The BHPA Pilot Handbook: The Complete Guide to Paraglider and Hang Glider Training and Advancement

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Training can only be undertaken at a BHPA Registered School. But your local recreational club can be a useful source of information about BHPA registered schools operating in your area. Coaching clubs are able to offer one to one or group coaching to assist pilots to develop their flying skills and progress safely through the BHPA Pilot Rating Scheme. If you do, you'll also find that the level of support and camaraderie amongst pilots is one of the many great strengths of the sport. As an Air Cadet, having completed a solo gliding course in 1975 and his PPL through a flying scholarship 1976, he first started flying hang gliders in November 1977 at Swansea University.

Ed was co-opted onto BHPA Executive council as 'Paramotor liaison' representative in 2011 and elected onto Exec in 2012. He has been flying for 13 years off and on, starting on flexwing microlights in 1996 then switching to paramotors in 1999 and more recently paragliders too. Skywings is a full colour monthly magazine published by the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Ltd to inform, educate and entertain those in the sports of Paragliding and Hang Gliding. He has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and worked for a while with a small Scottish hang glider manufacturer, as well as being a part-time Instructor. In 1979 he made his first hang glider flight, and has been a member of the Lanarkshire and Lothian Soaring Club since then. He has flown throughout the UK and Europe and in many competitions at home and abroad, including the World Championships at Fiesch, Switzerland, in 1989. Modern hang gliders and paragliders are sophisticated high-tech wings that have turned the dream of Icarus into reality.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. A highly loaded speed wing is significantly faster than a full size paraglider. 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 BHPA will use the information you have provided for the purposes of providing you with membership products and services. The data you provide will be stored on our servers within the UK and kept by us whilst you are a member of the BHPA and for a period of 6 years afterwards. BHPA will not share your data with third parties other than to provide you with membership products and services, e.g. BHPA Registered Clubs, insurers, FAI etc, or in the pursuit of flight safety e.g. AAIB, UK Airprox Board etc without your prior permission. You have the right to object to our use of your data, withdraw your consent for us to use your data, request a copy of the data we hold, require us to correct any errors in that data and to require us to delete your personal data. If you choose to withdraw your consent BHPA will no longer be able to provide you with some member products and services. Martin is the Vice Chairman of the Executive council. He also looks after the BHPA's aviation insurance contract, which provides indemnity cover to each and every member of the Association. This is a significant responsibility given that over half of the Association's expenditure goes on this important area. Many people may think that flying hang gliders and paragliders is impossible for people with disabilities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Angus is a recently retired chartered accountant and has held a number of finance director roles in the past. He's been interested in flying all his life and took up paragliding 18 years ago. He took early retirement to spend more time flying both in the UK and abroad.

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. Obtaining your Club Pilot rating marks the end of your formal instruction and qualifies you to leave the school and fly within a BHPA recreational club. Hang gliders are unpowered wings that can be launched from hills or winches, or launched by being towed aloft behind a microlight aircraft. Royal Aero Club Members". Archived from the original on 20 September 2011 . Retrieved 24 October 2011. Many paraglider pilots strive to perfect their skills in cross-country flying. A summer sky filled with fluffy cumulus clouds provides abundant - but invisible - lifting currents which pilots use to gain altitude. Setting off on such a day, either towards a pre-selected goal or just drifting where the wind will take you, is one of the most breathtaking experiences available today. Most pilots will talk of the sense of privilege they feel when drifting from cloud to cloud, in almost total silence, watching the landscape unfold beneath them as they navigate across the sky.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. The Association is managed by an elected Executive Council. In his spare time he also served as a County Councillor in Cheshire and as a Councillor on Cheshire East Council.

BHPA recreational clubs also provide the supportive flying and social environment that is so important for newly qualified pilots when they leave the familiar school environment for the first time. A network of some 4,800 park people, pooling resources and sharing experiences. BH&HPA champions the issues which matter. Flights of over 250km have been made by paraglider pilots in this country. Abroad, especially in the Alpine regions, the potential is infinitely greater, and many British pilots take advantage of the paraglider's portability to visit Europe or more exotic locations further afield.BHPA schools teach people to fly in a progressive way - before undertaking high flights, many short, low flights are made in gentle conditions. These training flights on gentle slopes allow student pilots to practise launches and landing approaches and the fundamental skill of wing control on the ground and in the air. As BHPA External Representation Officer Marc sat on the Royal Aero Club Council as the BHPA delegate and served as RAeC Chairman for 3 years in the mid 1990s. He is currently a Vice-President of the RAeC. He has also served as a Trustee of the RAeC Trust and Flyability. Professionally she has served in the Military Medical Services for the last 16 years, has an MSc in Trauma Management and is now working in London as a Commander in the Royal Navy. During this time, she served as Treasurer in the Army HPA and latterly 2 years as Chair of the RNHPA. Paul took up hang gliding in 1989 and joined the SE Wales club. Five years later he was elected to the club committee and took over as magazine editor. Before retiring from the club committee in 2016, he served in a variety of capacities including membership secretary, club secretary, and finally club chairman. Various powered flight guides are available from online retailers, for example the Microlight Pilot’s Handbook (Cosgrove)