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A general description of paragliding

Paragliding is an exhilarating aerial sport that developed in the early 1980’s after climbers daringly foot launched fast descending, ram-air sky diving canopies off mountains in the French Alps.

As the canopies developed into the wider, curved, considerably higher glide performance paraglider wings, pilots of these non-rigid nylon constructed aircraft learnt to remain aloft in soaring flight by utilizing updrafts such as ridge lift and thermals – the same rising air currents hang glider and sailplane pilots exploit.

The most lightweight and simplest of all aircraft, able to be folded up and carried in a backpack, modern paragliders can give a simple and pleasurable soaring flight above an oceanside cliff or an inland hill, travel over a few hundred kilometers across inland countryside, provide multi-day/weeks long adventure flights through high mountain chains, or have an adrenaline loving pilot tumble and loop upside-down through the air in incredible aerobatic maneouvres - or even dropped from a hot air balloon!

The sport of paragliding is practiced by all ages and constantly grows in all countries of the world, but naturally has its largest concentration of participants in mountainous European regions. Towing a paraglider into the air with a winch (or launching with a powered paramotor) also enables pilots to launch from flat ground, allowing paragliding to be practiced virtually anywhere in the world.

Our team aims to share the wonder, pleasure and satisfaction of even a simple flight, via a tandem (two-seater) paraglider with indigenous peoples living in remote regions of our magnificent planet. Surely an experience that will be talked about in their communities for a very long time!