Look for Experienced Personal Tuition !

• Manilla Paragliding provides HGFA approved license courses that offer extensive quality personal tuition that no other schools can match....why ?

• Your CFI, Godfrey Wenness, is the most experienced paraglider pilot in Australia (see CV below). There is no substitute for experience when it comes to your safety and quality of training - simple as that ! BEWARE : Some operators claim to be flying since year 19XX, and have taught XXXX students in order to gain some credibility. Yet when investigated you will find out they don't actually mean flying or teaching paragliders (which started in Australia in 1988) and nor teaching to a full license level. (which is vastly different to doing 2 day intro's). In fact one operator who makes this type of claim didn't even start flying paragliders until 1993. If they are distorting the facts about their experience with paragliding to catch your attention, then ask yourself what else is not right ? Our live-in assistant instructors are also some of the highest airtime and student experienced instructors in Australia.
• We use tandem instruction in the early high flights phase before your solo, and on days where it might be unsuitable for student level flying. This maximises safety and learning.
• Our live in courses also provide access to your instructors all day, every day for the best possible learning environment !

A Safe Flying Site That Offers All Aspects ?

• Mt Borah is one of the worlds best and most famous flying sites. That's why the 2007 Paragliding World Championships were held here. Many thousands of pilots from Australia and around the world have flown personal bests from Mt Borah. No other site in Australia comes even remotely close.
• Mt Borah is the ONLY site in the world to have 4 of the worlds largest astro-turfed launches for most wind directions in one place - offering unparalleled safety and convenience. Each one is the size of a hockey field and more !
• Mt Borah offers ridge soaring and thermalling, and has large, easy, obstacle free landing areas all round. BEWARE : Some schools say you need to learn on the coast to ridge soar or handle gliders in supposedly stronger winds there etc... That's simply an advertising untruth to attract unsuspecting students. Ridge soaring involves surfing a dynamic upslope wind, no matter where it exists - coastal or inland. In fact Mt Borah offers far safer and much higher ridge soaring than ANY other site in Australia ! As for "ground handling" in stronger winds...such conditions are obviously not the exclusive domain of coastal sites either, and highlight even more misinformation being presented to you..
• Best of all Mt Borah is right where you stay ! No need to waste time driving long distances to different sites when the wind changes - its all in one place !
• Manilla is just over 5hrs from Sydney (430kms). One operator for example claims to be "just" 3hrs from Sydney when in fact it actually takes 4.5 hrs to drive... again, if they are making false claims about something simple like distances from a city to catch your attention then you have to ask yourself what other things are not right ?
• Manilla does not require the use of Aircraft Radio's to legally fly. Since 3rd June 2010, CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) mandated the carriage and use of aircraft VHF radio's in areas (20kms radius) from all small airports. As such now some flying areas require all pilots (including students) to carry and use aircraft radio's in order to fly legally - a highly complicating and uneccessary factor when learning. In Manilla the airspace is free and open (its called Class G Airspace) and there are no affected airports nearby. To further enhance safety we use our own exclusive private radio channels for all teaching as clear communication is critical.

Exclusively Paragliding ?

• We teach ONLY paragliding (and not hang gliding) and pride ourselves in personal attention with the industrys best instructor/student ratio. We do not spread our time and experience between various disciplines or get distracted by tandem joy flight operations – our attention is all to our students and our expertise is purely paragliding !
• Some operators at busy coastal Tandem Joy Flight sites are well known to leave their students sitting on the hill all day while they do Tandems ! Thats simply a waste of your time and available flying conditions, and shows time and time again what their real motivation is (hint : a quick $). You only need to go to those flying sites to see how it works and most other pilots will tell it straight when asked.."yeah instructor X just leaves his students there while doing tandems". Don't waste your precious free time and money with such operators.
  

Proper Theory Lessons ? 

• The theory sessions, as per proper aviation schools, are face to face for 20hrs over the week, and at a pace that everyone can understand. They are not cut and dry sessions - they include many real examples and interesting asides to keep attention and provide practical situations to comprehend. BEWARE : Some schools just give you a text book, say "ask me if you have any questions", and leave you to work alone or run casual unstructured theory sessions in a local coffee shop when its not flyable !

What Time of Year to Learn ?

• Our courses are run in Autumn and Spring – the best time of year to learn in Australia and get the most out of each day. No matter where you are, the days are too short and unreliable in winter and the conditions are too variable and limited in summer, to achieve the highest skill level and thus get the best value for your time during a one week (9 day) course.

  BEWARE : Some will have you believe that they have magically increased daylight hours on the coast over winter. They also claim that summer is great too but forget to add that the sea breeze which they rely on isn’t available on tap either. Many operators need to drive long distances to find sites when the wind changes direction or isn’t suitable for their main site (eg in winter for all coastal schools) – at Mt Borah its all in one location.
  
