Paragliding Lessons

If you want to become a paragliding pilot or maybe just try it out as a traveler in a tandem, there are some paragliding lessons you should overcome in order to really get to know the subject and to make sure that paragliding is for you.

Paragliding Lessons

Paragliding Lesson 1: Basics of paragliding

Paragliding is the youngest air sport. It was born in the eighties in the French Alps. Its first purpose was getting alpinists down from their conquered mountain tops. First paragliding air crafts were improvised and made from regular parachutes. However, soon enough "gliders" were developed, in that manner that they became powerful flying crafts. Paragliding is the cheapest way of flying, and also the most realistic way. That can be confirmed by many experienced airmen, who, in their career, were flying in many types of air crafts, and can testify that the feeling of flying by a glider is just as if you were a bird.

You can fly over a couple of hundreds of kilometers by paraglider. That can be done with the help of thermal flow, just the way the birds do it (when you see the birds flying in the circle, they actually use thermal flows to increase their height). The world record in paragliding is 503 kilometers, which was made in South Africa. That is, however, not possible to achieve in all parts of Earth due to weather conditions. What you need is a strong wind and of course, and the help of thermal flow.

The easiest way to really feel the magic of paragliding is to contact a professional and try the tandem flight. Nowadays, paragliding has become extremely popular so it's easy to find a school via Internet, enroll and prepare for some paragliding lessons.

Paragliding lesson 2: Tandem flight

As it's already mentioned in the paragliding lesson 1, the quickest and the easiest way to feel paragliding is the tandem flight. The tandem flight is in no way different than solo paragliding. Everything that the pilot can do with his paraglider alone, he can do with one more person as well. Therefore, the tandem pilot can take you to the clouds, you can fly the distance of several dozens of kilometers, you can spend several hours in the air.

The brave ones, who want more excitement, a pilot can do some acrobatics in which G-force can go to the value of 4. It's been said that that is the feeling that cannot be described, nor it's something you've ever felt before. Commands for managing the paraglider are also available to the traveler, so if the pilot estimates that you are as calm as needed, and that's, of course, something that you want to do, you can steer an aircraft under the supervision of your pilot.

When you decide to do a paragliding tandem, what matters most is to choose a professional paragliding pilot, who owns a license for a tandem flight. This is the paragliding lesson that has to be on top of your mind since this is extremely important due to safety.
Tandem paragliders are the safest paragliders that are being made since they are bigger than solo paragliders (paragliders are being built by capacity).

Paragliding lesson 3: Paragliding schools

If you've already tried a tandem flight, the easiest thing to do is consult with the pilot you flew with. He is going to give you the contact to the school which is nearest to your living area.

The standard price usually is for the "Parapro 5" category (the highest degree), but also, there are schools that charge by category. Depending on the school, the training program can be different.

First, you get to know the equipment: How to get attached to the communication system (the seat), how to attach the glider to the seat, how to set up a glider for taking off; this is one of the most important paragliding lessons about paragliding safety. After that, you will be practicing how to maintain the paraglider above your head on the ground, and then moving forward with it as long as possible, without it touching the ground.

After a couple of hours, when you get to practice that, the instructor will be taking you to a steamer hill, where you will be "detaching" from the ground on your own. These will be your first flights.

Depending on the field, these flights should be from dozens up to 100-200 meters of length, when you reach a height from 1 to 50 meters. In these flights you are getting used to flying and glider itself, because the glider flies completely the same at the height of 3 and 3000 meters. Also, you will be training takeoff and landing, but also, you are getting used to the height.

When you perfect that (a couple of days of training), you are being taken to the hill, to your first "high mile". These are the real terrains for paragliding. The instructor will choose the terrain good enough for takeoff, big enough for landing, and which is known not to have turbulence.

As always, the instructor will be in contact with you over the radio communication, and will be talking to you the whole time during the flight. What matters most is to lean on to everything your instructor is saying to you since he can be hundreds of meters away, so he can't always precise your position. These are the moments when you begin to bring your own decisions - you're becoming a pilot.

In parallel with practical, you have theoretical training as well. You will be getting a couple of brochures to study from. This is where you study how the paraglider is being made, how it flies, the rules of paragliding etc; but, the most important paragliding lessons are from meteorology. You are using the nature and it should be honored.

In order to become a fully independent pilot, it takes about 1-2 years for your first flight, depending on your talent, but much more depending on training.

What you must have and do for every flight, while in training, is:

Check the weather forecast 1 day before flying

To have a paraglider, seat, spare parachute, helmet (and everything must be certified), appropriate shoes and clothes.

After the training, you will be taking an exam for pilot's license, and you will be needing a medical certificate for that as well.