Airways Airsports
Encyclopedia
Airways Airsports is based at Darley Moor Airfield
, Derbyshire
, is the only airpark in the United Kingdom
offering hang gliding
, paragliding
, paramotoring and microlight training and flying
. It is a British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
and British Microlight Aircraft Association recognised school. Instructors include a three-times world champion
, world record holders, British cross country champion, British distance record holder, Royal Aeroclub gold medal winner and members of the British hang gliding and paragliding team.
Airways also teach paragliding, hang gliding, paramotoring and microlight flying at BHPA and BMAA schools in the Alps
.
Hang gliding
teaching is primarily through tandem
aerotow flights with take off and landing both on wheels. The student and instructor clip into a tandem glider side by side and attach themselves and the glider to a tow line pulled by a high powered 'tug' microlight. The tandem hang glider is then towed to around 3000' with the instructor and student keeping in line behind the microlight. At the top of the tow the line is released and the student is taken through a number of exercises before landing the glider under instruction. Once the student has completed a number of exercises and demonstrated an ability to keep the glider in line behind the microlight on tow, and land safely, then the student progresses on to a solo, wheeled hang glider. Once a student has completed a number of solo flights and demonstrated safe tows and landings solo then they are awarded their Club Pilot Certificate (aerotow) and can progress to flying in a club rather than a school environment. Airways have developed a wheeled solo glider for the initial solo flights.
Airways train pilots
using a static winch for paragliding training. Compared to training on the hill this is a faster and less physically demanding way to try out paragliding
as Darley Moor airfield is big enough for the winch to be moved around if the wind changes.
The course or taster starts with a full demonstration/walkthrough of the equipment, the winch commands/release etc. and how to use the radio. Students are then trained to ground-handle the wing, then the flying starts with some short low level flights before progressing to basic manoeuvres and on to high flying circuits.
Paramotoring training starts with standard paragliding training on the winch before the introduction of the engine and training with power. Similarly training for powered hang gliding
involves learning to fly a hang glider first before conversion to power.
has ample parking with full wheelchair and vehicle access. In the clubhouse there are male, female and disabled, showers, light refreshments, a shop and in 2011 a brand new hanger has been built.
The school offers the widest range of disabled free flight facilities of any school in the UK, using specially modified equipment to fly hang gliders, paragliders and microlight aircraft. The school has close links with the Aerobility (formerly the British Disabled Flying Association) and Flyability – charities offering support, advice and scholarships to disabled people wishing to experience or learn to fly.
(2003) Blue Peter
presenter Matt Baker taught to fly and makes successful tandem world record breaking flight with Airways instructor Judy Leden
.
(2006) An extract from BBC's
Great British Summer. Airways instructor Judy Leden
flying Tandem with Cloud Appreciation Society
founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney
, showing him what its like to fly through the clouds on a hang glider.
(2010) Geologist
Iain Stewart flown over a waterfall in a paramotor buggy by Airways CFI Chris Dawes.
(2010) Country Tracks presenter Ellie Harrison
flew above Derbyshire with Airways instructor Andy Snell.
(2010) Blue Peter
presenter Joel Defries
learnt to fly with Airways instructor Judy Leden
with the aim of flying with Lucy the Peregrine Falcon
.
(2010) BBC Breakfast
sports presenter Mike Bushell
and BBC Disability Sport reporter Tony Garrett flew tandem with Airways instructor Judy Leden
to experience hang gliding and to demonstrate the benefits of aerotowing for disabled students.
(2011) The Gadget Show
presenter, Jon Bentley
, flew with Judy Leden
, competing with a peregrine falcon
to track a lure
(2011) Judy Leden
takes BBC Breakfast
Weather reporter Carol Kirkwood
flying in a hang glider to see a cloud close up and weight it, for BBC's The Great British Weather Show.
(2011) Gethin Jones
gets taken up flying in a microlight by Airways CFI Chris Dawes in a microlight for ITV's "The Adventurer's Guide to Britain", to get a unique birds eye view of the Peak District..
