As you near the end of your initial training with one of our registered schools, it's important to start looking for suitable recreational club to join. Full size paragliders undergo rigorous testing of their flight safety characteristics by an independent test house, and are given a rating to an EN Standard. By profession he is now a barrister specialising in aviation law, having had a mid-life crisis and a career change from retail management on the high street in the mid-1990s. If you're not sure about committing to a full course of instruction, most schools offer a one day taster course. In 1979 he made his first hang glider flight, and has been a member of the Lanarkshire and Lothian Soaring Club since then.

Airfields are of course ideal) There is no need to find a hill site facing into wind, or even to wait for the wind to blow. Having previously been an active competition pilot for the last 6 years she has served as Meet Director for the British Open HG Series, UK Nationals and GB HG Team Manager. When you show that you can safely and confidently get yourself into the air and down again, your instructor will start to progress you to take-off points higher up the hill. Speed flying in close proximity to the ground (as often seen in online movie clips) requires expert piloting skills, experience and training, and is not for the indecisive or heavy-handed pilot.The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA) is a not for profit company limited by guarantee, and is the recognised governing body for hang gliding and paragliding in the UK. A hang glider can be turned into a powered hang glider by using a specially designed hang glider harness fitted with lightweight 2-stroke engine. As a general rule, the smaller the wing and the higher the wing loading, the faster and more dynamic the responses are to pilot input. As a director of Parajet Tom has had an opportunity to get to know and understand the concerns, needs, likes and frustrations of pilots from all over the world. If you fly a Single-Seat Deregulated (SSDR) microlight, please see Single-Seat Deregulated (SSDR) microlights and the BHPA before submitting an application.

Speed flying, paragliding and hang gliding rely on maintaining good relationships with land owners, and some popular flying sites have been put in jeopardy by untrained pilots, unaware of the site rules or codes of conduct that have been set up. But it is, thanks to the work of the RAeS Human Powered Flight group, who are now part of the BHPA free flight community. Hang gliders are unpowered wings that can be launched from hills or winches, or launched by being towed aloft behind a microlight aircraft.A summer sky filled with fluffy cumulus clouds provides abundant - but invisible - lifting currents which pilots use to gain altitude.