We teach the USHPA Pilot Proficiency System the way it was designed to be taught: ground school first, kiting until the wing feels familiar, training-hill flights with radio coaching, and a mountain check-ride only when you've earned it. Most students leave us with a P2, a logbook, and the judgment to keep flying safely.
The United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association certifies pilots on a five-rung ladder. Each rating has a written exam, a flight skills checklist, and a minimum-flights requirement. Ratings are issued by USHPA officials, not by schools.
First few training days. You can launch under instructor supervision on the training hill, fly a straight glide, and land on your feet. Not a license to fly unsupervised.
The real one. P2 lets you sign in to most flying sites in the U.S. and launch on your own. You can handle turns, set up an approach, and judge a landing.
P3 is where pilots start chasing lift and flying further from launch. Required for most XC opportunities, most clinic curricula, and most flying outside the U.S.
For pilots who fly weekly, cover real cross-country distance, and have been through SIV. P4 is the rating most XC competitions require for entry.
The highest USHPA paragliding rating. Held by competition pilots, instructors, and lifers. Required for some big-mountain and high-altitude sites.
Our core curriculum produces a P2 in 10–14 training days. After that, we'll keep flying with you through P3 mentorship and clinic stack-ups, but the rating itself is a checklist you complete over time with an instructor of record.
A full Saturday on the training hill. Ground school in the morning, kiting drills mid-day, supervised sled flights in the afternoon. No commitment past the day.
Our core course. Ground school, kiting, training-hill progression, mountain check-ride at Henson Gap. You leave with a P2, a logbook, and the judgment to keep flying.
For freshly minted P2s with the bug. We fly you through the P3 skill list — thermaling, 360s, spot landings, site introductions — at your own pace.
USHPA requires online ground school (we use the official P2 modules on glidertraining.org). We'll quiz you on the morning's chapter — airspace, wing anatomy, decision-making — before we touch the wing.
The wing is what we call a "soft aircraft." Before you fly it, you have to be able to inflate it, hold it overhead in light wind, and shut it down without dragging. We work this until it's boring.
Once your kiting is consistent, we move you up the slope a few feet. Each "flight" is 5–15 seconds in the air. You learn weight shift, the brake range, and the difference between flying and falling.
We record from a 4K cam on the field. After lunch we sit down and review the launches frame by frame. This is where the real learning happens.
As your kiting locks in, the launches get higher and the flights get longer. By the end of a normal training day a strong student is flying 30–60 second sled runs with assigned turns.
We sign off the day's skills on your USHPA witness sheet and plan the next session. Repeat 10–14 times. Then we drive up to Henson Gap for your mountain check-ride.
Fitness: You should be able to jog 30 yards comfortably, carry 35 lb on your back, and balance on a moving slope. We've certified students from age 14 to 71.
Weather literacy: Not required to start, but you'll build it fast. We teach surface lapse rate, ridge lift, thermal sources, and how to read a 24-hour forecast for our home sites.
Online ground school: We require every student to complete the USHPA P2 Ground School modules on glidertraining.org before the third in-person training day. It's the same standard WNC Paragliding and the other Carolina schools enforce.
Footwear & clothing: Sturdy hiking boots, long pants, no loose layers, light gloves. We provide helmets, harnesses, vario, and the wing.
We award two full P2 courses every spring — one to a Carolinas resident under 25, one to a Carolinas resident over 50. Applications open every January. Sport-wide diversity is the long game, and we're committed to it.