Training: Basic Course

The course lasts about 2 weeks—10 days of hands-on training.

• Includes theoretical and ground training.
• On the 3rd or 4th day of training, the student performs solo takeoffs from small hills.
• Training is conducted using the instructor’s equipment, selected to match the student’s parameters (weight, height).
• The course concludes with solo flights in a dynamic airflow.
• The basic program provides for the issuance of a certificate with the assignment of a qualification and the granting of flight clearance based on the results of passing the exams.

The introductory course will provide you with the following knowledge and skills:

Pre-flight Preparation: Equipment

• Key characteristics of the paraglider and its suitability for use by this pilot
• Major paraglider certification systems
• Pre-flight equipment check
• Rescue systems—inspection, procedure for use, grounds for use
• Preparing equipment for flight

Weather conditions

• Wind speed and direction
• Hazardous weather phenomena
• Weather forecast

​ Launch site

• Terrain
• Rotation zones
• Selection of primary and alternate landing sites
• Airspace

And also:

Launching and flying a paraglider — on the ground in various wind conditions:

Takeoff

• Pre-flight equipment check
• Launch from a slope into a 2−5 m/s headwind
• Launch in calm conditions.

Flight

• Goal and flight plan
• Locating the reserve parachute handle
• Appropriate and balanced use of ailerons and body weight
• Straight-line flight at full speed and with a braked wing
• Turns with greater and lesser loss of altitude at 90, 180, and 360 degrees
• Flying in a dynamic updraft
• Inducing pitch and roll oscillations, returning the paraglider to straight flight
• Approach and precision landing in various weather conditions
• Rules for separation in the air and group flights.

Landing

• Landing at a target, methods of approach
• Landing on an unprepared site
• Landing on a summit or slope
• Methods for packing a paraglider in calm conditions and in wind

General knowledge

• Basics of aviation law
• Aviation safety
• Air traffic control
• Micrometeorology
• Paraglider Aerodynamics
• Hazardous Flight Conditions
• Soaring in Updrafts