  BEWARE of doing courses in summer (and mid winter). Some claim to operate all year round and justify it by making all sorts of amazing claims as to why they can and others can't. Whilst summer may be convenient from a “holidays” perspective, it simply isn’t the right time to learn anywhere unless you are willing to take around 2 weeks off – no matter what they may suggest. It is hot everywhere (even on the coast where the humidity drains your energy) and results in student fatigue so you don't get the time to attain the skills in the time available! We know because we regularly see their “unfinished“ yet licensed ex-students (!), and often need to skill them up to the correct solo level - if they recognise the fact they are substandard that is.

  Some will have you believe that it’s too windy inland to teach in winter or too turbulent in summer. The fact is that at Manilla we could easily teach all year round in better conditions than anywhere else, BUT we choose not to as we know that winter and summer results in the need to extend courses to attain the level of skill we are happy signing your license off with. We offer longer 1:1 private courses in summer and winter if requested but state clearly that to achieve the skill standard we require it will usually take more than 9 days - and that goes for any location ... including coastal ones. Warning - if you are doing a 9 day course on the coast in summer its VERY likely you will NOT be up to a suitable standard skill level to fly solo safely as you would expect.... this is despite being signed off for a license. Yes that stinks....and yes people have lots of accidents or "scares" as a result and then end up never flying again. Also if lyou choose to learn just on weekends and days off it might take you more than 6 months to finish - very frustrating and costly (travel costs add up !!).

High Quality Equipment ?

• Only the highest quality, modern, Swiss-German designed and certified equipment is used and sold. In aviation, quality is always the first priority ! Unlike others we do not use worn out old flying training equipment or promote sales of B grade or eastern european “budget” gear to save a few $100's. The brands we import, personally use and sell, are recognised in the industry as the market leaders in each category - a fact that no other school can claim ! The retail prices for our equipment are considerably less than that in Europe, USA and Japan... thus our students can fly first class for around the same price as lower quality equipment sold in this country. Naturally if there are products/brands out there we don't stock we can get them for you easily if its something you really want.

  BEWARE : When you buy a new or used glider it is false ecomony to look at price alone - factors to be considered include : longevity, build quality, materials and workmanship, current design, brand stability, re-sale value and trade-in potential etc. Consider also asking how long the brand has been around for, how long the school has been with the brand, what their trade-in terms are when upgrading, what service is available for repairs etc.  All these factors contribute to the intial cost and the value when you sell/trade in your wing. Check out the Buying a Glider section in the main menu bars above or ...click here.

  Remember : "Quality lingers on long after price is forgotten".

  Pre-Paid Courses, Holiday courses... no Thanks !

• We do NOT believe in pre-paid and "Holiday" courses - they put great pressure on obtaining a “license at the end of the week” and make light of the airsport generally - your safety and future flying enjoyment is far more important to us than that ! Learning to fly is not a holiday, it is a serious activity and should be treated as such.  BEWARE - those that offer course and equipment package price deals up front do not have your interests as a priority. All they want is to sell you some gear and a license. BEWARE - some operators also often state how relaxing and holiday like their locations are and note all the other lovely activities you can do while there...when in actual fact you are there to learn to fly. Ask yourself - am I going for a holiday or to be serious about something that can so easily kill you if you are not taught properly ?

  Course Covers Not Just the Minimum ?

• In Manilla you get a broad range of flying experience – NOT just coastal ridge soaring or 10 glides down a hill. Our courses include hours of smooth ridge soaring (something that other schools will lead you to believe only occurs on the coast) and real thermalling tuition from experts (which is an add on course in most other places). These combined, prepare you properly for any type of flying you wish undertake, anywhere that's suited to novice rated pilots. We also include extended and important skills like top landings and emergency/safety manoeuvres.

• Our courses go far beyond the minimum requirements – No other school in Australia provides all this in one course. When you are signed off with a license in Manilla you can be sure you have the skill level needed to fly safe and have fun. Some schools mention that their students may need follow up training and offer this as a free service... that says a great deal about the quality of the initial course ! (Naturally we offer refreshers to our old students for free if they haven't flown for a while and need to get their confidence back). 

  
  Full 9 day license courses are $1950* including accommodation, HGFA Student M/ship and a $400 spending voucher for a equipment set (glider, harness & reserve - which are also at student discount prices) – why get less value for your money !

  * From 2011 we have to increase the course cost (for the first time in 10yrs !) to $1950 (inc $400 equipment voucher etc).

• In Manilla, we DONT sell licenses - we teach you to fly ! ... and that is a major difference in our philosophy and motivation to run a school compared to many others.