Westbury White Horse
Site Map
Click for full map
Wind directions:
W,WNW,NW,NNW
Location:
East of the town of Westbury, on the northern edge of the Salisbury plains army firing ranges.
Site News
See Additional Info below.
New bottom landing options.
Do not drive into the landing field.
Note the 600ft restriction over the stables
Westbury white horse is one of the most popular paragliding sites in the UK. It has lots of space, and a nice long ridge, so it can easily accommodate many pilots. A nice large take off area makes it a friendly low air time site.
Parking
Permission:
Open
East of the town of Westbury, on the northern edge of the Salisbury plains army firing ranges.
Site Officer:
Tim Bishop
Restrictions:
Take off and landing areas at the white horse must be treated as an active airfield. No waggas, foot drags, wingovers to be performed at, or in front of, take off.
Lat, Long:
51.265266 N 2.144710 W
Launch height (ft)
750
Grid ref:
ST900 516
Height TTB (ft)
370
Take off
Either side of the obelisk on the front of the hill. When conditions permit, paragliders should launch from well to the east of the obelisk. Do not take off from the white horse face of the hill. Be careful to never inflate a paraglider in front of a hang glider to avoid the chance of being blown back. Incidents have occurred.
Hang gliders have priority when moving forward towards take off, and at that time no paraglider wings should be inflated or any ground handling taking place.
HGs should rig in one general area and not be spread across the area where paraglider pilots will be top landing.
Once you have taken off you must fly away immediately from in front of the take off.
Local Flying
No deliberate top to bottom flights, so make sure you have a good chance of staying up before you launch.
There is a riding stable just beyond the trees at the western end of the main ridge. You must not overfly this stable lower than 600' ATO / 1400' QNH, to avoid spooking horses.
Make sure you know where the Danger Area boundaries are. There may be airspace concessions available on a particular day. To understand what these are read the - Concession Guide.
The bowl area is often shared with model flyers, please allow them space to fly.
XC Flying
If you intend to fly XC make sure you have a map and know the position of the danger area. Airspace concessions may be available on a particular day. To understand what these are read the Concession Guide. Note that if tracking east, the danger area extends further north in that direction.
Top Landing
Do not land on the side of the hill, especially on the White Horse as it is a national monument. Land anywhere on the common area behind the parked cars. Beware of members of the public, especially those flying kites. This area can be very turbulent in fresh winds, especially if the winds are northerly. In these conditions, land back in the rough grass. It is also possible to land in front of the posts on both paragliders and hang gliders. Whenever possible use this area only mid-week when the site is not crowded with members of the public. It is also possible for experienced paraglider pilots to land on the spur to the north of the horse’s nose. Watch out for rabbit holes and carry back to take off via the public footpath which comes up from the road. Do not land on the flat area behind the White Horse. (Turbulence) Do not land in any of the farmer's fields on the top or side of the hill.
Bottom Landing
No deliberate top to bottom flights allowed. Be wary of livestock, especially when there are calves around. Try to land away from livestock. The field available for emergency landings is the large grass field south of the road with the short driveway and gate in the northwestern corner. If you do bottom land, clear the area asap as there may be other pilots needing to land. De-rig by the gate or at the edge of the field. If you accidentally land in another field, find your way out via the gates, never climb over fences. Do not walk back up the face of the hill. Go out of the gate, then along the road to the east and walk up the footpath on the spur. You can park in the short driveway before the gate to retrieve your glider but never drive into the field.
Additional Info
When the winds are NNW it may be possible and safe for pilots to use both WWH and Bratton take offs, and in such conditions the whole extent of the site becomes flyable. For other wind directions you must choose which take off to use and take care to assess the true wind direction. Just because people are flying from a particular take off does not mean that it is safe for you to join them – always check for yourself. In particular if the wind is west of NNW then the Bratton Camp side will possibly be in rotor (if it is W or WNW then this will definitely be the case) and conversely if the wind is east of NNW then the White Horse take-off and bowl in front of the White Horse will be in rotor. During the day keep a careful eye on whether the wind direction is shifting and act appropriately.
If the wind is from the North, the slope to the West of the White Horse may well be working, but is still best accessed by gaining height from the Bratton side and then flying across well out from the White Horse bowl. In these conditions, taking off from the White Horse take off is not advisable.
If the wind is West then the lift band is very small and the flying not great, essentially just the spurs in front of the White Horse take-off will work. This is not advised by the club and certainly not for inexperienced pilots.
If the wind goes anything south of West, however, then the flying will at best be rough and potentially dangerous - please do not fly in these conditions.
If the wind goes east of NNE then the Bratton take-off becomes dangerous – you must not fly in these conditions.
