Teen breaks record to become Ireland’s youngest glider

There aren’t many 14-year-olds who get to be launched 600m into the sky by their mother, so Harry Houlihan must be quite unique.

The teenager, from Hollywood in Co Wicklow, became the country’s youngest ever glider after he completed his first solo flight in the engineless aircraft over Co Derry last Saturday.

A flying fanatic who is the son of two flying fanatics, Harry had clocked up 25 hours of in-flight instruction before taking to the skies solo for the first time when he glided over the Ulster Gliding Club in Bellarena, Co. Derry.