About Airborne and Frequently Asked Questions               

On this page, you will find out more about the history of Airborne, how we operate and help you and we answer a number of frequently asked questions.  Please click below to 'jump' to the section of interest;

  Hang Gliding FAQ's  /  Paragliding FAQ's

Meet those nice Airborne people

Airborne History

Airborne was originally founded in 1973 as the Northern School of Hang Gliding, by the former Hang Gliding World Champion Graham Hobson. He was joined in 1979 by Tony Delaney who took his first steps on the same slopes used today. Tony spent time at various location across the country and in South Wales before returning to Manchester. Where he reunited with Graham and took the role of CFI learning the trade from a  World Champion. He liked the school so much that he became a partner in 1981. During the '80's and '90's Tony was a member of the national Training Panel - responsible for the UK Training Syllabus and the Senior Coach in the Pennines. Tony remains the Club Chief Flying Instructor, making him, arguably the longest standing full time professional CFI in foot launch aviation. Graham now runs the oldest running Microlight Club in the UK, Northern Microlights,

Airborne, widely regarded as the most experienced in the country, flourished teaching only hang gliding until paragliders were invented. Tony first flew a  "parachute" off the slopes of Mam Tor in 1986 - the only local hill steep enough to leave the ground. Watching closely the development of these new "hang gliders", Tony recognised, just as his partner Graham did almost a decade earlier, that hang gliding could be improved and consequently introduced paragliders into the training environment, initially  as an aid to learn traditional hang gliding. By 1989 the company had a name change to "Airborne" to incorporate paragliders. Soon the paraglider performance and stability would clear the way for the latest and most accessible form of hang gliding better known as Paragliding.Throughout the 1990's Tony, whilst running the school full time with his team of instructors was also dominating the competition scene, winning a string of national and international titles. He remains the British Tandem Paragliding Pilot, undefeated since 1997. He runs the school with his family. Jack his youngest son, eager to step into the old mans shoes! Ned is a seasoned assistant with 21 years under his belt & John is Assistant to the Instructor whilst our latest addition to the Team is Richard, an experienced paraglider pilot who is also a very experienced powered paraglider (PPG) pilot who is now embarking on becoming a Trainee Instructor.

Winter is not the end of our season but the beginning of a fabulous winter season. Tenerife is the destination and every year we take dozen of pilots to the warm sunny skies of Tenerife. Check out our package deals here.

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