Proper Powered Paragliding Training Discussion
Here is a very interesting and informative post written by WPPGA lead instructor Dell Schanze-
“I hear quite a bit people say you should get “good training”. As a newbie it is
hard to know exactly what that means. What the heck is “good training”? Does
that mean you get instruction from someone pretending to be an instructor?
I’ve worked with ex-usppascam victims and yes scam is an extremely accurate non
bashing word. I get guys who really thought they went to an instructor but were
literally taught wrong and setup with equipment that is so mess up it severely
limits your ability to even control the glider while also opening you up to all
the most common catastrophic incidents in the sport.
At a fly in recently one of my students was taking his time on launch just for
fun and a guy who poses as a usppascam instructor was screaming at him “HANDS
UP!! HANDS UP!!”. Just to put that into perspective, lets say you were learning
to drive a car and your instructor was screaming at you to LET GO OF THE
STEERING WHEEL!! LET GO!!! LET GO!!! These people are so insanely messed up it
is hard to comprehend. They literally teach people not to control their glider
properly.
So how do I classify real instructors and state specifics about how to look for
one? Well it used to be pretty tricky. Now there is the WPPGA. Contact the
WPPGA and ASK about instructors in your area. I still think I should probably
list everyone out there who is promoting themselves as instructors and
specifically state who is acceptable and who isn’t but some people thing that
would be rude. So for now just contact the WPPGA and ask for who to go to or a
second opinion about a local guy you might have considered going to.
After watching a guy who thought we was an instructor literally weight shift
backwards I cannot stress enough how important it is to contact the WPPGA who
won’t try to fluff and downplay or be everyone’s buddy. They will help you with
100% accurate information regardless of who it ticks off. It is your life and
you deserve the truth when you ask for it.
If you don’t get proper paramotor training up front and or get WRONG instruction from
some usppascammer you won’t just figure it out on your own. You will literally
go for years and years and years doing it wrong and practicing the wrong things
they show you. This isn’t intuitive. If you don’t learn all of the extremely
important and exactly correct details up front you can seriously fly for 5-20
years and still suck rocks. Then the day you get in that tight spot and you
don’t have the necessary skills or life saving equipment and you just become yet
another statistic for how not to do it in this sport. It’s hard enough doing it
right but doing it wrong is an absolute nightmare.
WPPGA and nothing else.”
