Paragliding Ground School
Ground handling in 14 steps
Fly With Greg's 14-part ground-handling curriculum — from your first kiting steps to cobra and hybrid launches, in the order that builds real launch skill.
Ground Handling 1: Getting Started
Most of the other episodes in this series either start from this balanced position or end in it. The launch run in part 2 sets off from it, and the reverse pull-ups in parts 4 and 5 turn through into it. Start on the flat at the back, and move forward to where the slope begins once you can balance the wing with your feet alone.
Ground Handling 2: Launch Run Drills
Jumping at launch, or sitting back in the harness the moment your feet leave the ground, is a habit this drill can fix. Each attempt is a short hop off the slope and back down, so one gentle slope gives you plenty of reps in a short session; each time you touch down, check that you could run straight on.
Ground Handling 3: The Downfall
You learn the back-riser kill for strong wind, but you practice it in light wind first. Use it every time you put the wing down while kiting, and your hands will learn it without any extra session time.
Ground Handling 4: Reverse Control
Parts 4 and 5 cover the two halves of a single reverse launch. A wing that rises slowly lets you pick your moment to turn in part 5 without rushing, so once the slow pull-up is coming together, practice the two back to back.
Ground Handling 5: Smooth Turns
On a real launch, when the wing comes up skewed, you have to decide on the spot whether to turn and go or put it down and start again. In practice, treat every skewed pull-up as a rep of putting the wing down without turning, so that on launch it comes naturally to reset rather than force it.
Ground Handling 6: Hammer Brakes
Until the pull-and-release timing is in your hands, it's easy to hang on to the brake in a gust and stall the wing. So repeat the move on a day with steady wind first, and take the last step, letting the wing go further to find where it collapses, together with part 13, Practice Your Collapses.
Ground Handling 7: Low Level Control
Sort out the hand setup on a windless day. Lay the wing out, put your hands through the brake handles and rehearse grabbing the back lines and the A's until it stops being confusing; then, once you lift the wing in wind, you won't be re-gripping while it's in the air. The A's-and-C's launch that returns in part 14 as one of the three launches is this same method.
Ground Handling 8: Side to Side
Holding the wing on its tip is a feel you'll use directly in part 9, the cobra launch. So build up how long you can hold it on one side before you work on moving it across.
Ground Handling 9: Cobra Launch
The upwind tip is the first thing to watch. Early on, don't take the wing up overhead: stand the downwind tip up, put it back down and repeat, checking each time whether the other tip has a cravat.
Ground Handling 10: Moving With the Wing
Because this technique has you move toward the very obstacle you're trying to avoid, a cramped launch isn't the place to try it first. On an open slope, take a step or two to one side and watch how far the wing leans the other way.
Ground Handling 11: Kiting Uphill
You can put this to use straight away whenever you have to get back up to launch after a top-landing or an aborted takeoff. If you've already learned to hold the wing low on the A's and C's in part 7, all that's left to work on here is the walking.
Ground Handling 12: Stall Point Drills
Once part 2 has you holding the running position in the air, this is the drill to do before you start top-landing. With your legs down and only just off the ground, a stall means stepping back onto your feet, so you can look for the stall point again and again without much at stake. Once you know the moment the wing goes soft, you can judge how much more brake you have left on a top-landing approach.
Ground Handling 13: Practice Your Collapses
In part 8 you leaned away from a wing on its side because stepping toward the tip collapses it; here you use exactly that move to collapse it on purpose. Start by stepping toward the tip one step at a time to find where the line pressure goes.
Ground Handling 14: The Hybrid Launch
The last episode in the series mixes part 4's reverse pull-up, part 7's A's and C's and part 9's cobra in a single session. Learn each launch in its own episode; what you practice here is moving from one method to the next.