Contact the IHPA Training & Flight Safety Officer

The first thing you need to do is to notify the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it that you are going to sign up for a training course so that you can receive the latest advice and information before you travel, and support once you return to Ireland to start flying. He will also send you IHPA Membership and Waiver forms to sign. These are required if you wish to fly from any of the privately owned sites the IHPA uses. Membership is free for the first year, up to 31st March.

IHPA Student's Training Record & Log Book

All pilots are required to keep an accurate log of all their training and flights, and have it signed off by their instructor as they progress through their training. Without a log book you will not be able to apply for a Pilot Rating when you return to Ireland. The IHPA provides Student Training Record & Log Books free of charge.

Training Manuals and Required Reading

The IHPA requires all Student and Novice Pilots to own a copy of Denis Pagen's Hang Glider Training Manual. This is the acknowledged de facto standard training reference used by pilots and schools around the world, and it is essential that you read it thoroughly before you start your training course. 

The IHPA requires all pilots, regardless of their level of experience, to own a copy of the BHPA Pilot Hand Book and to have read it thoroughly. This book not only offers essential safety advice for hang glider pilots but also offers insight in to flying safely with paragliders and other pilots. 

Finally, the IHPA requires all hang glider Student and Novice Pilots to own a copy of Denis Pagen's Understanding the Sky. This is an excellent and easy to understand primer into meteorology and micro-meteorology written by one of the most experienced pilots around.

Travel Insurance and the European Health Insurance Card (formerly E111)

Before you travel abroad for training you will need to buy both Travel Insurance that specifically covers dangerous sports like hang gliding and paragliding, and you will also need to obtain a valid European Health Insurance Card. You can apply for an EHIC card on-line or from your local National Wellfare Office or Health Authority. A valid EHIC card entitles you to free medical treatment while you are traveling in Europe and will save you from 'out of pocket' medical expenses. Travel Insurance and an EHIC card are essential in the event that you have an accident requiring medical treatment and repatriation. SportsCover Direct's VentureGuard travel insurance policy is cheap and worth every penny. DO NOT travel without these.

Flights & Car Hire

Check out flights at www.cheapflights.ie. It is often significantly cheaper to book a hire car from Ireland (www.hertz.ie  or www.avis.ie)  than once you are in France, so shop around, but you probably will not need a car anyway once you are at your training school. Transport is usually provided.

Medical Certificate of Fitness

It is likely that you will be asked by the training school to provide a doctor's certificate stating that you are fit and healthy enough to participate in strenuous physical exercise. Hang gliding training involves a lot of running down steep hills and carrying your glider back up again... and again... and again... Get yourself checked out by your GP before you travel, and explain to him why you need a certificate of fitness.

The Training Course

If you are lucky with the weather you should be able to complete all of the Safe Pro 2 requirements and be taking your first solo flights before you return home. You should be able to control the speed and direction of the glider, and to land safely in a designated landing area. Record all your flights (training hill, tandem and solo flights) in your Log Book. At the end of your basic training course you should ask your instructor to sign your IHPA Student's Training Record & Log Book and indicate which practical skills you have mastered. You should also ask your instructor for a certificate of competence stating the FAI/CIVL Safe Pro level you have reached so that you can be credited with this Pilot Rating once you return to Ireland.

It is likely that your training course will consist of a theory session each morning, followed by ground school where you will learn to assemble, inspect, and adjust your glider and harness, and to ground-handle it safely in a light wind.

On flat ground you will learn how to accelerate the glider by walking and running until the glider is aftually flying. You will learn how to control the pitch and roll of the wing while you are running with the glider and how to stop the glider by flaring.

When you have mastered these essential foundation skills you will repeat them by running down a gentle slope - your feet leaving the ground for the first time! - and land safely at the bottom.

In the afternoons, it is likely that you will fly in tandem with your instructor from a high and steep take-off point. This allows your instructor to hand over the control of the glider to you so that you can learn how to judge your air-speed and stall warning signs, and to manoeuvre the glider down to the landing field.

When your instructor is satisfied with your progress he will help you launch on you first high solo flights. It is essential that you complete as many solo flights as you possibly can in the time you have available to you. The more solo flights you do the quicker you will become a competent pilot.