Carlo Borsattino (Flybubble Crew)

Pilot, Flybubble co-founder and Director

Carlo is a highly experienced free flight pilot, coach, guide and instructor. Even after many years and thousands of hours of free flying, he's still a highly passionate pilot. 

Licensed as a British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA) paragliding instructor in the early nineties, Carlo instructed at various free flight schools around the world. Over the years he's helped teach hundreds of people to free fly, and fly better and safer, worldwide.

Carlo has run many free flying trips, including training, cross country (XC) and safety (SIV: from the French "Simulation d'Incidents en Vol", meaning simulation of incidents in flight) courses, and has amassed thousands of hours of airtime in over thirty countries.

In the early noughties Carlo and his partner Nancy Elliott formed a new free flight business based in the UK together, Flybubble. Carlo is the Managing Director (MD) and a BHPA Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) of Flybubble. For years Flybubble offered free flight training, tandem flights, coaching, trips and equipment. Gradually, through demand, Flybubble has become a specialist free flight equipment retailer and distributor. Find out more about Flybubble.

Always keen to try new things, Carlo has experience of a vast range of paragliders and other free flight gear and has flown in many environments (flatlands, hills, big mountains, towing, SIV, paragliders, mini wings, speed wings and paramotoring).

As well as being an enthusiastic free-flying pilot, Carlo has extensive experience of competition flying worldwide, including the international Paragliding World Cup (PWC) circuit and European and World Paragliding Championships. He represented Britain in top level paragliding events. He was selected for the British Paragliding Squad for four years running (1999-2002) and for the 2004 Bleriot Cup: as well as being on the winning team, he won the paragliding competition and set a new UK 'Distance to Goal' record. Other successes include #1 Manilla Paragliding Open (Australia 1998), #1 Argentine Paragliding Championships 1999 and #2 British Paragliding Championships 2001. Having taken part in nearly a hundred international paragliding competitions, and despite performing well, he decided to quit paragliding competitions in 2002.

Nowadays Carlo prefers to free fly recreationally (not competitively) and go cross country. In 2015 he accidentally won the UK paragliding XC league on sport class wings, with four flights of over 200km. Accidentally as he really was not trying to win the league, just enjoying his flying to the full and making the most out of the soaring conditions each day.

What Carlo enjoys most is playing, getting wholly lost in the moment (in a flow state). This might be having an epic XC adventure with flying friends, taking some nice photos along the way, and throwing a few nice wingovers before landing. Or it could be as simple as the challenge of hanging on to the weakest of climbs, the joy of swooping around the hill, or even just kiting or learning a new trick. He feels incredibly lucky to be able to free-fly with amazing kit that packs into a rucksack.

Flying Since: 1993

Total hours flown: ~ 5000+

Best distance: 239 km in the UK, from Wiltshire to Lincolnshire on an EN C paraglider.

Best flight: As it happens, the flight from Wilts to Lincs was truly wonderful. However, every new wonderful experience is my 'best flight'. The best flight is the great one you're having right now!

Favourite flying site in the UK: For me, as long as there's a good launch and plenty of good landing options, it's more about the flying conditions than the site. I love flying in all kinds of terrain - from flatlands to big mountains - but over the years I've grown to prefer the subtler challenges of hill flying. If pinned down, the flying site known to free-fliers as The Magic Mountain in south east Wales on an epic light wind XC day.

Favourite flying site in the world: See above. Variety is good! If pinned down, Le Grand Bornand in the French Alps, again on an epic light wind XC day.

Goal: Live a good, happy and positive life. Keep learning and trying new things, and improving ones.

Equipment

General & XC kit:

Performance XC / competition kit:

Hike & fly XC kit:

Hike & fly kit:

Breezy soaring kit:

Freestyle & acro kit:

Instruments:

Accessories:

General & XC

Hike & fly:

General:

Clothing:

Summer:

Spring/Autumn:

Winter:

Links