- About Us
- News
- Paragliding
- More Adventures
- Combo Offers
- Gallery
- Weather
- Online Booking
“Have you ever had a dream of flying? Woke up and have that feeling of the Sky stuck in your mind?“
The will and need of humans to fly goes way back to ancient times, but it wasn’t until the previous century (100 years ago) when the Wright Brothers managed to perform the first flight in history, lasting 12 minutes and covering a total distance of 40 meters. Since then there have been several technological discoveries, however Flight Aviation was always considered a privilege for high social and financial status individuals.
For all of you dreaming of flying like a bird, the ability of making mankind’s dream of millennia come true has become available for the average person!! With just 4kgs of fabric and 1kg of ropes you can fly like Daedalus or Alladin in his magic carpet!
The experience is unique and one of a kind, since it will give you the opportunity to see how defying gravity feels like. Learning how to paraglide has become easier than ever before – even easier than learning how to ride a bike! Going down a mountain slope with just a slide requires just a few days of training. Learning how to paraglide though is more demanding and requires a bit more time – it actually never ends. Even nowadays, with ourselves considered as pilots counting years of experience, we are still learning through every flight. Thus in order for someone to start learning, the Beginner’s Basic Course is considered the primary base, followed by two additional learning courses. To sum up, the complete training program consists of three traning parts or, as they are called, the Three Taining Courses.
Does the idea of flying excite you, but you are still afraid? We recommend aking a Tandem Paragliding Familiarization Flight – it will definitely help your decision!
This experience allows you to get the feeling of a flight on a personal level. It also makes it the easiest way, since you are safe with an experinced and certified pilot on the braking handles, simply giving you the opportunity to just experience the feeling of being up to the skies! We guarantee that this will ultimately guide your insticts on your final decision: becoming a Paragliding Candidate!
Initially, the first days of training are dedicated to important theoretic issues that the candidates should be taught, regarding gear and its proper way of use. In the mean time they start getting in touch with it as practice, heping them to comprehend theory, by completing ground based training exercises. The purpose of ground based training exercises is for the candidates to learn how to maintain the wing as stable and as long as possible “above their heads”. They also attend theory classes about the proper ways of taking off and landing (DOs and DON’Ts) as well as the mechanics involving the functionality and flight of a paragliding wing, the forces applied to it as well as the reason it doesn’t fall. This way we avoid anything that can restrain its capabilities. Ultimately, the primary goal of the Beginner’s Training Course is the complete comprehension of a candidate about when NOT to fly.
Additional theory classes are taking place regarding meteorology, rules of Air Traffic when flying along with other pilots in the air, as well as the basic Aerodynamic principles of a flight and the flying device involved.
The knowledge of identification, prevention and handling of various emergency situations is always provided for all of the above.
After finishing ground based training exercises the candidates are now capable of perfoming a take off from a small gradient slope and fly. Progressively, they become more experienced and able to perform flights of bigger altitude range. Through this cotrolled environment they learn how to take off and land with safety – the procedures of taking off and landing remain the same regardless of the altitude you take off. The duration of this training course is related to each canditate, depending on when he/she feels comfortable to take off and land with safety. Finally, when the confidence needed is acquired, and only after the instructor’s approval, the candidates can begin trying to take off and land from higher altitude spots. There, by applying everything they have learned, and through the guidance of the instructor via radio, they perform take offs and landings respecting thoroughly what they have learned through the low altitude take off-landing courses. This procedure can take place several times and with different wind speed levels, aiming to accumulate the basic experience which will allow them to start flying on their own. The main goal of these last flights is for the instructor to create an environment where the candidates act as if they are flying autonomously. In order to complete the basic training courses a time period of aproximately 10 – 15 days is needed, with a total of more than 15 flights completed. That is, of course, always dependent of the candidate’s participation and is considered to be the basic milestone of paragliding training. Through all these, candidates learn how to fly with confidence and safety – Every Paragliding School’s ultimate goal.
Training courses are based on a progressive and adaptive character tailored to each of the candidate’s controlling abilities.
Each class of this training course consists of a small number of candidates, aiming to be flexibile and provide rapid progression to each and one of the candidates with safety.
2. Intermediate Training Course
On this course the pilots, who are already taught how to take off and land with safety, under various wind conditions (from medium to even more harsh), learn how to maintain the flight altitude, as well as how to gain way bigger altitude than the take off. In order to achieve that, they have to comprehend the meaning and use of updraft wind currents which are created by the sun, called “Themals”.
Additionaly the candidates receaive training on how to perform dynamic flights using sea or ground based auras, called “Dynamics”.
By mastering these flying techniques they learn how to fly like birds do, by taking advantage of the updraft wind currents in order to go even higher. Every candidate is able to fly up to the clouds, feel like a bird and experince the world from above!
The Intermediate Training Course can last several weeks, up until the candidates manage to achieve their personal flying goals.
3. Advanced Training Course
The Advanced Training Course consists of several courses aiming towards progression: From flying candidates to become Certified Paragliding Pilots.
These courses focus on paragliding with the use of thermal wind currents. At this point, the pilots have already learned and are capable of safely performing long distance flights on their own.
Once the pilots complete the Advanced Training Course, they are ready to explore and discove new distant destinations in a unique and extreme way!
Here in “Meteora Fly Adventures” Paragliding Training Center, we took the initiative to provide you with answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), often made by several of our flying candidates:
For minors any age over 15 years old (even younger under specified circumstances). Parental or guardian permission is mandatory.
As for adults, any age younger than 60 years old and weight less than 110kgs. In addition, there should not be any medical record of a heart disease or other clinical afflictions.
There are several sites picked for our Courses, by taking into consideration some vital factors such as safety. Also weather and wind conditions are important on deciding a specific site on a specific day. Mainly these sites are located in the wide area of Thessaly, such as Trikala and Meteora.
The completion of the Beginner’s Training Course is strongly reliant to current weather conditions, as well as the amount of time a candidate can invest on the course on a daily basis. Usually the duration is approximately 10 – 15 fully-scheduled days.
All courses are scheduled and coordinated under communication with our Training Center.
Our Training Center provides exclusively to each candidate a full and certified set of gear. The set includes all mandatory items: Wing, harness, reserve parachute, VHF radio and helmet. Of course alternatives are welcome but only after communicating with us.
For a safe attendace to our courses, the following are mandatory:
Our Paragliding Training Center follows the rules of the Training Regulation imposed by the internal regulations of the Hellenic Aeronautical and Airsports Federation, always maintaining strict safety protocols.
Paragliding SIV
The term SIV stands for Simulated Incident in Flight. An SIV maneuvers course is one of the best ways to understand the physics of paragliding flight, by developing additional kinetic skills and to better understand what action should be taken during abnormal glider configurations. It is all done in a controlled environment with experienced instructors, radio communication, flotation devices, and other precautions. Maneuvers courses are recommended for any pilot who hasn’t already taken one, and every time a pilot moves to a different level wing. If the pilot does throw a reserve, because of an unrecoverable maneuver due to their error all safety precautions are provided. It often occurs that a pilot chooses a reserve ride just for experience gaining purposes, not because a certain maneuver was “unrecoverable”, something that we never recommend though.
The beginner’s maneuvers course includes:
The intermediate or advanced maneuvers course includes all of the above in addition to:
A typical course outline looks something like this:
Discussion about procedures:
The course runs for three days under instruction. You will need:
In case of a reserve deployment, reserve parachutes are available for rent.
Important Note: SIV clinics are taking place on specific dates and after, preferably, a group is already under formation. Contact us or keep an eye on our latest news for additional info!
