Paragliding is inherently a dangerous sport, but yet it remains the safest way of exploring the freedom of flight. For as long as mankind can remember, we have been fascinated by the birds and their ability to fly, and now finally have been blessed to be able to share a piece of their sky.

A paraglider is very versatile, and due to its slow flying speed, and with professional training a pilot can bring himself to touchdown softer than stepping off a height of a normal chair! Thanks to the design of a paraglider we are able to land very accurately in very small remote places, fold the paraglider and carry it out in a backpack form after a successful aviation cross country exploration! The world record for distance is 486km in Brazil, where the flight time was in excess of 8 hours!

As for “jumping off mountains” we leave that to the exhilarating BASE jumpers. A paraglider pilot first lays out his paraglider which doesn’t take more then a couple of minutes, in good weather conditions and while he does his safety checks, clips in, double checking every detail, checks for air traffic and finally wind speed and direction, then inflates his paraglider and launches himself up into the wind effortlessly. Here the pilot and his craft become as one, searching endlessly for thermals as birds of prey in a craft propelled only by air, higher and higher as height is his friend. This feeling is addictive to the true pilot and it drives him to fly again and again. The problem is the addiction and it takes true mind power to turn and walk away when the weather conditions are not exactly perfect which could make for a fateful ending. Some of us fail and then the pilot, his family and fellow pilots suffer the pain and consequences. A pilot has to learn from another pilots’ errors, as sometimes there is no second chance. It is truly a bitter pill to swallow when we know we have made the same mistake as a fellow pilot. Once you are a pilot, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned upwards, often falling over ones own feet, so as not to miss a thing! Days at work crawl by while weekends literally fly by. For us it seems as though we are “Born To Fly!!!”

Billie Jennings