Club Pilot Course (Tow)

Please note: You must complete both a Taster Day and an Elementary Pilot course before you can start a Club Pilot (Tow) Course.

This course, will build on the skills that you gained on your EP course, you will now fly much higher (up to 2000ft), learn how to fly in stronger wind and plan those flights in such a way that you can land back where you took off from (and easily within 10 metres of a target).

As over 90% of our students achieve their Club Pilot (tow) within three or four days, any extra training that is required beyond four days will be charged at a discounted daily rate of £100.00 (normally £170.00). This will only happen if you spread your attendance over too long a period and require refresher training.

Although we mention days, it's not the amount of days you attend, but the number of flights you complete; for EP you need to do 15 and for CP a further 25 - we consider a day's flying eight high flights. On a good day with fewer students you can double this, so you get two day's training in one effectively. On the other hand if we have a day when the weather messes us around or we're very busy (or have hold-ups) you may only get four flights (half a day). An exceptional day can see students doing 15 high flights or more - each lasting around 10 minutes.

This course includes the use of our equipment - there are no hidden charges. The gliders we use are replaced at least once a year (often more) so you'll be learning on the latest and most up-to-date equipment, not the ten or fifteen year old junk that a lot of schools will expect you to use.

To undertake EP & CP training you will need to take out your own insurance policy; full details can be found on our Insurance page. The cost for this starts at £54.20 for an annual policy (it doesn't work out cheaper for a lesser period).

You will learn how to deliberately collapse and recover your glider in flight (this is done in order to prepare you for flying in slightly rougher air than we will allow you to fly in at school level). You will also learn fast descent manoeuvres that will enable you to land a little sooner than you would in straight gliding flight.

You will be expected to attend around four hours of Ground School lectures which will go into much greater detail on the subjects of Air Law, Principles of Flight, Meteorology, General Airmanship, Emergency Procedures and Instability. You will also be encouraged to read up on these subjects in preparation for your CP exam (it's not difficult), there are many books and DVDs available to help you with this.

Once you have qualified to CP (tow) you will be able to join our Tow Club and continue flying with us for a very nominal fee (see Tow Club page). You DO NOT have to buy your own equipment - you can still use ours. Why spend thousands of pounds on equipment if you don't even know if you want to take up the sport seriously or not? With ParAvion you can buy a glider etc. when YOU want to, and with no pressure from us for you to buy at all.

After mastering your ground handling skills, you can move on to Hill Training.

You do not have to qualify to fly on hills if you don't want to; it is in fact far easier to learn to fly XC (cross country) from a tow field. Over the last few years, we've found that less and less people want to fly on crowded hill sites and prefer the safer option of flying with us on our airfield. They then join us on one or two of our many regular trips abroad each year to really build up their airtime.

Equipment Costs

The average cost of new equipment for the beginner is:

• Paraglider - £1950.00 to £2,300.00
• Harness - £500.00 - £600.00
• Reserve Parachute £450.00 - £650.00

However, we offer a great deal for new pilots - check out our 'Club Pilot Package' deal.

Second-Hand Equipment

If you don't want to buy new, then we can sell you an ex-demonstrator or ex-school wing (we won't sell unknown second-hand wings because we can never 'truly' know their history). If you want to buy second-hand equipment (providing it's from us), you will still be entitled to same day rate charge as above.

We buy new school gliders every few months, so there is always a supply of 'almost new' gliders in stock. We only teach on them for around 25 days before we sell them on. This ensures that we have a good supply of used gliders all the time.

If you buy or intend to buy second-hand equipment from someone other than us, then that is your choice. However, we will not teach you on it. As stated elsewhere, we will only teach on NEW equipment. We consider this a very serious safety issue and there will be no exceptions.

IMPORTANT: Paragliding is VERY weather dependent and most of the time we can get you flying within a few days/weeks of you purchasing your place. However, if you don't book in regularly (we recommend at least once a week) it can take a lot longer.

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