How to use this guide and the simulator

How the lessons, quizzes, simulator and Readiness check fit together, and why none of them replaces your instructor.

In this lesson you will

It is the evening before your first training day. Your boots are new, the forecast makes little sense yet, and your head is full of questions. This guide is written for that evening, and for every evening after it.

On the hill there is wind, noise and very little time. Your instructor can explain theory there, but every minute spent on words is a minute not spent with the wing. Arrive knowing the words and the reasons, and your time on the hill goes into the skill itself.

The learning loop

Every step of your training goes round the same loop. The first three stations happen at home. The last two happen at the school, and only those two teach you to fly.

Figure: The learning loop. Reading, quizzes and the simulator prepare you; your instructor and real flights teach you. The debrief after each flight tells you what to read next.

The learning loop. Reading, quizzes and the simulator prepare you; your instructor and real flights teach you. The debrief after each flight tells you what to read next.

Going round the loop

Read the lessons for your next step, ideally the evening before.
Answer the quiz from memory, then read the explanation for every option.
Cue You can say why each wrong answer is wrong.
Why The wrong answers are the mistakes real students make.
Rehearse in the simulator, for example the check before launch, when to abort, or where to start your approach.
Cue The sequence runs without you having to think about the controls.
Learn the skill with your instructor.
Why Your hands, feet and eyes learn it only on a real wing, in real wind.
Fly when your instructor says you are ready, under their supervision. The debrief afterwards tells you what to read next.

You can move through the lessons in two orders. Switch with the buttons at the top of the sidebar, or under Lesson order in Settings. Your progress is the same in both.

Learning path puts lessons in the order you meet them in training, in five stages from orientation to readiness for your rating. Simulator missions sit next to the lessons they practise. Use it while you train.
By topic groups the same lessons by subject: equipment, theory, weather, ground handling and so on. Use it as a reference, for example to revise everything about landing before your first high flight.

Inside a lesson

A Learn this with your instructor banner marks practical skills: you practise them only with your instructor.
Instructor’s notes hold the exceptions textbooks skip: “usually…, but in strong wind…”.
Standards differ boxes show where the American, British and international systems disagree.
Quick checks in the text are for you alone and count towards nothing. The quiz at the end counts towards your Readiness check.
Linked terms open a short definition. Small numbers lead to the sources: every number traces to a listed source, and lessons say when sources disagree.

Units and standards

Settings apply to the guide and the simulator. Units, standards body and lesson order follow your account to other devices; theme and motion stay with each device.

Units. Every quantity is written once and shown in metric or imperial, as you choose. Limits convert cautiously: a maximum rounds down and a minimum rounds up, so a limit never becomes less cautious in translation.

Standards body. Paragliding has no single world rulebook. National law comes first, and each country or training system sets its own ratings and rules¹. This guide follows three: USHPA in the United States, the BHPA in the United Kingdom, and APPI, an international system with schools in many countries. Choose yours and the guide highlights it wherever they differ; the others stay visible. Behind all three sits the FAI’s SafePro Para, an international reference ladder that lets the systems be compared².

The guide explains what you need to know on the way to your first rating, the one that lets you fly without an instructor at your side, within limits. It does not replace your school’s syllabus. Each system places that rating at a different point; What paragliding training looks like compares them.

The simulator

The simulator opens as a separate page and shares your progress and settings with the guide. Start with two missions.

Demo flight. Watch an instructor-flown flight from layout to landing, with every input explained. You can take control at any moment.
Controls tutorial. Learn the controls step by step: hands up, minimum sink, look–lean–pull turns, the speed bar, big ears and the camera views.

Fly with a keyboard, a gamepad or a touch screen; the controls help shows every key. The numbered missions then follow the Learning path, from the pre-flight check to the Final checkride, and each debrief links back to the lessons. A simulated instructor coaches you on the radio: start with full coaching and turn it down as you improve.

What the simulator can teach

Sequences: the order of a check, a launch and a landing approach.
Decisions: go or no-go, abort or continue, where to turn.
Planning in space: where to start your approach, and how the wind carries you over the ground. Judging real height, especially near the ground, you learn on real flights with your instructor.
Consequences: what a late flare or a low turn does, without anyone getting hurt.

