Paragliding as a sport or recreational physical activity has numerous benefits for body and mind. It enhances body balance, strengthens its core with focus to upper body part which translates into increased flexibility, mobility and range of motion, reducing risk of injuries during everyday activities and strenuous exercises. Paragliding gives an instant boost to overall health of body, thus enhances immune system. Needless to say, during paragliding session many calories are burnt. In addition, it reliefs stress and increases focus because when paragliding, all the attention are on what person is doing at a given moment leaving all worries and distractions behind. It boosts self-confidence by overcoming fears and new paragliding challenges.
Fly High was a collaborative partnership project funded under Erasmus+ Sport action aimed at promoting paragliding as health-enhancing physical activity. It gathered 7 partners from 5 countries (HU, SK, RO, LT and PT) for one common goal – to promote paragliding and increase physical activity of people.
During the project duration we have organized different local activities to promote the sport as well as creating intellectual outputs designed for beginners in the sport. This way we intended to prevent common mistakes and making the sport safer.
Key Results
- Partner Organizations
- 7
- Countries
- 5
- Open Weeks
- 3
- Video Episodes
- 5
Activities
During the project, we have organized 3 open paragliding events in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to promote paragliding and where regular people had the chance to learn paragliding theory and practice flying for free. During these open paragliding events experienced instructors taught paragliding with the certified, high quality and safe equipment which was provided by us.
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Open Week Budapest
Professional and experienced paragliding instructors were teaching paragliding basics and provided certified and suitable for beginners’ equipment. The event lasted 5 days, each day having repetitive schedule but new people:
- Meeting and walking to training place
- Introduction to Erasmus+ Program and Fly High project
- Safety briefing
- Get to know the equipment
- Learning to run with the paraglider, kiting, the basics
- Short pause, some more theory and history about paragliding
- First short flights, landing with help
- Debriefing, photos
The event received huge interest from the public and local media, and it was evaluated as great success with enthusiasm from the public to repeat similar events in the future. During one of the days we had a visit from the Hungarian Euronews reporting team.
Open Week Miercurea Ciuc
Second Open Paragliding Week took place in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania October 2020 and followed the same structure as the event in Hungary – a week of training sessions for new people to try paragliding for the first time. The event took place in a very beautiful hilly sceneries which attracted not only the people who were learning paragliding but also many viewers who were curious to learn more about paragliding sport and spend time in the nature.
Open Week Lucenec
Third Open Paragliding Event took place in Lucenec Slovakia in October 2021 and was a final event teaching paragliding. The event was held on a nice hill of Magin Hrad perfectly suitable for beginner paragliding pilots and accommodating plenty of people who came to watch and enjoy the days. The event received interest from local paragliding pilots and clubs who were glad to see such an initiative to support and promote paragliding sport.
Intellectual Outputs
During the open paragliding events we got to observe hundreds of people learning and trying paragliding for the first time, moments which were the most difficult for them and when the most mistakes happened. Thanks to the insight and experience these events provided us, we were able to develop paragliding videos and the manual dedicated for beginners to learn basic paragliding maneuvers with drawing attention to the most critical parts. Videos and the manual contribute to the safety in paragliding sport in addition to promoting it.
Video Guide
Five instructional episodes covering the complete journey from preparation to landing:
EP. 1 – Preparation — Getting ready, opening canopy, attaching carabiners, preflight safety check
EP. 2 – Kiting — Conditions for kiting, kiting for launch and practice
EP. 3 – Take Off — Forward and reverse launch techniques
EP. 4 – Landing — Emergency situations and self-rescue
EP. 5 – Packing — Proper equipment care and canopy packing
Videos are available in six languages: English, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Slovak.
Manual
A comprehensive manual for paragliding clubs and instructors, available in all six project languages (English, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak). A useful reference tool for anyone looking to introduce others to the sport safely.
Dissemination Events
We organized several activities aimed at disseminating our project results in all partner countries, including multiplier events in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. During these events, participants got to know better about the different intellectual outputs created during the project: the Paragliding Manual and our Fly High Video Tutorials.