Darley Moor Airfield
Darley Moor Airfield in Ashbourne, England, is operated by Airways Airsports providing training in almost every type of leisure flying. The World War II runway has also been transformed into Darley Moor Racetrack which is used for motorbike and cycle racing...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, is the only airpark in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
offering hang gliding
Hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....
, paragliding
Paragliding
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...
, paramotoring and microlight training and flying
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
. It is a British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association is the governing body in the UK for hang gliding and paragliding and is based in Leicester....
and British Microlight Aircraft Association recognised school. Instructors include a three-times world champion
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
, world record holders, British cross country champion, British distance record holder, Royal Aeroclub gold medal winner and members of the British hang gliding and paragliding team.
Airways also teach paragliding, hang gliding, paramotoring and microlight flying at BHPA and BMAA schools in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
.
Hang gliding
Hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....
teaching is primarily through tandem
Tandem
Tandem is an arrangement where a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction....
aerotow flights with take off and landing both on wheels. The student and instructor clip into a tandem glider side by side and attach themselves and the glider to a tow line pulled by a high powered 'tug' microlight. The tandem hang glider is then towed to around 3000' with the instructor and student keeping in line behind the microlight. At the top of the tow the line is released and the student is taken through a number of exercises before landing the glider under instruction. Once the student has completed a number of exercises and demonstrated an ability to keep the glider in line behind the microlight on tow, and land safely, then the student progresses on to a solo, wheeled hang glider. Once a student has completed a number of solo flights and demonstrated safe tows and landings solo then they are awarded their Club Pilot Certificate (aerotow) and can progress to flying in a club rather than a school environment. Airways have developed a wheeled solo glider for the initial solo flights.
Paragliding
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
using a static winch for paragliding training. Compared to training on the hill this is a faster and less physically demanding way to try out paragliding
Paragliding
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...
as Darley Moor airfield is big enough for the winch to be moved around if the wind changes.
The course or taster starts with a full demonstration/walkthrough of the equipment, the winch commands/release etc. and how to use the radio. Students are then trained to ground-handle the wing, then the flying starts with some short low level flights before progressing to basic manoeuvres and on to high flying circuits.
Hill conversion
By using a combination of aerotow and winch for training, pilots gain the skills necessary for flying in a club environment with winch or aerotow launching. With a hill conversion course pilots can be trained to fly from hills. Airways primarily use the Derbyshire Soaring Club sites. There are hills to suit all wind directions for both hang gliding & paragliding.Paramotoring and Powered Hang gliding
Powered Hang Glider
A foot-launched powered hang glider , also called powered harness, nanolight, or hangmotor, is a powered hang glider harness with a motor and propeller in pusher configuration...
involves learning to fly a hang glider first before conversion to power.
Single Seat Microlight Flying
Either flying with a paragliding wing in a wheeled, powered buggy or in a single seat wheeled powered hang glider.Microlighting
The school aircraft available for training are as follows;- Fixed wingFixed-wing aircraftA fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
:- Ikarus C42Ikarus C42-See also:-External links:* * *...
(3-Axis) - Snowbird (3-Axis modified to be fully flown with hand controls)
- Ikarus C42
- Flex wing:
- Quantum 912
- GT450 (Flex-wing)
Darley Moor Airfield facilities
The airfieldDarley Moor Airfield
Darley Moor Airfield in Ashbourne, England, is operated by Airways Airsports providing training in almost every type of leisure flying. The World War II runway has also been transformed into Darley Moor Racetrack which is used for motorbike and cycle racing...
has ample parking with full wheelchair and vehicle access. In the clubhouse there are male, female and disabled, showers, light refreshments, a shop and in 2011 a brand new hanger has been built.
The school offers the widest range of disabled free flight facilities of any school in the UK, using specially modified equipment to fly hang gliders, paragliders and microlight aircraft. The school has close links with the Aerobility (formerly the British Disabled Flying Association) and Flyability – charities offering support, advice and scholarships to disabled people wishing to experience or learn to fly.