What it cannot teach

Feel. On a real wing, brake pressure and wind noise tell you about your speed and warn you as you near the stall³. A key or a trigger cannot give you that.
Your body. Running, balance, the weight of the kit and handling the wing on the ground are learned on the hill.
Real air. The simulator’s wind, gusts and thermals are models. Real air is messier.
Today’s conditions. The simulator cannot tell you whether a real day is flyable. That is your instructor’s decision, and much later your own.

The optional training overlay shows your airspeed. Students, and most pilots, fly without an airspeed reading, so switch the overlay off as soon as you can and learn to listen and feel instead.

Myth vs fact

Myth: If I can fly the simulator, I can fly a paraglider.
Fact: The simulator rehearses procedures and decisions. The physical skill, and the feel of a real wing, come only from training with an instructor.

Simulator missions are not part of any rating. Ratings count real flights and days with your instructor⁴⁵⁶.

The Readiness check

The Readiness check gathers your evidence in the nine skill areas this guide tracks: equipment and checks, ground handling, launch, flight control, airmanship and rules of the air, weather and site, landing, emergencies, and decision-making. You fly solo, alone on your own wing, from your first hops, always supervised; this page looks ahead to your rating. Training progression, day by day explains the steps.

Quizzes are your theory evidence. A wrong answer to a safety-critical question raises a flag until you answer it correctly.
Simulator missions count when you pass them consistently, not just once. A critical error, such as launching with a fault, raises a flag.
The mock exam draws questions from the whole guide.

Each skill moves from Not started to Learning, Practising and Consistent. Old evidence fades: if you have not touched a skill for a couple of months, the page asks you to refresh it.

The best verdict the page can give is “Ready to discuss your rating with your instructor”. It never says “ready to fly”. Print the instructor report and take it to your school: it shows what you know, and your instructor decides what you are ready for. Your progress is saved to your account, so it follows you to any device you sign in on; you can also export a copy from Settings.

You, the guide and your instructor

Safety-critical This guide supports your instructor and never replaces them

Learn and practise every skill with a qualified instructor at a recognised school; there is no good reason to teach yourself to fly⁷. Your instructor decides when you are ready for each step, from your first hop to your rating. Nothing in this guide or the simulator tells you whether real conditions are safe to fly.

Instructor's note Your school’s way wins

Schools teach slightly different methods and use different words. One school flies a figure-8 approach and another an aircraft-style landing pattern (a “circuit” in the UK), and many sites have their own pattern⁸⁹. Read this guide to understand the why, then do it your instructor’s way on the hill. If something here seems to contradict what you were taught, ask. Good instructors welcome the question, and the answer is often “both, depending on the wind”.

Common mistake Racing through the quizzes

Symptom: Everything turns green, but on the hill you can’t explain why.
Cause: Treating the score as the goal instead of a mirror.
Fix: Answer from memory, then read every explanation. If you guessed, count it as wrong and follow the “Review this section” link.

Common mistake Bringing simulator habits to the hill

Symptom: You look for numbers that aren’t there, or expect the wing to answer like a key press.
Cause: The simulator can show things a real pilot cannot see, and a keyboard is not a brake handle.
Fix: Fly missions with the training overlay off and your attention outside. On the hill, do exactly what your instructor says, even when it feels different from the simulator.

Questions students ask

Do I need to finish the guide before my course starts?

No. Read Part 0, Start here, then stay about one stage ahead of your training. Reading everything at once tends to leave you overwhelmed or over-confident; a lesson read the evening before you need it sticks better.

Does simulator time count towards my rating or my logbook?

No. Ratings are built on real tasks and flights, witnessed or signed off by instructors¹⁰⁵⁶. Log only real flights in your logbook.

Which standards body should I choose?

The one your school trains under. If you don’t know yet, leave the setting on No preference; every “Standards differ” box shows all three.

Key points

Read, quiz and rehearse at home; learn and fly with your instructor. Only the last two teach you to fly.
Follow the Learning path while you train; use By topic to look things up.
Set your units and standards body. Where your school differs from the guide, your school wins.
Start the simulator with the demo flight and the controls tutorial.
The simulator trains sequences and decisions, not the feel of a wing or the judgement of a real day.
The Readiness check gathers evidence for a talk with your instructor about your rating; your instructor decides.

Ground to Solo is a study aid. Paragliding is learned in person with a qualified instructor at a recognised school; nothing here certifies you to fly.