Learning to Fly Hang Gliders.     Tow or Hill Training?

Appropriate Initial Training

If you intend to fly from hills then a hill training school will provide the most appropriate initial training, fully relevant from the start.
If you live in a flat area and have a tow club nearby then it could be best to learn at a tow school. However most tow pilots will soon want to launch from hills. Initial hill training followed by a "conversion course" is still a good option and can work out cheaper even if travel and B&B are included.

Aerotowing Hang Gliders

The conventional way to learn aerotowing is to train and develop skills by hill flying. Once the hill pilot has their Pilot(Hill) rating (CP Hill + <25 hours) and is familiar with their glider they can take a "conversion course". Club based training can be very cheap. (As little as £160 from Southern Aerotow Club)

There are currently 8 hang glider aerotow clubs in the UK compared to nearly 50 hang gliding hill clubs. The range of micolights used by the UK aerotow clubs are generally too fast for novice pilots on their slower "floater" or "intermediate" wings. They are best suited to towing "sport" or "performance" hang gliders. Attaining the new CP(aerotow) rating from an "airpark" school means that the student has to remain there for a lengthy period until moving on to a higher performance glider.

At South Downs Hang Gliding we offer a 3 Day Aerotow Conversion for £375 run by professional instructors. With this endorsement you can fly at any HG aerotow club in addition to all the hunderds of hill sites. This tried and trusted method has been successful for over 15 years of aerotowing hang gliders.

Club Pilot (Hill)

Learning to fly at a hang gliding hill school is cheaper, simpler and more appropriate if you want to fly from hills and mountains.

At South Downs Hang Gliding the full course takes only 9 days, one day at a time when it suits your diary. Some people prefer to come for one day per week, others prefer a few days at a time. (To stay current, each day should not be more than one month apart). Each day you progress through the BHPA syllabus.
We do not walk up hills carrying hang gliders! On the low training flights we use the breeze and wheels to let the glider blow itself uphill, very little effort, and within a few minutes, the glider is back for another go. All higher flights are retrieved by vehicle, again little effort. (Go paragliding if you want to walk up!)
From the start the hill student learns how the air behaves near hills. After only 9 training days the student would have achieved more than 60 solo flights! That is 60+ launches and landings! All the time learning and experiencing the right weather for hill flying. From then all airtime is completely free! The student pilot is now able to make their first soaring flights at a hill club where they can fly for hours on the up-slope wind. The CP(Hill) rating is awarded after demonstrating three soaring flights of at least 10 minutes each.

Club Pilot (Tow or Aerotow)

A winch or aerotow can be essential in flatlands and a real asset to a school where suitable training slopes are lacking. However, solely launching from a flat airfield and being pulled into the air, takes away a large part of learning the sport and will often lead to a poor launch technique and simplistic site assessment when transferring to hill flying.

Tow students learn extra hazards such as line-breaks, lock-outs, guillotines, weak-links, etc, that are only involved when relying on complicated tow equipment. More to go wrong and reliant on others. If you want to fly hills then all this is unnecessary. Note that the CP (tow or aerotow) only qualifies you to fly by tow launching, but not from the hills which is what most people want to do in the first place! CP(aerotow) pilots will find it difficult to leave their "airpark" school, continuing to pay for all flights, having obtained what amounts to a "restricted" flying licence.

In order to qualify to start a hill conversion from tow or aerotow training the novice CP(tow or aerotow) pilot must then log at least 5 hours solo or 50 solo tow flights. All this at flightpark prices! For similar money the average hill student can pay for all their training, buy a glider and have money left over towards an away trip!

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South Downs Hang Gliding

Gibraltar Farm, Firle, East Sussex. BN8 6NB

Tel. 07890 362648

E-mail: info@southdownshanggliding.co.uk