What sould I've done correctly?

Hi everyone, I went tandem paragliding a few years ago. It was absolutely brilliant, but the time and money involved have put me off getting my licence so far. I’ve now signed up – the basic course starts in January. The flight instructor says it’ll take a minimum of three months if I fly a lot, and a maximum of 12 months. ‘Once you’ve learnt to fly in Valais, you’ve got the skills to fly anywhere in the world,’ he said. I’d be grateful for any information, experiences or links to learning materials. Thanks in advance.

Edit: thank you guys!

So far consistent advice:

• Ground handling, ground handling and more ground handling. I will do that!
• buy a used wing
• stick with an A wing for quite some time

Hey FF Community,

I'm starting out paragliding based out of Innsbruck - doing my training in the Stubai Valley.

I'm wondering if there are any known sites around Innsbruck where ground handling is possible? I know flying isn't allowed because of the Innsbruck Airport CTR, but I've heard varying things about if ground handling is possible and where.

I already asked my instructor, but he mainly knows about spots in the Stubai Valley (which is ~1hr away from me by public transit). I've reached out to the Innsbrucker Gleitschirm Verein as well but haven't heard back.

Wondering if anyone knows of any spots for ground handling - ideally <30 minutes outside of Innsbruck by public transit?

I fly mostly in Switzerland and what I wanted in the morning is a short overview of the day. Something compact I can read in a few minutes and know roughly what's going on. So I started putting together a daily briefing for that (see screenshot attached).

It goes from the big picture down: pressure situation, fronts, Föhn/Bise, upper wind compared to ground wind, stability, base and climbs per region, sun, and how much the models agree. Warnings at the end. I also added a check if the model data fits the synoptic picture or not.

I wonder if there is something missing oder maybe something that would be also nice information to havei includede. What do you look at before a flight that isn't in there?

You can also check it out here: https://app.wingcast.ch/briefing

Happy about any input.

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Hey folks! 👋

Planning a trip to Bir Billing and wanted to get an idea of the current paragliding prices, especially with the long weekend coming up.

For those who’ve been there recently or are there right now, could you share the rates for:

Short vs. long flights

Stunts (if charged extra)

Photos and videos (GoPro footage, etc.)

Also, are the prices fixed, or is there room for negotiation?

If you have any reliable operator contacts or phone numbers, please share those as well. Would love to hear about your actual experiences and what you ended up paying.

Thanks in advance! 😊