About
Airtime of San Francisco Paragliding
Flying and Teaching Paragliding have become synonymous with my
life. I am Jeff Greenbaum and my flying enthusiasm started in
1984 with Hang Gliding. By 1986, I was teaching and had
found flying was the love of my life. In 1988 I purchased
the Hang Gliding school that I was teaching for and renamed it
Airtime of San Francisco.
In
1984, I was running the Windsurfing school for San Francisco
Windsports (A school that taught both Hang Gliding and
Windsurfing). By 1986 I had earned Hang Gliding Instructor
rating. In 1988 I purchased the Hang Gliding half of
the San Francisco Windsports business and renamed it
Airtime of San Francisco. Shortly after this, in 1988,
Paragliding was first introduced to me. I quickly
took to this amazing new form of flying.
A
Paraglider is an aircraft that can fly as high and free
as a Hang Glider, but fits in a backpack and eliminates
the hassle factor. Airtime
was the first school in the San Francisco Bay Area to
offer Paragliding Lessons as well as one of the first
Hang Gliding schools in the country to begin a program
with Paragliding. With Paragliding, you can literally
set up your wing, put on your harness and be ready to
fly in about 5 minutes. The flying experience in a Paraglider
is unreal when you consider the dreamlike flying, convenience
and ease of operation.
Airtime
uses a Yahoo Group called Airtime-Pilots to track events
and lesson scheduling. Please join the group if you
would like to view the Yahoo Calendar and receive emails
to the entire group of students and graduates of the
program.
Click to join Airtime-Pilots
Airtime became one of the most successful schools in
the US. By 1992, Airtime was only teaching Paragliding
and at the same time, we began doing tandem flights.
In
the pursuit of a technical career, I sold Airtime of
San Francisco in 1997. During that time, I continued
to do some tandem flying and teaching my friends. In
2002, I started up San Francisco Tandem Paragliding
with a plan for simplicity, quality, and personalized
training (just myself teaching and very small classes).
To find out more about my personal teaching style and
benefits, please see the page http://www.paragliding-lessons.com/About-Teaching.htm
In Jan, 2005, I returned to using the name Airtime of
San Francisco for the Paragliding School and created
a second site http://paragliding-lessons.com
, the first having been http://sftandem.com
.
My flying and teaching experience includes:
-
I currently hold an Advanced Pilot
rating in both Hang Gliding and Paragliding. , Paragliding
Observer and Tandem Instructor.
-
I
am and Advanced Paragliding Instructor.
-
I
am a Tandem Administrator. This means
that I have been appointed by the USHPA to administrate
clinics teaching aspiring advanced pilots how to become
Tandem Instructors.
-
Over 2500 hrs. of combined Hang Gliding and Paragliding
airtime and over 350 hrs. with passengers.
-
5
years of Windsurfing Instruction, 2 years of skiing
instruction, 5 years of Hang Gliding Instruction,
19 + years of Paragliding Instruction
-
I
have done flights with my own mother, and my own
children when they were as young as 4 years old.
-
I
once took a great, great, Grandmother who was 84 years
young.
-
I
have taken passengers as large as 265 lbs.
In all of
the tandem flights, I have a perfect passenger safety record.
The glider I fly Tandem in is the Ozone "Magnum".
It is certified to 220 Kilos (About 490 lbs.).
Currently, I do all of the Instruction for the school
end of the business and have a staff of Certified and
Excellent Tandem Instructors.
What
Airtime of San Francisco Offers
Airtime of San Francisco offers Instruction, Tours, and Tandem
Flight Lessons. A Paraglider is a parafoil wing that looks like
a parachute, but flies like a hang glider. Paragliders launch
like a large kite, and once in the air, glide and soar like
a conventional Hang Glider. Steering is done through control
lines like a ram air parachute.
Tandem Paragliding
is flying in a Paraglider built for two people. The pilot and
passenger fly front and back, with the pilot in the rear. Tandem
flights are a great way to experience the thrill of flying in
a Paraglider. Passengers can even take the controls in the flight
and learn about flying a Paraglider throughout the flight. The
harness is extremely comfortable and the low flying speed of
a Paraglider makes takeoffs and landings gentle and slow. In
August 1996, the Outdoor writer for the San Francisco Chronicle,
Paul McHugh, wrote a full page article describing his experience
in a flight I took him on. To
read the article, click here
Article
.
I also offer
complete instruction in paragliding. In these lessons, everything
from basic launches and landings to ridge soaring and thermal
flying are taught. I provide the equipment for the students
and the training sites are in the general area of Pacifica.
Please see the rates page for complete details on lessons.
Flying
a Paraglider is the closest you can come to the flights you
have had in your dreams. The experience is something
that words can barely describe. Picture yourself
seated, comfortable and gliding gracefully above scenic cliffs.
There is a light breeze in your face and freedom in your grasp.
You smile because you sense that having this much fun is almost
cheating the world.
We
have perfect cliffs and great mountains in the San
Francisco Bay Area for flying these amazing crafts.
My experience includes over 24 years of flying
Hang Gliders and Paragliders, 18 years of Tandem
Paragliding and 19 years of Paragliding Instruction
experience. I also am available for Advanced Paragliding
Training and customized adventure Tours.
|
