Paragliding is a fun sport that evolved from
parachuting in the mid 80's. Clever designers, manufacturers and safety
authorities have used modern day technology and materials to create a
lightweight and effective way for us to fly.
The whole package is very transportable. A paraglider
with harness and all associated equipment weighs around 18kgs and fits into
a moderate sized back pack that stores easily into the boot of a car. Recent
sports class paragliders have speeds of around 55kph and glide angles of
more than 9:1 and before marketing have been designed and certified to
conform to a number of very strict safety tests.
Paragliding is pure gliding flight in it's simplest
form and using rising thermic air it's possible to climb to great heights
and fly long distances. Current records exceed more than 6000m in altitude
and over 500kms of straight flight.
Learning to fly costs from 550 Euros for the 5 day
initial EPC course. Please see
below for more details.
Why learn in France and the Northern Alps?
During the months from May to November the Northern
French Alps have stable high pressure weather that give good
training conditions. There is an average 24 flying days a month with the
majority suiting beginner training. The other days are never wasted and
offer either good hill/ground training conditions or essential classroom
work! More details on the weather can be found on our
'Flying
Weather'
page.
Other advantages of learning to fly paragliders in the mountains is the
variation in training conditions introducing the pilot into both soaring
and thermic conditions with immediate long flights from relatively high
flying sites. We are blessed with a variety of excellent training hills,
slopes and flying sites suiting all standards and levels of pilot and
learning to fly can start from 14 years old.
What are the courses and qualifications?
Under the British training and licensing
structures 'The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association' (BHPA)
there are four levels of internationally recognised license.
The Elementary Pilot Certificate (EPC) is the first
and basic license is issued once you have completed some easy tasks and flown a
number of flights. The EPC course is fun and a great
introduction into the sport: learning is easy and progression is made
quickly.
The next level, the Club Pilot Certificate (CPC), is a little more involved and once achieved allows the new
pilot to free fly without supervision! The training includes dynamic soaring
and in our case 'thermalling in the mountains'.
Click
here for the EPC & CPC syllabus.
The third level, the 'Pilot License' allows the pilot off the leash to
make their own cross country flights, and last but not least is the 'Advanced Pilot
Certificate', the final test for the master of paragliding flight!
Training and Licensing?
The BHPA controls the
training, the licensing structure, clubs and schools. Pilots free flying in
the UK are required to
belong to the BHPA, a flying club,
and hold the CPC
license. The UK license and i is recognised outside the UK
and an IPPI (international Pilot Proficiency Identification) card can be
obtained to augment the BHPA card for all countries where paragliders are
flown. See the www.bhpa.co.uk
for more details.
In Europe there are many schools offering good paragliding training but
these courses do not always follow the BHPA training syllabus. Without
BHPA training and the final stamp from a qualified BHPA instructor from
a registered BHPA school a license issued would not be valid in the UK!
Why the Alpine Flying Centre?
The Alpine Flying Centre is a BHPA registered
foreign school offering Elementary Pilot Certificate (EPC), Club
Pilot Certificate (CPC) training and above. We use the latest equipment
and pride ourselves on teaching to the highest of standards. We prefer
to think that we produce pilots rather than just a student with a
qualification! Your instructors Dennis and Gillian Trott have taken many
new pilots from the beginner stage through thermalling and cross country
courses and into competition flying.
Dennis holds a BHPA Senior Instructors license, the French BEES (Brevet
d'Etat d'educateur sportif) instructors license, 1st degree, and a
professional tandem rating. Dennis started flying paragliders in 1990
and hang gliders in 1997. He has been teaching and guiding since 1993
and has
more than 20000 hours on hands-on teaching and amassed over 4000
hours of personal airtime with the majority of his flying in the
northern French Alps.
Gillian
an accomplished XC pilot, BHPA Instructor and Coach and has been
teaching full time for 5 years. Gillian has been flying paragliders
since 2001 amassing hundreds of hours of personal airtime with the
majority of her flying in the northern French Alps.
How to start - EPC Courses?
We offer two options. A 550 Euros - 5 day group course
is organised with our associate French school CEP Mont-Blanc. Their
group course is fun and progression is made quickly. The instructors
speak good English and the use of all equipment is included in this
cost. CEP concentrate on the hands-on teaching with some class room
theory. During the week with Dennis and Gillian it's possible to
complete the class room work and sit the BHPA - EPC written exam. There
is a 75 charge for this extra work.
If personal one-to-one tuition is preferred and for only a little more
money you could have your own personal instructors and take the EPC
training using our 'Direct
Instruction' course. In
special circumstances we'll take two students at the same time, if they are a friends,
and the daily charge is reduced for both students.