Media coverage
Airways Airsports has been chosen by the press to fly or teach presenters and journalists(2003) Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
presenter Matt Baker taught to fly and makes successful tandem world record breaking flight with Airways instructor Judy Leden
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
.
(2006) An extract from BBC's
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Great British Summer. Airways instructor Judy Leden
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
flying Tandem with Cloud Appreciation Society
Cloud Appreciation Society
The Cloud Appreciation Society is a society founded by Gavin Pretor-Pinney from the United Kingdom in January 2005. The society aims to foster understanding and appreciation of clouds, and has over 22,000 members worldwide from 83 different countries, as of July 2010.Yahoo named the society's...
founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Gavin Edmund Pretor-Pinney is a British designer and author of the best-selling The Cloudspotter's Guide .Pretor-Pinney attended Westminster School, the University of Oxford, and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design...
, showing him what its like to fly through the clouds on a hang glider.
(2010) Geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
Iain Stewart flown over a waterfall in a paramotor buggy by Airways CFI Chris Dawes.
(2010) Country Tracks presenter Ellie Harrison
Ellie Harrison (journalist)
Ellie Harrison is a British ecologist, journalist and television presenter.Harrison grew up in rural Gloucestershire, "living off the land". At various times she worked in Zimbabwe, camped by and canoed on Lake Kariba and visited both Canada and Zimbabwe to observe wildlife before going to university...
flew above Derbyshire with Airways instructor Andy Snell.
(2010) Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
presenter Joel Defries
Joel Defries
Joel Defries is a British-born presenter, who worked on the BBC1 children's programme Blue Peter from 2008-10. He previously worked on the New Zealand television station, C4.-Education:...
learnt to fly with Airways instructor Judy Leden
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
with the aim of flying with Lucy the Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
.
(2010) BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
sports presenter Mike Bushell
Mike Bushell
Mike Bushell is a sports presenter for the BBC. He presents the sport on BBC Breakfast on Fridays and at the weekends, and also presents sports bulletins throughout the week on BBC News and BBC World News. On Saturdays, during his Breakfast shift, Bushell also has a regular report on an unusual...
and BBC Disability Sport reporter Tony Garrett flew tandem with Airways instructor Judy Leden
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
to experience hang gliding and to demonstrate the benefits of aerotowing for disabled students.
(2011) The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show is a British television series focusing on technology and is broadcast on Channel 5. Originally a thirty minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes, then later to fifty five minutes. Repeats have also aired on the digital channels 5*, Dave and Channel 5's Internet on-demand...
presenter, Jon Bentley
Jon Bentley (TV presenter)
Jon Bentley is an English journalist and television presenter, educated at Oriel College, Oxford.He has specialised in television production and journalism in the field of motoring. Between 1987 and 1999, he was producer and editor of BBC Two's Top Gear and was series producer of Fifth Gear from...
, flew with Judy Leden
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
, competing with a peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
to track a lure
(2011) Judy Leden
Judy Leden
Judy Leden, MBE, has held three world championships, twice in hang gliding, once in paragliding. Judy Leden was born near London in 1959. At the age of 19 whilst at studying in Wales she took up hang gliding as a hobby. She later gave up her studies to concentrate on her flying, eventually taking...
takes BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
Weather reporter Carol Kirkwood
Carol Kirkwood
Carol Kirkwood is a Scottish weather presenter, employed by the Met Office and best known for forecasting the weather for BBC Breakfast.-Early life:...
flying in a hang glider to see a cloud close up and weight it, for BBC's The Great British Weather Show.
(2011) Gethin Jones
Gethin Jones
Gethin Clifford Jones is a Welsh television presenter who has co-presented the BBC children's programme Blue Peter....
gets taken up flying in a microlight by Airways CFI Chris Dawes in a microlight for ITV's "The Adventurer's Guide to Britain", to get a unique birds eye view of the Peak District..