Anyone Can Leisurely Fly - My First Steps to Flying On My Own - Part 1

So here it is, my first post on Steemit. Since it's gonna be a bit long, I'll break it in a couple of parts.

One of my passions/hobbies which also turns out to be my current job is to fly and I'm not talking about being a commercial pilot. Let me tell you how i got into it..... It might give you ideas 😉

It all started about ten years ago. After a few years of not talking to each other for reasons which I won't get into, my brother and I finally started mending things. One evening, while catching up slowly and chitchatting over a skype video call, we discussed our hobbies, and this is when I learnt that he had successfully gone through a paramotoring (also called powered paragliding) course and was now a licensed pilot.

Flying and becoming a pilot had always been an idea at the back of my mind but I never did anything about it because I always assumed it was too expensive and I couldn't afford it. We discussed the subject in detail and he basically told me that yes, the equipment is a bit pricey, but the course is affordable. That night I couldn't stop thinking about it and decided that I was going to do my own research and hopefully find a course available close to where I live. The idea of being able to fly on my own and the overwhelming sense of freedom I could get from it was very appealing.

I spent a lot of time reading about paramotoring and acquired a lot of knowledge about the subject. I also learnt more about paragliding and the main differences between the two. Both these adventure sports allow you to fly while sitting in a harness and being strapped to a glider, however, with paragliding, you are mostly limited launching from a hill or mountain and soaring along its ridge using laminar winds or thermals. Having a motor with a propeller strapped to your back, paramotoring will allow you to launch from a flat land and give you the freedom to go wherever you please.

At that time, my wife and I lived in the Middle east and I didn't find any training in my area for paramotoring. However I got in touch with a paraglider pilot who was teaching paragliding to people like me. A few days later I met the person and asked him lots of questions to fully understand what I would be getting into and what I would get at the end of the training if I was to sign up for it. To be honest I kinda had already signed up in my mind before I even met him but it was reassuring to understand who he was and discover the course's steps.

A few days later, after work hours, I started my training. The first lesson was about discovering the glider and everything that goes with it, as in its specifications, how it is built, the A B C D and brake lines, the pockets, the leading edge, the trailing edge, brake handles, etc... Next it was the turn of the harness. Those 2 are the main items when paragliding but We also went through all the accessories which are part of the equipment such as a helmet, gloves and also something which for him was very important and obviously is important for me too now, tightly strapped high hiking boots. You wouldn't want to sprain your ankle when landing on uneven grounds. Once I was clear with it all he showed me how to lie down the wing on the ground and then safely how to attach it to the harness which I had just put on. So there was not much action on the first lesson, but I was already hooked and couldn't wait for our next session where it would all really start: the ground handling.

That's it for now. Part 2 coming up in a few days.

#flying #paragliding #paramotor #paramotoring #pilot #adventuresport #glideraircraft #glider #training #hobby