7. Bergamo: Tandem Paraglider Flight
The meeting always takes place at the landing. If you choose to drive to the takeoff with your own car, the pilot will come with you (the passenger must therefore be accompanied by a person who will bring the car from takeoff back to the landing); if instead you go up with the shuttle, this will have to be paid cash on the spot directly to the person offering the service (which is disconnected from AirEmotions). As the price of the service varies according to the location and the season, the exact price will be communicated when booking the flight date.
Once we will reach the takeoff place, a bit of tension will to rise; it’s normal. I would worry if it were not so! The takeoff is a grassy lawn, nice to have a picnic; you never thought it could be a runway, eh? First I will spread the paraglider on the ground and control the cables, so that everything is in order for takeoff. I will put your harness on and the helmet and then you will be given a briefing on what you will have to do for takeoff and I will explain the flight plan.
Takeoff is a delicate phase because it is a phase (the only one of flight) in which the passenger is required an active collaboration: in other words…. RUN! In fact, to take off we have to reach a certain speed, like planes: they can take off from the airport because they have engines, but we don’t have engines so we have to take speed running downhill. So you have to run, sometimes fast, and keep running until the pilot will tell you to stop. Once we have reached the necessary speed, the paraglider will lift us from the ground.
In this and many other ways paragliding is very different from skydiving, in which instead you jump (I write it for the sake of it, but I know you would never get confused).
Im flying! The first moments after take-off will be really exciting: you will still have the adrenaline of the takeoff and you will immediately find yourself in another dimension. Take it easy: from now on you will not have to do anything rather than sitting comfortably in the harness. You’ll just have to enjoy your flight. Everyone has different expectations and tastes and each flight is different, either because you always fly a different air and because it can be tailored on you. If you are scared it will be a quiet flight, if you are rad it will be more adrenaline, if you do not know what you want I’ll give you a taste of every aspect of the flight. The flight takes on average 10-15 minutes (max 20). Usually it is divided into three phases: in the first phase the passenger simply gets comfortable with the new dimension, in the second one and if the wind conditions allow, I teach the passenger how to fly by letting him control of the glider and in the third, if you want, we can do some roller coaster flying.
When we reach landing do not worry; it’s actually easier than you think. The speeds involved are low and, even without wind, the landing is resolved in a few steps.