Learning to fly
Most of your training is spent learning to ground handle the glider or "kite". The skills you learn here are necessary for proper take off or "launching" the PPG. In the air, the actual flying is so easy that only a fraction of your training is required to prepare for it. Here are some of the things you'll learn during the ground handling phase of your instruction:

• Laying out the glider and hooking in
• Inflating the glider, reverse and forward
• Kiting the glider, reverse and forward
• Quick deflation

Ground handling is a workout, especially while you are learning. Consequently, ground handling instruction is usually interspersed with discussions covering aerodynamics, meterology, and FAA airspace rules. At some point, some instructors take their students on a tandem flight. Though not essential, tandem is a great way to get you into the air earlier, and enable you to practice turns, approaches, and other inflight procedures, all with instant feedback from your instructor. Before your first solo flight, you'll review in flight normal and emergency procedures in a simulator.

Finally the moment you've been waiting for arrives. Your solo flight. Your skill and knowledge are more than adequate for the task, but still your heart is racing. You may make a successful first launch or it may take a couple of tries, but eventually the wing comes up just right, you squeeze the throttle, and whether you want to or not, you're flying!

Once you are in the air, everything is easy. Sit back, relax, and listen to the soothing voice of your instructor as he or she guides you through the flight pattern and practice approaches. Enjoy the view. You're over the hump.

Now it's time for your first landing. Don't worry. No one has ever been stuck up there. Most instructors have you shut off the power on final approach. At this point, the paraglider could bring you in for a safe landing without any input. You could walk away from such a landing but it might not be pretty. So at about 15 feet, your instructor tells you to get ready to flare. Two seconds later, about 5 feet off the ground, your instructor tells you to start your flare if you haven't already started it. By the time you've pulled both brakes till they are level with your waist, you are standing on the ground, the newest addition to the fastest growing form of avaivation on the planet, powered paraglding. Congratulations. You're HOOKED!

It is vital that you have the right combination of paramotor and glider tailored to suit your height, weight, and physical abilities. Safety is paramount. Training is imperative. Always ensure when buying a paramotor that you will receive professional training with qualified instructors.