Godfrey's Manilla Paragliding School

Based at internationally famous Mt Borah, Manilla Paragliding offers 9 day live-in license course's ($1950 inc accom) which are acknowledged as being amongst the best offered anywhere in the world.

Legal Notice : Manilla Paragliding is a Sports Aviation Federation of Australia (SAFA) Approved Flight Training Facility and the Facility is supervised and operated by Godfrey Wenness, a HGFA certified Chief Flight Instructor.

NEW : Check out our short YouTube promo video for the school : Click here !

Mt Borah is Australia's only world class flying site, has vast astro-turfed launches for nearly all directions and offers the highest level of safety for learning to fly. The one site and one 9 day course uniquely offers ground handling paddock, low slope training, high flights from 4 different launches and multiple landings on one mountain, ridge soaring, thermalling and XC flying. The site offers all aspects of paragliding in one location including a dedicated school facility building. No need to waste precious training time driving to other sites and waiting for conditions to change or come on.

Godfrey's Manilla Paragliding School is the ONLY school in Australia (and probably the world) that owns its own multi-launch site mountain, air sports facility building, and serviced cabins and camping facility. The on-site facility also has a pool, bar and free WiFi throughout.

Chief Flying Instructor Godfrey Wenness is Australia's most experienced paraglider pilot, has held the World Distance record of 335kms for 5 years (it was also the Australian Record from 1998 - 2012 !), held multiple National Records and is a SAFA Instructor Examiner - he also owns Mt Borah - see the CV at the bottom of this page ! 32 years of paragliding experience and 26 years of direct paragliding instructional experience counts when it comes to your enjoyment, learning progression and safety !

BEWARE : Before you book a course anywhere ask : "How long have you been teaching for ?", and that is not just flying, but more importantly teaching paragliding. The answer in some cases might surprise you - especially in light of the blatantly misleading information on some web sites ! In addition to that, some school operators and their sometimes quite inexperienced junior instructors have only been flying for a few short years as well - don't be afraid to ask how long - after all it's experience that counts. Others will also make claims of the being the best, having the best and most of something or other... all such claims should be compared to the reality. One school on the mid north coast of NSW advertises as "Australia's #1 Facility" when it clearly by any measure is no where near that in reality. Make your own mind up about an operators integrity if they are blatantly misleading you about simple things like that. The list of misleading advertising and claims, especially regarding instructor experience, could go on for the rest of this page ! Please do your own research.

When is a referral not an honest referral ? One desperate school operator on the coast goes as far as to pay "spotters" fee's for student referrals. These pilots know full well they are not giving an honest opinion. Sometime's the $$'s speak louder than a real opinion.

Whether you intend to come to Manilla or not, you should read the Learn to Fly Facts section BEFORE booking any paragliding license course - click here ! Our scheduled group license courses vary in size and the instructor ratio is always around 3 or 4 :1. Having up to 4 and 5 instructors on hand allows us to run these group courses at varying skill pace so no one is forced to move ahead a stage or left behind. That also means if some students are progressing quickly they are not held back. The reality (despite some claims by certain schools) is that there will always be a small % of students even in a 1:1 situation with an instructor, with perfect weather for 9 days, that will not be skilled enough to attain a license in that period.

Interested in Paramotoring (also known as Powered Paragliding or PPG) ? Get some real independent advice first before you do anything - we don't sell the motor's, but have lots of good advice about what to buy. We also offer PPG endorsements for pilots who are at the PG3 or above skill level. Contact Godfrey and save yourself some headaches and big $$'s !

Buying equipment ? Your certified CFI is the main person to consult for correct personal advice once you have completed your course. Do yourself a favour and read the Equipment Buying Advice section before you buy anything. NEVER buy equipment or enter into a course-equipment package "deal" before your course - they may look like good deals however the equipment prices are always inflated to make the deal seem "cheap", and most importantly, an instructor can never know what glider and harness suits you until you are actually almost completed your course !!! Also your course includes the use of all equipment so there is no need to own it prior and depreciate its value. As a guide a new high quality EN-A beginner glider from us costs $3650, harness $1100 and reserve $800 (less the student discount). We usually have 30+ gliders in stock new and used - a basic fully checked used beginner set can cost as little as $2000. For more information and a frank discussion on this topic contact Godfrey directly and also read the advice section - click here !

We DON'T "sell" licenses - we "teach" you to fly properly and cover all skill area's (high flights, ridge soaring, thermalling). Our courses instil confidence born from competence, and not just a license at the end of 9 days no matter what.

COURSE and CLINIC Dates

2020 AUTUMN / WINTER PG2 Novice Pilot License Courses $1950 (inc accom) April 18-26 : FULL :-( Please book into the the next course - CANCELLED due to Covid19 restrictions

May 23-31 : Completed :-)

July 11-19 : Completed :-) 2020/21 SPRING and SUMMER PG2 Novice Pilot License Courses $1950 (inc accom) Oct 10-18 : FULL - Please book into the next course

Nov 7-15 : Places available

Summer course dates to be announced pending COVID19 International Travel restrictions being lifted 2020/21 Thermalling (and Basic XC) inc PG3 license upgrades - dates in Dec, Jan, Feb & Mar. $660 Dates to be announced pending COVID19 International Travel restrictions being lifted We also offer Private 1:1 and small group License Courses, PG3/PG4/PG5 License upgrades, Thermalling, Cross Country/skill improvement days etc October-March - they can all be booked at other times outside the course/clinic dates