Flight Skills

We're excited to present our new miniseries of mini-adventure vlogs—Flybubble Walk Climb Fly—with mountaineering instructor, paraglider pilot and guest filmmaker Rob Johnson of Filmuphigh.

Have you ever wondered why people fly? Our new Flybubble film celebrates the joy of free flight and the wisdom of British philosopher Alan Watts.

Flybubble team pilot Phil Clark helps you make the most of those cloudless, blue thermal days. Learn why they happen and how to make them work for you...

In this free flying cross country tips article, Flybubble team pilot Phil Clark shares with you his key learning points from an ambitious planned closed-circuit XC flying task and shows us that, done right, flying teamwork can make freeflight dreamwork.

Time is running out and we must find lift, or land within minutes! Get a front row seat as we search for that elusive thermal source. Is it in the mountains or flatlands? Where will a thermal form? Where does it go? Let's find out.

Join Greg on a west-facing mountain slope early in the day, as we try and stay aloft together and work the scraps of lift to avoid an embarrasing landing at the base of the pass. In this episode: investigating sloping terrain, keeping turns flat and tight, turning before you leave the lift, matching your proximity with your skill level, looking for recurring patterns to find lift, gliding fast and straight in sink, using figure-of-eights to follow the lift, alternating between lift sources, being patient and working for every metre.

Join us for an enlightening discussion with a very special pilot. Christian 'Chrigel' Maurer is #1 in the world: multiple European champion, PWC champion, Acro champion, and 6 x Red Bull X-Alps winner. This guy knows his flying, especially hike and fly! We talk about how to win, taking risks, balancing flying, work and family, the best gear for racing ... and much more.

Using the speedbar on a paraglider can improve your safety in windy conditions, but it can also be very risky if used in the wrong way. Join Greg as he explains the ins and outs of the speedbar.

On hills and coastal sites, paraglider pilots usually prefer to top land. Easy when you know how, and have plenty of practice. In this quick guide we examine the six essential steps to making a safe landing on the hill.

Landing on the sloping side of a hill can be a very useful skill to have, to allow you to land when thermals pause, and relaunch when they return. Or perhaps there's no safe landing in the valley, and you need to put it in on the slope? With this simple, straightforward approach you can achieve a gentle touchdown.