From competing on the world stage as three times world barefoot skiing champion, 13 times barefoot Australian champion and holding the World barefoot speed record, Brett Wing is ready to take his feet off the ground and find his wings, reigniting his love of hang gliding after being absent from the flying scene for many years.

Building a strong foundation for the future of sports aviation, a Toowoomba Club, Wicked Wings, joined forces with a neighbouring club, Fly Killarney in 2009 to create one of the most scenic and expansive flying locations in South East Queensland.

Pilots soar from all over the state to experience this picturesque part of Queensland with the clubs flying sites spanning from east of the Toowoomba range to west side of the range all the way down to Killarney.

A journey by paraglider Laurent Besnard through remote south western Tasmania in the Western Arthurs has only been achieved by two other pilots. The iconic mountain range has no roads leading to it and no infrastructure, only mountains, dense forest and buttongrass plains.

This incredible landscape offers stunning views with glacial tarns surrounded by jagged quartzite cliffs.

Taking a trip down memory lane, former hang gliding pilot Mick Farrell of Boorowa NSW tells how he first fell in love with flight after seeing a group of men jumping off sand hills in Kurnell on the outskirts of Sdney and then taking to the skies in a hang glider. Watching the hang glider soar skyward, chasing the thermals with wedge-tailed eagles seemed like a surreal experience he wanted to be part of.

The sport and the aircraft were very different back in those days. Mick recalls that it wasn’t long after witnessing the hang gliders taking flight and being influenced by Fred Fahey, that he went to Canberra and bought a brand new Seagull 3 for $375. It came equipped with a harness and an instruction book, that was it.

27/08/2019

Recently, plantation harvesting operations have been conducted at Mystic in NE Victoria. Specifically, the back of Emily Spur has been logged. This has resulted in a lot of bare ground being exposed. As a consequence, the aerology over Mystic has been altered in quite a significant manner.

27/08/2019

Flying across our great country, witnessing the vast, rustic red desert of WA to the crystal clear coastline of Byron Bay, was all in memory of legendary weightshift pilot, John Oliver – a tribute flight flown by friend, Mark Rindel from Mount Waverley.

27/08/2019

Excitement is building for the world-renown Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championship, to be held from Friday 3rd thru Saturday 11th January. It is expected to be a great turn out with over 60 pilots from Australia and across the globe set to take part in this thrilling event, that has been running for nearly 30 years.

27/08/2019

Congratulations to Kari Ellis for winning  Bronze in the Women’s category at the 2019 FAI Paragliding World Championship, held in Macedonia this August. 

(HGFA)The Hang Gliding Federation of Australia has changed to Sports Aviation Federation of Australia (SAFA)

19/07/2019

The Hang Gliding Federation of Australia (HGFA) has evolved and because of this, we are leading our sport into the future with a new name. Our new name is the Sports Aviation Federation of Australia (SAFA) - this was the name preferred by a majority of members.

A Canberra paragliding pilot has flown sky high for Australia and women in her sport, coming third in the Women’s Superfinal at the 2018-19 Paragliding World Cup, held recently in Brazil.

23/04/2019

Travelling 20,000km over six months, SAFA member and microlight pilot, Amellia Formby from Perth is planning to embark on an Australian-first expedition for a female pilot, flying her microlight around the country to support shorebird conservation.

21/02/2019

As a renowned pilot in Port Douglas, Kevin Gilligan was passionate about the freedom of flight, giving people a unique aerial view of Northern QLD.

20/02/2019

According to Chief Flight Instructor and microlight pilot, Gavin Penfold, taking a ‘Birds Eye View’ of the renowned and world-heritage listed Ningaloo Reef is the best and only way to experience the beauty of this growingly popular tourist hot spot.

05/11/2018

The Sydney Paragliding and Hang Gliding Club (SPHGC) are spreading their wings further afield from their Northern Beaches skyline, catering and even mentoring a variety of pilots across various Sydney locations.

 We look into the life, determination and passion behind one of the founding fathers of the hang gliding world, Pat Crowe and how his skill and love of aircraft has helped shape the sport that it is today.

It’s an enormous thrill to see our members soar high, spreading their wings and setting their sights on new horizons- all in the name of promoting our sport and demonstrating the incredible capabilities of our aircraft. In an Australian-first feat, a group of our passionate, paramotor pilots have conquered the skies in the longest paramotor climb- travelling 1600km from Lake Eyre to the snow-capped crest of Mount Kosciusko.

In this article Peter Allen from the SAFA links the space shuttle disasters to your personal flying limits. How could these two things be related?

We talk to passionate paragliding pilot and instructor Wally Arcidiacono about his life-long enthusiasm for the sport and his efforts to open a new flight school in Bright, Victoria amongst other things. 

Taking place between 8^th -14^th April, 67 pilots competed at Dalby Big Air, which is recognised as the last cross-country competition of the season.