Flight Skills Archives - Flybubble Blog

Invoking James Brown: Get up, get on up!

Into the blue: flying XC on blue thermal days

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...

Flying teamwork makes freeflight dreamwork

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.

Thermal Hunting: Finding thermal sources and trigger points

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.

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I wanted to test myself against the desert. To travel by paraglider over the harshest part of South Africa, solo, self-supported. To feel like a bird. To be free. But the desert is dry, and ancient … and it doesn’t care.

On the rocks: staying up in early morning

On the Rocks (Staying Up, Early)

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.

Angle of Attack: Test Your Control

The air is never still; it is always moving. So your paraglider control inputs should always be active. But what is the best way to control the angle of attack, why do you get collapses, and how to you avoid a stall? Join Flybubble Paragliding for a demonstration of active flying and challenge Greg to a game of 'catch that collapse!'

How to Win at Hike & Fly

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.

How to use your speedbar safely

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.

Improve Your Top Landing Approaches

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.

How to get great slope landings

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.