San
Francisco and Northern California's
Premier Paragliding School
Up is GOOD
!!!
About Airtime of San Francisco
Flying and Teaching Paragliding have become synonymous with
my life. I am Jeff Greenbaum and my flying enthusiasm started
in 1984 with Hang Gliding. By 1986, I was teaching and
had found flying was the love of my life. In 1988 I
purchased the Hang Gliding school that I was teaching for
and renamed it Airtime of San Francisco.
In 1984, I was running the Windsurfing school for San Francisco
Windsports (A school that taught both Hang Gliding and Windsurfing).
By 1986 I had learned to Hang Glide and earned a Hang Gliding
Instructor rating. In 1988 I purchased the Hang Gliding half
of the San Francicsco Windsports business and renamed it Airtime
of San Francisco. Shortly after this, Paragliding was first
introduced to me. I quickly took to this amazing new
form of flying. Here was an aircraft that can fly as
high and free as a Hang Glider, but fits in a backpack and
eliminates the hassle factor.
Airtime
was the first school in the San Francisco Bay Area to offer
Paragliding Lessons. With Paragliding, you can literally set
up your wing, put on your harness and be ready to fly in about
5 minutes. The flying experience in a Parglider is unreal
when you consider the dreamlike flying, convenience and ease
of operation.
Airtime became one of the most successful schools in the US.
By 1992, Airtime was only teaching Paragliding and at the
same time, I also began doing tandem flights. In the pursuit
of a technical career, I sold Airtime of San Francisco in
1997. During that time, I continued to do some tandem flying
and teaching my friends. In 2002, I started up San
Francisco Tandem Paragliding with a plan for simplicity,
quality, and personalized training (just myself teaching and
very small classes). To find out more about my personal teaching
style and benefits, please see the page http://www.sftandem.com/About-Teaching.htm
In Jan, 2005, I returned to using the name Airtime of San
Francisco for the Paragliding School and created another site
http://paragliding-lessons.com
for
this, with the intent to separate the two sites into lessons
and tandem.
My flying and teaching experience includes:
Over
2500 hrs. of combined Hang Gliding and Paragliding airtime
and over 350 hrs. with passengers.
5 years
of Windsurfing Instruction, 5 years of Hang Gliding Instruction,
14 + years of Paragliding Instruction
I
have done flights with my own mother, and my own children
when they were as young as 4 years old.
I
once took a great, great, Grandmother who was 84 years young.
I have
taken passengers as large as 260 lbs.
In all
of the tandem flights, I have a perfect passenger safety record.
The glider I fly Tandem in is the Ozone "Cosmic Rider".
It is certified to 230 Kilos (Over 500 lbs.). Currently,
I do all of the Instruction for the school end of the business
and have a staff of Certified and Excellent Tandem Instructors.
What
San Francisco Tandem Paragliding Offers
San Francisco Tandem Paragliding offers Instruction, Tours,
and Tandem Flight Lessons. A Paraglider is a parafoil wing
that looks like a parachute, but flies like a hang glider.
Paragliders launch like a large kite, and once in the air,
glide and soar like a conventional Hang Glider. Steering is
done through control lines like a ram air parachute.
Tandem
Paragliding is flying in a Paraglider built for two people.
The pilot and passenger fly front and back, with the pilot
in the rear. Tandem flights are a great way to experience
the thrill of flying in a Paraglider. Passengers can even
take the controls in the flight and learn about flying a Paraglider
throughout the flight. The harness is extremely comfortable
and the low flying speed of a Paraglider makes takeoffs and
landings gentle and slow. In August 1996, the Outdoor writer
for the San Francisco Chronicle, Paul McHugh, wrote a full
page article describing his experience in a flight I took
him on.To
read the article, click hereArticle
.
I also
offer complete instruction in paragliding. In these lessons,
everything from basic launches and landings to ridge soaring
and thermal flying are taught. I provide the equipment for
the students and the training sites are in the general area
of Pacifica. Please see the rates page for complete details
on lessons.
Flying
a Paraglider is the closest you can come to the flights
you have had in your dreams. The experience is something
that words can barely describe. Picture yourself
seated, comfortable and gliding gracefully above scenic
cliffs. There is a light breeze in your face and freedom
in your grasp. You smile because you sense that having this
much fun is almost cheating the world.
We have
perfect cliffs and great mountains in the San Francisco
Bay Area for flying these amazing crafts. My experience
includes over 18 years of flying Hang Gliders and
Paragliders, 10 years of Tandem Paragliding and 14
years of Paragliding Instruction experience. I also
am available for Advanced Paragliding Training and customized
adventure Tours.
SFTandem's
- Tandem Paragliding Instructors
Arnel
Sanchez
Anyone
visiting the flying sites of Daly City and Pacifica will quickly
notice the flying of Arnel. His flying style is creative and
unique and at the highest level. Arnel took to flying paragliders
like few pilots do. With respect to Tandem, Arnel has the
highest regard for safety and providing safe and amazing tandem
experiences.
Rolf
Bienert
In
1995, Rolf learned to fly paragliders in Switzerland. He has
accumulated several hundred hours of accident free airtime
at dozens of places in Europe and in North America. "I
launched my first tandem flight 1997 on a ski slope, with
3 miles per hour tail wind and it was only 20°F, yet I
had great fun flying with a passenger right away", says
Rolf, looking back at his first flight with a tandem wing.
