Latest news with #gliding
ABC News
09-08-2025
- ABC News
Hang-gliding instructor could barely walk, now teaches people to fly
Every weekend, Lisa Bradley soars thousands of metres above Queensland's stunning Scenic Rim, chasing pockets of air that pull her even higher. But while she happily flies now, 27 years ago Lisa worried she wouldn't even be able to walk. "I got run over by a four-wheel-drive and my left leg actually got fully dislocated off," she said. "I couldn't feel it anymore." Lisa, then 21, was training for a major multi-sports competition near her home in Queenstown, in New Zealand, when the accident happened. Rushed to hospital, Lisa said emergency doctors considered amputating her leg. Thankfully, surgeons were able to save her limb, but gave her a grim prognosis. "It was really gutting. "But I say, 'One door shut, another one opened.'" Recovering in hospital, Lisa said she received an unexpected visitor — the driver who ran over her. "I think he felt quite guilty, so he started seeing me all the time," she said. "We ended up dating for two years." Better yet, he was a tandem paraglider and took Lisa for a flight as soon as she could walk. "You're so far from the earth, you feel so free," she said. "You're riding currents that you can't see, but you can feel. "You do feel like you're a bird, you feel connected." Lisa was "hooked" and started paragliding every day, even during lunch breaks at her retail job. "I was good at selling because I was so happy all the time," she said. Lisa then learned how to hang glide, which involves pilots flying underneath a rigid, triangular frame rather than under a parachute-like wing. But she said that drew protests from her boyfriend, as hang gliding had a much bigger physical strain on her injured leg. "I did my first solo and I was so happy, but I couldn't tell him, so I thought it [was] probably time to move on." Over the years, Lisa's passion for hang gliding and paragliding grew stronger. So much so that she has built a three-decade career as a paragliding and hang-gliding instructor. She has also competed in international competitions. Now based near Beaudesert in Queensland, Lisa has seen the number of young people learning to hang glide drop significantly. She said rising insurance premiums, membership fees for clubs, and the cost of equipment had made "a lot of instructors drop out of the sport". "Most instructors only put through six people a year, so if you're paying thousands and thousands of dollars in insurance, you're not even going to be getting it back. "The sport is not looking real good." Hang gliding grew in popularity from the 1960s but enthusiasts began shifting towards paragliding in the 1990s, according to the Sports Aviation Federation of Australia [SAFA]. "A paraglider is a bit more convenient to set up. It only takes five or 10 minutes compared to half an hour or an hour for some of the more advanced hang gliders," SAFA president Alistair Dickie said. Alistair said about a quarter of SAFA's 3,000 members were hang gliders, while around 75 per cent were paragliders. He estimates there are fewer than 10 hang-gliding schools left in Australia. While there are some perceptions that hang gliding and paragliding are dangerous, Lisa said the sport was as "safe as you want to make it". "If you fly in the wrong conditions or with equipment that's not good, well, you're asking for trouble." A 2021 study of injury-related fatalities in Australian sport by researchers at Edith Cowan University found that more people died in skydiving and parachuting accidents over a 19-year period. Between July 2000 and December 2019, there were 20 deaths linked to unpowered hang gliding, and 19 deaths linked to unpowered paragliding — equating to one death per year in each sport. However, over the same period, there were 36 deaths linked to skydiving and parachuting, and 23 deaths of people participating in aerobatics. Alistair said the number of safety tests conducted on paragliding equipment had increased significantly in recent decades. Another factor that could be contributing to the declining participation in paragliding and hang gliding is the costs associated with them. Alistair said that while they were cheaper than other forms of aviation, anyone wanting to take up either sport would have to find about $10,000 to buy the gear and undergo training. But he said the feeling of soaring across the sky was unmatched. "Stepping off the hill late in the day into air that's going up, and floating around — soaring — is just so relaxing and lovely." Lisa described hang gliding as amazing, but it required participants to be strong. "You need to be fit and fully committed," she said. "It needs to be in the public eye more because if you don't see it, people don't even think about it."
ABC News
09-08-2025
- ABC News
After a car hit her, Lisa could barely walk. Now she teaches people to fly.
Every weekend, Lisa Bradley soars thousands of metres above Queensland's stunning Scenic Rim, chasing pockets of air that pull her even higher. But while she happily flies now, 27 years ago, Lisa worried she wouldn't even be able to walk.
BBC News
20-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Kirton-in-Lindsey gliding club 'devastated' on loss of airfield
A gliding club has said they were "devastated" after they were told to leave the airfield they have flown from for 50 Valley Gliding Club, in Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire have 80 members and have used the site next to RAF Kirton since Dixon, 61, an instructor at the club said it was "unsettling to be uncertain about their future".A solicitor acting for the landowner said: "communications have taken place between the tenant and the landlords respective solicitors." In a letter sent to the club, shared with the BBC, the group were told their tenancy would end on 10 October. Chairman of the club Richard Malam, 69, said he was determined to challenge the notice. "This came completely out of the blue," he said."I wouldn't be doing my job without thinking can we challenge that, is that the end game?"Mr Malam said he believed if the club did have to move, they would lose members"Anywhere we go is going to be different from here and that'll put people off."According to Mr Malam before the club's arrival in 1974 the RAF had a gliding school at the site, he said if they were asked to leave it would end 85 years of aviation solicitor for the landlord said: "The tenant's directors will be well aware of the nature and length of the club's lease." "It's almost like the shock of capture," said Rick Jones, 58, an instructor from the club."It was quite a hard thing to take initially."Mr Jones said if the club did have to relocate it would not be easy."Unfortunately, airfields just don't grow on trees."Peter Dixon, also an instructor at the club, said they were going through a "difficult period" but they were "a little bit taken aback" by good wishes and comments from the community."Gliding can be a selfish hobby, but it takes a team to make it happen."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Lutterworth gran, 90, takes to the skies after raffle win
When 90-year-old Barbara Brookes took part in a raffle she had no idea it would lead to her soaring the skies in a adventurous grandmother headed up into the clouds in the passenger seat on Sunday and said the view over Leicestershire was Brookes, from Lutterworth, said: "I couldn't believe what was happening. It was an amazing experience - I'm not going to forget that."After winning the top prize in the Lutterworth mayor's annual Christmas charity raffle she decided to also use the experience to support three local charities and has raised more than £2,100. Ms Brookes, who has three grandchildren, was "a little apprehensive" about the flight, but said: "It was absolutely wonderful."I could see reservoirs and all the different colours of the countryside. I even saw somebody's swimming pool."Looking out, I don't know how high we went, they told me but I've forgotten. I'm allowed at 90."Gliding instructor and pilot Rob Barsby, from Aerosparxs in Leicestershire, flew Ms Brookes in the aircraft and described her as a "unique" woman."Over the years I've flown lots of people but Barbara was fantastic," he said."Her energy, her willingness to do these things. I let her fly. "She did really well. I'm really proud of her."Barbara's got full credit from me for not just doing the ride, but raising money for charity." Ms Brookes has so far raised about £2,145 through online donations for three charities - Academy for Dementia Research and Education, Lutterworth Community Transport and Age Concern Lutterworth and District."They are so special to me, helping me through difficult times," she said."They have been absolutely wonderful to me."I thought if we can get £500, wouldn't it be wonderful? Never, ever, in my wildest dreams did I expect that much."This is beyond all belief and I can't thank everybody enough."Lutterworth mayor Robert Coleman, 71, who told Ms Brookes of her raffle win, added: "Barbara is an inspiration to me. "She was determined to do it and has raised so much money already for the charities."
