Just signed up for a course in Paragliding

Aliboy

Aliboy

Aliboy

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4 Jan 2004
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I've taken the plunge and signed up to do a complete course in paragliding. I was gonna do a parachute jump but this got suggested to me so I thought I'd give it a bash.

£900 will get me my elementery pilots licence and then my club pilots licence after that. I'm bricking it though as I'm scared of heights:D

First lesson is this saturday so I'll keep you updated but if there is anyone else out there that's done this I'd love to hear your thoughts on it;)

Al
 
I'm doing a RAPS parachute course at uni. Not too good with heights myself mind you, but 3500ft is so far above 'high' that it's just stupid and doesn't bother me :p

Flying under canopy is awesome, just go for it. If you think too much about running off the side of a mountain (or similar) you'll probably never do it and find out how much fun it is :D
 
beh said:
Please do, paragliding always looks great, would be interested to know how easy it is to get into.
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Will do beh;) I'll be getting all of the brochures etc arriving tomorrow by post for me to have a read through. I can't wait for the weekend to come now. I just hope the weather is okay for it:)

Al
 
Been paragliding for 6 years now, wish I had started years ago. Its the best thing I've ever done. This year is my first go at competing in the league, great fun. Just as a taster here's a pic from this weekend, flying under a blue sky.

bluesky.jpg


And flying over Chatsworth house from a few weeks ago:

Chatsworth2.jpg


You'll have a great time, as long as the instructor is upto scratch, and the British weather behaves :D

Mick
 
I fancied doing this last year but never for various reasons


Can you take off from like a flat ground ?

obviously wind is a factor, how does it affect the flight as you get higher?
 
This has always been something i've wanted to do. I've tried Paragliding in New Zealand but that was just for 10 minutes.

I want to do what a lot of the teams do and Paraglide hundreds of miles. That would be awesome.
 
There are two methods of getting airbourne on a paraglider. 1st and most popular is to start off from a hill, somewhere nice in the countryside, and then thermal your way upto cloudbase.
The 2nd way is to get airbourne from flat ground using a winch operation, but there are not that many in the UK, and it doesnt give you as many options as hill flying.

Once you can paraglide, can then go motorised. Paramotor. But thats noisy and not the same as 'freeflying' with a glider that packs into a rucksack.

The 1st picture I posted above was from this Sunday, I started on a hill in the Peaks and thermalled upto over 4000ft going cross country flying downwind.

Even I'm not a big fan of heights, but when your clipped into a wing its whole different feeling. Not like being up a ladder fearing your going to slip!

Mick
 
Yes, the air is full of invisible 'roads' called airways. various types of aircraft use these, and we are only allowed in certain types of airspace. CP (club pilot) will allow you to freefly in a club enviroment, but doesnt allow you to legally fly cross country. For this you have to be pilot rated, know how to use an airmap, gps, variometer, altimeter, etc...To navigate yourself legally and safely thru the air, just like all the other aircraft have to.

How far you can fly is really dictated by how good a pilot you are, and how good the conditions are to keep you up in the air.

Mick

Edit, And yes we have controls to turn left/right etc.. But we are not powered so generally speaking to cover the most ground you would fly downwind. Just like being in a boat on a river, you could spend 30mins paddling to go upstream, but going nowhere. Or you can paddle downstream and go some distance..
 
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Always fancied doing hang gliding myself, seen too many collapsed wing scenarios involving paragliders recently.
 
I've just started my EP as well, hoping to go Wednesday but the weather doesn't look to good at the moment :( I'll find out tomorrow if it's on! I really can't wait to get to have my CP and be able to fly more regularly!!!! I keep reading horror stories where it's taken people over a year to qualify due to the weather :(

Where abouts are you learning?
 
Airspace and airways are fixed in space, they only go up and down with changes in air pressure. An airmap will show all the current airspace. And training will teach you how to understand and use instrumants/maps for all of the above. :)

Paragliding is becoming the more popular form of freeflying. We see less and less hangliders on the hills now, with a lot of the hanglider guys moving onto paragliders. They are just easier to fly and manage as a package.

Mick

BTW We do fly with a reserve at all times, just in case.
 
JBuk said:
How do you find an airway going the direction you want?
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As I understand it you base where you're going on where the wind takes you, aiming for locations where you think there will be another thermal to take you back up high again, then repeat over and over till you land somewhere random. Then if you're lucky you get picked up by a non flyer or if not then it's a case of hitch hiking back to your car.
 
Yeh, I just watch too much telly lol :)

Paragliding certainly appeals more from a gear handling point of view as well, effectively a large backpack?

As for the reserve, that's all good until you try a loop and land in your own wing... :eek:
 
Very interesting stuff, always wondered about this side of aviation. Closest I've done is just normal gliding which I loved. Did most of my gliding up in Edinburgh so had some amazing views of the highlands. Good wave too, got my pb altitude of 13,500ft off a 1,800ft winch launch :D

Flying jets is fun too tho haha :D
 
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