I am afraid it’s not quite that simple. There will be at least a couple of days where your feet stay firmly on the ground at flight school. Your first few flights will be with an instructor, one at the take off and one at landing and you will be guided all the way through with a radio.

Paragliding is an unpowered, foot-launched wing where you launch from a terrain feature such as a slope. Parachuting or skydiving is when you jump out of an aircraft and deploy a parachute to descend. You actually fly like a bird, soaring upwards on currents of air.

This is a bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question, however, your flight time will depend on thermals and wind conditions. On a good day, in ideal conditions, you can stay up for as long as you want but, when the conditions are trickier, even the best pilots will only manage a flight of a few minutes duration. As a beginner, expect to only be in the air for a maximum of half an hour at a time and as your skills improve you will be able to control the wing for much longer flights.

There are two phases to launching a paraglider. First the flier must ensure that the wing is inflated in the wind and has flown up over the pilot’s head. Then, the pilot has to run down the slope until they have enough speed to fly and the wing lifts you off the ground. You can be assisted by vehicles, but this isn't something that you would do with UCPA. To land a paraglider there are several different phases that will all be explained thoroughly on your course, from losing elevation, to lining up your landing spot to balancing before putting your feet down on the ground.

At first yes it can be as you will be practicing running around a lot on the ground figuring out how to get your wing over your head. When you are more advanced the physical demands are minimal as you are floating in the air for the majority of the time! You will need to hone your coordination skills for this sport and be able to carry your wing to landing and from take off sites, but other than that it’s pretty easy on the body.