The Paraglider Podcast

Kai Coleman - after achieving huge open-distance XC flights in the UK, Kai started turning his attention to triangle flying and has done so successfully for the last few years. In this podcast, Kai talks about his experience of flying triangles and gives some advice on planning, GPS use and just going for it! See Kais triangle flight from the Wrekin and Graham Steels flight from XClent.

Judith Mole - in this podcast I talk about some of the strategies I have used to become a better pilot in a structured way over the last eighteen months. You can also read Dave Thomas article to see how he became a better XC pilot by reading it here (right-click to download).

Dave Thomas has been flying various aircraft since 1979 and has a huge amount of XC experience. He excels on blue thermal days and in this podcast he explains how they work and how to make the most of them. He uses a flight at the Malverns to illustrate his points. If you would like to see the terrain he describes, you can view Daves tracklog and Judiths tracklog from the day in Google Earth.

Martin Dockerill, Wendy Griffiths and Simon Twiss - in this podcast Martin, Wendy and Simon talk about why they decided to enter the competition, what they learned, and they also provide some tips for others thinking of entering for the first time.

Please note: there is no longer a stipulation to have the Advance Pilot licence to enter the British Nationals. Nowadays a Pilot licence is sufficient.

Kelly Farina (Austrian Arena). This podcast doesnt explain what a thermal is or how to find one, but it explains the common mistakes people make and how to rectify them. It is aimed at people experienced in thermalling, who want to improve their technique. [Excuse the quality of this podcast - it was recorded remotely, but the content makes up for the poor audio!]

David Thomson (Border Crossings). If you think winter flying is the same as summer flying just colder, think again. There are lots of differences (meteorological, how the wind works, assessing conditions, etc.), which change the way we fly in the winter months. In this podcast David talks through his observations over the last 15 years.

Toby Colombe (Passion Paragliding), Adam Hill (Frontier Paragliding) and Kelly Farina (Austrian Arena) discuss what guiding is about, and how you can make the most of your guided holiday.

Melise Harland recently qualified and in this podcast she discusses her progress to date, explains some of the things shes learnt and illustrates the advantages of having a plan.

Tom Payne. In this follow-up podcast about the Red Bull X-Alps, Tom talks candidly about his experiences, joys, aches and pains of the race.

Tony Spirling is a long-standing sail plane, hang glider, paraglider pilot and psychologist. In this podcast he explains how the brain works and how you can use it to optimise your flying performance.