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Hang gliding schools in england and the UK are hard to find.
There are a number of paragliding schools but there are very
few that will teach hang gliding. It is becoming increasingly
difficult to learn hang gliding in England, or anywhere in
the UK, for a number of reasons.
- Insurance costs
- Paragliding schools
- Problems with the weather
- Problems with land owners
I'll take those points one by one:
Insurance:
This is a major issue at the moment and it will continue
to be an issue in the future. The predominance of 'no-win-no-fee'
bloodsucking law firms is proving to be a major problem
for all sports in the UK and the idea that if you have an
accident, it must always be someone elses fault, is leading
to a world where nobody is prepared to take on any kind
of risk. This is affecting every aspect of sport in this
country now, even to the point where some children are no
longer being taught sport in school. Hang gliding, by it's
very nature is a risky thing to do, and teaching it is now
a risky job to do. Too many people are taking legal action
against others for what is really their own incompetence
or stupidity, and if they have any kind of accident they
automatically assume that someone else must be to blame,
not them.
The insurance cover for instuctors and schools in the UK
was until the end of August 2003, two million pounds. That
has now been reduced to £25,000. This has meant that
it is now just not feasable to teach hang gliding or paragliding
in the UK. The risk of losing your house etc to someone
who claims against you is just too high for some people
to take and therefore it seems that many schools will simply
close up shop rather than take that risk.
The reason that we are in this position is not because
hang gliding has a bad record. The problem has been caused
by paragliding accidents and the subsequent claims made
against the schools involved. Because both hg and pg are
both under the umbrella of the B.H.P.A (british hang gliding
and paragliding association) we are both considered to be
one and the same, which of course we are not. The damage
has been done however and hang gliding instructors are now
suffering the same punitive insurance problems as the paragliding
instructors.
It's an unfair situation. For example: car drivers are
not all considered to be the same risk. Younger drivers
are considered to be higher risks than older drivers but
for some reason hang gliding, which has a better safety
record than paragliding is somehow considered to be the
same bad risk by insurers.
Paragliding schools:
Most schools would much rather teach paragliding. Why?
Because it's dead easy to learn and teach, and schools make
much more money teaching it than hang gliding. It's much
more difficult to learn to fly a hang glider than a paraglider.
Schools will also make a lot more money on the sale of paragliders
than on the sale of a hang glider. There are probably about
20 paragliding instructors to 1 hang gliding instructor
in the UK. Also, for some reason, paragliding is somehow
seen as a safer option to the potential student. It is not
though. Schools will not tell you just how dangerous it
is however as that would be likely put you off doing it.
So the short answer to this little paragraph is - money.
Lots of it. That's what schools make from teaching paragliding.
Hang gliding is more difficult, takes longer to learn and
takes up more instructor time.
The weather:
The weather in the UK is not the best in the world for
learning to fly hang gliders. It is generally quite windy
and changeable. The ideal conditions for a student would
be calm, stable air with a 5 mph maximum wind speed. These
are not conditions that are found in the UK very often.
Many people sign up for a hang gliding course hoping to
complete the training in a week or so and end up being very
disappointed to find that due to the weather, it takes six
months or more to find 5 good days to learn. The problem
is that if you are working, and most people are, then you
have to take time off to go to learn to fly. The chances
of you getting good weather on the the day that you have
taken off are slim to say the least. Many people just give
up.
It is also thought that the summer is the best time to
learn to fly hang gliders. That is not really the case.
The summer is the time when the air is most bouyant and
this causes the air to be rough. Imagine trying to learn
to wind-surf on a rough sea. You would have no chance. This
is the same as learning to fly a hang glider, you need smooth
conditions and these conditions are not found on hot summer
days. If you want good consistent conditions to learn to
fly, my advice is not to waste your time going to a school
in the UK. I say that as an instructor who has taught in
the UK since the mid '90's. I recommend that you go to wallaby
ranch or to Quest Air in Florida and learn quickly in a great environment
where you will almost certainly be guaranteed to get qualified
in a short time. They teach using aerotowed tandem gliders
where each flight is to 2,000 feet. They teach in the cool
of the morning and in the gentle evening air and the standard
of tuition is very high. You might think that going to Florida
to learn is a bit extreme but you will save time and money
in the long run. You will get 2,000 ft flights every time
and cram in the experience. It will take years to get to
2,000 feet in the UK.
Flights to Florida are pretty cheap nowadays anyway so it's no big deal
Learning to fly in the UK is hard, hard, hard. You will
get only very short, very low skimming flights on the glider
until you are competent to fly higher. You will carry the
glider back up the hill every time. (no help from the instructor).
You will fall in the mud, nettles, cow dung etc. Girls in
particular find this too much and just give up. Most people
are not fit enough to carry the glider up a slight slope
never mind up a 200 or 300 ft hill. It is an archaic and
barbaric method of learning to fly hang gliders and if you
want to avoid all that and get some real air-time. Go
to Florida. Don't let the hype in the ads in british
schools fool you. It is hard-going learning to fly in the
UK.
Here are some photos of tandem hang gliding tuition in
Florida
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ready to launch
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into the air
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in flight
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landing
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Land owners:
All of the land in the UK is owned by someone, whether
it be farmers or the National Trust or whatever. They don't
want you on their land. The only way you get on their land
is to pay them. Often, even that won't help. A hill which
has stood there since dinosaurs walked the earth is now
the property of some guy in a tweed jacket who wants to
keep everyone else off it. This makes it difficult to find
hills to teach on and fly on. The men in tweed want the
land to themselves while they live out their few years on
the planet.
How do I know all this?
I've taught hang gliding in the UK since '96 and although
I've taught hundreds of people to fly, I know how hard they
have to try to get the right weather conditions etc to get
through the course. More people actually give up trying
than go through to the end of the course. I would not recommend
trying to learn to fly in the UK anymore. Go to wallaby
ranch or Quest Air in Florida and learn to fly in warm weather, in
a great atmosphere, in good conditions and with every flight
to 2,000 ft. It beats running through cow dung in the UK.
ps. I don't work for Wallaby Ranch or Quest Air, nor do I get any remuneration from them.
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Annecy
