues are the standing cost of being a member, whether you fly or not. Tow fees are what you actually pay per flight, and they are the number that decides whether flying often is affordable.
A club with high dues and cheap tows is a bargain if you fly every weekend and terrible if you fly twice a summer. The reverse is also true. That is why a single average is close to useless, and why the tables below list clubs individually instead.
Prices by country
How this was put together
Every figure on this page comes from the club's own public website on the date shown beside it. This is a census of published prices, not a survey: no club was asked to fill anything in, nothing is averaged from memory, and a club that does not publish a number simply has a blank. Clubs that publish a tow formula rather than a price at 2,000 ft are marked as calculated, with the formula shown. Club dues are listed separately from SSA national dues. Prices change; if a row is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
Is your club's row wrong?
Quite possibly — prices change and websites lag. Tell us and we will fix it the same week, with no catch and nothing to sign up for. Corrections from clubs are the reason this page is worth keeping.
Send a correction →Compiled September 2026. We publish what clubs publish — we are not a booking agent and we take no commission from anyone listed.