The 'Elementary Pilot
Certificate' (EPC) course with 'Direct Instruction' generally takes 3
days to complete. With good progress some of the CPC tasks are looked at
plus the added bonus of a little thermal flying when conditions allow.
The classroom theory, examination training and exam taking are
included in the course.
Click here for the EPC & CPC
syllabus
details.
CPC Courses?
The 'Club Pilot Certificate' (CPC) training is offered
only using 'Direct Instruction'.
The CPC course takes around 5 days and a number of
flights will include thermalling techniques.
Click here for the EPC & CPC syllabus
or go to the 'Direct Instruction' page for
details.
Course Completions?
Course and/or task completions can be booked for
those who may have started their CPC training with another school.
Also, pilots from all countries who are part way through their training
are welcomed as we specialise in helping partly trained pilots complete their outstanding tasks.
This training is only offering using 'Direct Instruction'.
How much, when and what is included?
All
courses are available from late April to mid November.
CEP French course is 550 Euros plus 27 Euros for a 7 day training insurance.
Their training insurance doesn't include any medical or repatriation
cover. This needs to be purchased separately from you own country. The
CEP fee includes use of all equipment.
'Direct Instruction' is perfect for the
student preferring complete personal attention. 'Direct Instruction'
costs 210 Euros a day/student. 380 Euros a day for two students.
For the training, if required, we can rent you a LTF 1 and/or EN A/B
gliders, high quality harness with reserve, helmet, radio at
25 Euros a day. We have separated this cost as many clients have their
own equipment.
HERE'S A GREAT OFFER for 2012: If you have already reached EPC and buy a
new glider, harness and
reserve parachute from us we will offer you the 'Direct Instruction' CPC course at
just 160 Euros a day and refund the rental and the extra 50 Euros a day
training charge if you had 'Direct
Instruction' training with us from scratch!
Transportation to and from the training/launch/landing sites is
included in the fees, but
not cable car costs. As equipment is of limited size there is a naked weight
limit of 100kgs.
When EPC and CPC training with Dennis and Gillian it's necessary to be a BHPA member. The 3 month BHPA membership is £45 Sterling + £15
a once only joining fee.
Or you could take the 12
months/annual membership at £89 + the £15 joining fee. Both memberships
give the necessary third party insurance cover that's required for
training. However, this insurance does not have any medical cover: this
should be taken using a holiday insurance. Join
the BHPA with us before training commences or go to
http://www.bhpa.co.uk/bhpa/join and join
before the visit. It's worth taking the full annual insurance as the CPC
licence will only be issued to full members.
For your part; you will need to bring ankle high/supporting walking
boots with a good grip, long sleeved top and long trousers, a lightweight windproof top,
gloves, sun tan cream, plenty of bottled water and lunch, though there are
restaurants at the training area.
Not included!
Transport from the airport, accommodation, meals,
personal health and repatriation insurance. For somewhere to stay at
please go to the
''Lodgings''
page for our details.
Training Assistance!
We have a series of Pod Casts on Equipment and Safety Issues that are
well worth listening too: click here for the details - 'Pod
Casts'
Flying paragliders is more of a career in flying,
soaring and thermalling, we never stop learning, that's why it's such a
fantastic sport and becoming competent within oneself sometimes takes a
little longer!
To help understand what's involved in the training we
definitely advise the new student reads either the 'Pilot Handbook' or 'The
Art of Paragliding' book and looks at the excellent DVD 'Learn to Fly'
before they visit us for their training. The knowledge gained will be
invaluable!
There are a number of very interesting books
available covering our sport that are well worth reading and ideally before
a course commences.
The
BHPA Pilot Hand book covers many details including weather, training and
examination tasks plus much more making it an ideal training companion at
just 20 Euros.
'The Art of Paragliding' by Denis Pagen is explanatory
and very educational, an excellent read for the new pilot! Printed in A4
with 360 pages of very useful information, diagrams and photos. It costs
just 40 Euros plus postage and is worth every centime.
For
those who prefer watching a DVD. Here is the 'Learn to Fly' paragliding
film. This DVD is perfect for all new pilots with 3D animation bringing to
life many of the hard to visualise concepts which are so important for us to
understand. Details on airflows around hills and mountains, turbulence and convergence, dynamics and thermal lift plus aerodynamics of lift and drag,
speeds to fly and so on! This excellent DVD is just 39.95 Euros. plus
postage!
'Thermal
Flying' written by Burkhart Martins is a comprehensive guide packed with all
sorts of hints and ideas aimed at all pilots. There are 260 pages all with
excellent photos and illustrations explaining in detail the art of thermal
flying. It includes a bonus section from 2008 World Champion and British
pilot 'Bruce Goldsmith'. The book is directed at all standards of pilot,
including the newly qualified and is one of the best books available. I can
highly recommend this book at just 40 Euros plus postage!
