ParAvion - the premier paragliding school in the south west

Special Package Price For 2010

We have always offered special 'package' deals and the best possible prices to our students, but for the duration of 2010 (in an attempt to beat the recession), we are offering the following amazing, 'never-to-be-repeated' deal.*

For only £3,290.00 we will supply you with a brand new glider, harness, reserve parachute and helmet and give you up to seven days tuition to get you qualified to Club Pilot (tow)** level. In addition you will get a year's FREE membership to our Tow Club.

The normal price for this package would be:

Independence Merlin Paraglider £1895.00
Independence Fusion Harness £460.00
Independence Evo 24 Reserve £620.00
Lazar B-Cool Helmet (in white) £55.00
ParAvion normal tuition Fees £1200.00
ParAvion annual Tow Club Fee £60.00

Total £4,290.00 - you will SAVE £1,000.00

There are just three conditions:

1. You must book in regularly enough to complete your seven days' training within six months from the date of purchase. Any days required beyond six months (or in addition to the normal seven days) will be charged for at the reduced rate of £100.00 per day (normally £170.00).

2. You will be taught on your own equipment, not the school's.

3. No refunds will be made if you decide to stop training. This is because we are selling you the equipment and then teaching you for FREE.

If you would like different equipment to that listed; this can easily be arranged. You tell us what you want, we will supply it to you at full retail price (including our normal tuition charges) and then discount your saving of £1,000.00. However, it must consist of a glider, a harness, reserve parachute and helmet.

Purchase of this package will also entitle you to join us on our September 2010 Pyrenean holiday in France for an additional fee of only £295.00 instead of the normal £550.00. See our holidays page for full details.

* This offer may be withdrawn or amended at any time without notice.

** To gain a Club Pilot (hill) rating, a further day or so of training will be necessary. This will also be charged at the reduced rate of £100.00 per day (normally £170.00).

New Tow Club

Check out the details of our new tow club. We are offering fantastic shop discounts to members as well as a great flying opportunity for those of you that are fed up with the crowded conditions you get with hill flying.

Tow Training

All our training is now tow based initially, with hill or paramotor training commencing once you've completed all your basic EP & CP training on the winch.

We have changed to using a winch for the following twelve reasons:

1. It allows us many more days out training (our average so far is three times as many).

2. Wiltshire doesn't have hills for any wind direction between ENE and SSW. The local club fliers struggle for the same reason and have to go to Wales to be able to fly on the hill (that's why so many fly with us in our tow club).

3. Because we now have this bigger 'weather window' to use, it has allowed our students to qualify far more quickly (now several weeks rather than many months). This is of course completely dependant on how regularly you attend and your luck with the weather.

4. You are no longer 'completely shattered' and finding yourself falling asleep driving home after having to climb hills repeatedly to get your flights completed.

5. Tow training will allow you to get many more flights in on any given day and to much greater heights (typically 1000 ft plus). This obviously gives you much more airtime than the short 50 to 100ft hops you'll get with hill training.

6. If you can do your training during the week (when it’s less busy), you will qualify in a lot less time because you will get more flights each day.

7. We can now complete your EP training in just two or three days and your CP in three or four (depending on group size).

8. Previously, you were limited by your fitness (i.e. how many times you could climb back up the hill), but on a flat airfield you don't have that problem.

9. The winch course is very much 'task based', so you may complete many more tasks each day than is physically possible with hill training.

10. It has proved to be a lot safer and produces better pilots. The reason is because you can learn to fly the glider without being too close to the ground (which is far too easy to bump into when hill flying). It also teaches you about circuit planning and precise landing control so that you will have the ability to land almost anywhere (especially important for XC or mountain flying like you'll have on our holidays). Hill pilots are simply not taught this to a high enough standard.

11. By qualifying on tow first, you can continue to fly with us (or any tow club) and practice your ground handling (windy launch technique). Once you've mastered it, you are ready for an easy conversion to hill flying that should only take a day or so. Trying to fly on a windy hill without good glider control puts you at a much higher risk of getting dragged, damaging your equipment or hurting yourself.

12. The best bit of all – it has allowed us to bring our training prices DOWN!

'Winch-Tow' or 'Hill Launch' Taster Day? - A Brief Comparison:

This comparison is a prime example of one of the many reasons we changed to using a winch for basic pilot training.

Taster Day (Hill)	Taster Day (Tow)
First hour spent on safety briefing and paperwork.	First hour spent on safety briefing and paperwork.
Remainder of the morning spent discussing the weather conditions and learning to understand why it is you're on the wrong hill and now have to move to another flying site because the wind is different to the forecast - then an hour or two of your day wasted while you move.	Second hour spent on how the glider works and how to launch it, then being towed aloft by hand so your feet are already coming off the ground. The wind is different to what was forecast, but it doesn't matter - you're on an airfield.
After lunch, now starting to get to grips with the glider and how it works; running around with it being careful not to stick your foot down a rabbit or badger hole, put your glider on the fence or get yourself and your glider covered in sheep or cow dung.	Third hour; you now start flying properly. Your first flight will last between two and three minutes as we fly you the full length of our airfield (between 600 and 900 metres long) at a height of around 50 feet (15m). You'll repeat this until you're happy to go a little higher and move on to the next exercise.
Mid-afternoon, just starting a few little 'hops' off the ground (duration probably just a few seconds).	After lunch you will fly higher and higher up to the maximum permitted on the first day of 150 feet (50m). You'll do this three or four times - each flight lasting around five minutes.
Late afternoon finishing off with a flight or two at about 20 or 30 feet above the ground (duration still just a few seconds - thirty if you're really lucky).	If the day has gone well, we'll just keep flying until the sun goes down or you've had enough - whichever comes first.
End of the day; you had great fun, but left feeling completely shattered and only really had one 'proper flight lasting less than thirty seconds. You'll leave wanting more flying time, but will dread the thought of having to climb that hill again.	End of the day; you'll leave the school absolutely 'buzzing' and be desperate for more flying. You'll probably want to join us on an EP course on the next available day.
We found that less than 10% of people completing a Taster Day on the hill ever returned for more training. The main reason - the thought of climbing that damned hill again.	Since we changed to winch towing, more than 80% of people attending a Taster Day return for more training. Around 50% of those will sign up for their EP before they go home on the same day.