Paragliding In Scotland

Paragliding in Scotland is a relatively small but friendly and growing sport with some well set up flying schools and clubs to help you get involved.

As a sport it first started in the 1978 in Europe and was quickly picked up by adventurous pioneers in Scotland with some Scottish flying schools being established in the 1980’s.  Still running today these schools have a huge amount of experience teaching paragliding in Scotland with some of the instructors having almost 40 year of experience guiding students into the sky.  The paragliding schools run the BHPA syllabus that takes you through the qualifications of Elementary Pilot and Club Pilot, after which you are fully licenced to fly solo.

If you want to give paragliding a go in Scotland but are not quite ready to commit to a full course then you can instead opt for a Tandem Paragliding Flight experience or a Paragliding Funday.  These give you a good taste of what it’s like to fly and from there, if you’re keen, you can then join a course at one of the schools.

Once you are a qualified Paragliding Pilot you will probably want to join a Paragliding Club in Scotland and thankfully there are quite a few to chose from across the country.  They are great places to make friends and find flying partners as well as develop your flying skills further.  Many of these are represented by the volunteer run Scottish Hang-gliding and Paragliding Federation which is also a member of the  British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA).  Both of these are fantastic resources for more information about getting involved with paragliding in Scotland.

Cloudbusters is a paragliding school in the south of Scotland within an hours drive of both Edinburgh and Glasgow.  It’s run by Peter Shields, who’s been teaching for nearly 40 years, and offers training for the BHPA courses as well as fun days

Check out the full guide for this paragliding school here.

Flying Fever is the other main school for learning paragliding in Scotland.  They are based on the Isle of Arran which is on the west coast and sometimes call ‘Scotland in miniature’.

At their school Flying Fever run the usual BHPA courses for Elementary and Club pilot qualification as well as Tandem paragliding experiences and paragliding fun days.

Find all the information for Flying Fever, including contact details here.

Whilst there may not be a huge number of paragliding schools in Scotland, if you’ve already qualified as a Club Pilot then you can join one of the much more plentiful paragliding clubs.  These are great places to meet like minded people, find flying buddies and continue your paragliding learning journey.

Here is a list of the paragliding clubs in Scotland

• Wingbeat Paragliding Club – wingbeat-paragliding.co.uk
  • A small paragliding club based in the Southern Uplands in the Scottish Boarders.  Due to the remoteness of the area the club may have more fly sites than members!
• Aberdeen Hang Gliding And Paragliding Club – ahpc.org.uk
  • An active club for paraglide pilots in the Aberdeenshire, Moray and Angus areas.  They help maintain relationships with landowners, develop fly sites and organise social meets.  For visiting pilots they can help you find the best sites.
• Lanarkshire And Lothian Soaring Club – llsclub.co.uk
  • An amateur club in the Lankarshire and central belt areas of Scotland.  They offer support for newly qualified pilots and the typical benefits of club membership for more experienced flyers.
• Highland Hang Gliding And Paragliding Club – highlandhgpgclub.co.uk
  • A supportive and social flying club for pilots in Scotland’s highlands.  They welcome new members from all over Scotland and visiting pilots.

Interested in other places that you can Paraglide in the UK?  Check out our guide with an interactive map showing all the paragliding locations across the UK with links to guides for each place.  And if you have any questions feel free to send us a message.