Welcome to

Skylark Paragliding

Skylark Paragliding are the leading BHPA approved specialist flying school in the UK offering Tandem paragliding (or dual paragliding) trial flights and paragliding courses using the dual-seat paraglider.

Dave Lewis is the Chief Flying Instructor and flies the tandem glider. Dave is one of the UK's top tandem instructors, with 20 years of experience and a real love of flying and sharing it with others. A flight with Skylark can offer soaring with birds of prey, climbing in thermals and generally making the very most of the weather conditons on the day - we will always be in the right place at the right time to make the very best of the day, meaning you will have the best flight possible in the South of England.

You can join our school for an introductory flying lesson on the South Downs of Sussex, close to London and Brighton. A gift voucher for this amazing adventure sport makes a fantastic present for anyone aged between 7 and 93 (so far!)

For the qualified pilot, we offer a variety of tailor made courses to improve your skills, from basic ridge soaring to the finer points of cross country flying. Dual flying with an expert is the best way to learn those seat-of-the-pants skills in minutes rather than years.

Order a flight voucher online now

LATEST NEWS
	The summer of 2022 The exceptional weather this summer has offered us some fantiastic flying conditons. From several of your flying sites I've flown higher and further then ever before, each time with a student in the front seat to share it with. Flying days have been many and mostly excellent! Over the years the local populaiton of birds of prey has gone from zero to many - there's now a healthy breeding populaiton of kestrals, buzzards and perigruine falcons. Red kites have recently moved in and are are beginning to breed locally too. These birds have about the same performance as our gliders and we are often flying from the same sites, often climbing and gliding together. It's a great joy and a privilidge to be able to fly the dual glider right next to one of natures kings of the sky! Spring into Sussex.. or directly to summer? The trip to South India was supurb as always. The weather was kind, with flying available every day! Two small groups of Pilots had some grand adventures, both in the air and on the ground. I'm now back and flying in Sussex, armed with the latest Ozone Magnum 3 tandem glider and a matching pair of new comfy harnesses. The new glider is a real weapon, even easier and therefore safer to fly than the last model and with a significant increase in performance. Each flight so far this season I've been chasing the high performance gliders around the clouds, while lesser tandems were stuck low down with the beginners. Some lucky people will have an amazing flight with me and this amazing new glider this year. Jan-Feb 2019 - South India. We have a couple of groups coming to delightful South India for some hot thermals and spicy dinners. There are places still available for both beginner and XC pilots. Get in touch soon if you'd like to join us. Himalayan Paragliding in Bir Billing. Just back from a 17th season guiding pilots in the spectacular Himalayas. I'll be offering guiding for very small groups or one-to one for the coming season, October and early November 2019. I'm not cheap, but am very good. This year's clients both made huge strides forward in their flying skills and we visited some awesome places on the way. Get in touch to discuss your ambitions. Beautiful film about flying in this beautiful place here https://vimeo.com/283721763 Luxury Cross-Country trip to India. Jan - Feb. 2019. Once again we're taking a group of pilots to fly in India's western Ghats during January and February. It's a true flying paradise, ideal if you want to learn about thermalling or for the established XC pilot to fly far over some amazing countryside. See our trips page for more. Paragliding Association India. The last trip to South India was greatly extended as Dave was joined by Ian Currier (BHPA technical officer) to train and examine India's first batch of Instructors and Tandem Pilots under the recently formed Paragliding Association of India. Dave's been helping our friemds in India for years to try to set up a proper association and remove some of the "indian-nes" from paragliding on the sub-continent. It was fantastic to see the project start to bear fruit with a group of 16 top quality pilots embracing the idea of teaching and flying to a world quality standard and being signed off with appropriate ratings. Back in Sussex. After running two fantastic trips in India, Autumn in the Himalayas and Spring in the Western Ghats, we're greeted by what's looking like a classic season in Sussex. So far we've had several high flights in tandem with clients and found plenty of thermals to play in. It's good to be home! Bonkers Tandem flying in the Himalayas. Winter we joined forces with Sky Safaris and between us flew four dual gliders, plus two solos helping, on some outrageous flights across the Himalayas. We watched the Diawali fireworks over Mc Cloud Ganj from a luxurious old hotel, then flew back to our base at the Maharaja's palace for g&t the next day. A very eventful few days and a trip to remember for our clients ("...There I was, entering a cloud, at 3000m, above a snowy Hindu temple on top of a precipitous mountain, sad to be leaving the bird's kingdom but glad to be turning towards the far-away palace, 15 km distant and 2000m beneath our seats in the sky...") Photos from Sky Safari Another very happy paragliding student. Dear Dave, I just wanted to say thank you for a super day out on the 10 July. Simon had a super time (despite his initial queasiness!) as did I! It was clear he was definitely in safe, professional hands - which makes all the difference. Thanks again, Marlene. more testimonials.
	The blind can paraglide too! We've just flown with six blind and partially sighted young people who all thoroughly enjoyed the sensations of free flight. Sponsorship came from Flyability who make a significant grant to help people with disabilities take to the air.
	Surprise! On Monday, Melissa met Dave at Glynde station for a secret birthday surprise organised by her boyfriend, Nathan. She had no idea she was to try paragliding, and excited to discover that the forecast was excellent and with only one client that day, Dave had a very special flight planned. It would have been wasteful to use such good conditions for a half-hour into lesson and land by the cars, so a plan was hatched to paraglide as far as possible! After a good half hour searching for the right thermal on the hill, we managed to climb out to 2000 feet and drift off downwind. One thermal led to another and pretty soon we were at cloud base enjoying a panorama over most of Sussex. The climbs got better and better as the day matured, making it easy to stay between 2 and 3 thousand feet. By the time we got to Heathfield, we were both freezing after spending so long at altitude, mostly under the shade of the clouds and decided to land, picking a football pitch on the edge of the town, having had a good look for a cafe on the way down. Just as we'd packed up and were heading for the shops, Nathan arrived in the Skylark Land Rover to take us all back to base. Next time, we'll make sure everyone's more warmly dressed and who knows where we'll end up!

Welcome to

Skylark Paragliding

Order a flight voucher online now

The summer of 2022

Spring into Sussex.. or directly to summer?

Jan-Feb 2019 - South India.

Himalayan Paragliding in Bir Billing.

Luxury Cross-Country trip to India. Jan - Feb. 2019.

Paragliding Association India.

Back in Sussex.

Bonkers Tandem flying in the Himalayas.

Photos from Sky Safari

Another very happy paragliding student.

The blind can paraglide too!

Surprise!