INSTRUCTORS

Chris Dawes PhD – Chief Flying Instructor, teaching paragliding, microlighting, hang gliding, paramotoring & powered hang gliding.

British Cross Country Champion
World Record Holder
British Paragliding Team member for many years
Display pilot

TV films:
Blue Peter (5 times  - taught presenter, Matt Baker, to hang glide)
Don’t Try This at Home (3 times)
BBC 1 – Natural World – “Flying with Condors”, The Weather Programme
BBC 2 – Great journeys, Top Wild Dives with Tanya Streeter

Chris Dawes has been flying for 25 years and flies anything and everything, from paragliders to twin engine planes holding a Commercial JAR licence and conducting Single Pilot Air Taxis operations. His duties are wide-ranging from training and examining microlight and paragliding students, to display flying. Having flown on the British Paragliding Team for many years including conducting British Team Training Camps and won the British Cross Country Championships (1995), he also leads courses in cross country flying and competition paragliding in the Alps. He is a great believer in teaching the right way the first time so that when under pressure, a pilot produced by Airways Airsports will revert to their basic training to give them the instinctive, correct safe response.

Chris is active in promoting safety within the sports of hang gliding and paragliding – he is chairman of the Development Panel within the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Associations (BHPA) Flight Safety Committee (FSC) and has been instrumental in producing both the teaching syllabus and new techniques adopted by the BHPA

 

 

Judy Leden MBE - Senior Instructor, teaching hang gliding, paragliding, aerotowing, tug flying.

World Women’s Hang Gliding Champion
World Women’s Paragliding Champion
British Hang Gliding Team Member
British Paragliding Team  Member
Multiple World Record Holder (including absolute altitude record of 41,307 feet)
Display Pilot

TV appearances:

Blue Peter 2010 - filming March & April
Blue Peter (broke World Altitude Towing Record, flying tandem with presenter, Matt Baker)
ITV - Don’t Try This At Home (3 times)
Natural World (BBC 1) Flying with Condors
Channel 4 – Stratosfear (50 minute documentary on World Altitude Record)
Channel 4 – “Cotopaxi Dream”
BBC1 – Flight of the Dacron Eagles
BBC 1 – The Weather Programme

Judy has been involved in Airways Airsports since the start.  She has been Women's World Hang Gliding Champion twice and has a string of world records to her name. Well known for her easy going style and love of flying, she is one of the best instructors in the UK. Judy worked with the technical team from the BHPA on the new tandem hang gliding syllabus and now leads our team of full time instructors. Judy also flies paragliders (World Champion 1995) and microlights/light aircraft. She runs courses in the Alps for paragliding and hang gliding, teaching ab initio, hill conversions, cross country flying and competition flying.  She was awarded her MBE by the Queen for services to hang gliding.

  

Andy Snell - Senior Instructor, teaching paramotoring, powered hang gliding. tandem paraglider & hang glider pilot.

TV Appearance:

BBC Country Tracks - Spring 2010

Andy flew sailplanes before he turned to hang gliding, then paragliding and microlighting. He has been working at Airways Airsports for many years, and teaches just about everything! His laid-back style and gentle humour inspires confidence in his students.  Andy believes in encouraging pilots to think for themselves, and guides them through their initial low flights right through to teaching them how to soar and thermal.
 

 

Rick Newton - Tandem Paraglider Instructor, Microlight Pilot & Office Guru

Rick has flown in the National Paragliding Championships and joined Airways Airsports having flown with us on cross country flying courses in the Alps. He's rarely found flying solo these days, preferring the sociability of tandem paragliding all over Europe with his wife, Denise.  He has now expanded his flying horizons to encompass microlighting and when not working at Airways, can often be found in the skies above Derbyshire at the controls of his Skyranger microlight.

 

  

Richard Leigh - Flexwing Microlight Instructor & Tug Pilot

Richard flew his microlight into Airways one day, and has not looked left since. He is a wonderful instructor whose calm and patient manner would soothe the most nervous of students.

He is a serial aircraft collector, with his shiny new P&M GT450 now sharing space with two single seat microlights.  Together with his motorbike collection, it's a good job he has a big garage!

 

 

Dave Buck - Microlight Instructor, Tug Pilot & Winch Operator

Dave is a huge microlight enthusiast and is keen to get airborne at every opportunity.   Having spent many years as a fitness instructor, his love of flying instigated a career change into aviation.

 

 

Matt Kershaw - Paragliding Instructor

The 'BFG' or 'Big freindly Giant'  has a gentle way of easing you into those early exercises, transforming you from the person who believes paragliders have a mind of their own, into someone who is pilot in command. His presence at the launch gate will build your confidence, as will the words in his briefs and de-briefs.

 

 

 

Simon Randall-Day - Paragliding Instructor  

Simon's passion for paraglding comes over in his enthusiasm for teaching beginners to fly.

 

 

Nick Cranham - Paragliding Instructor (T)

Known to his friends as 'Mr Magoo', Nick has a great aviation background ranging from twin engine air taxi work to ballooning in Siberia. Learning to paraglide is guaranteed to make you laugh under Nick's instruction.

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Sandie Reader Phd - Flexwing Microlight Instructor & Tug Pilot

Sandie's quiet, assured manner has been developed by working with some of the great microlighting instructors, including the excellent Mick Shea, who has helped instill in her a 'down to earth ' approach to tuition. Many hours teaching on power-critical aircraft such as the Pegasus XL mean that Sandie is going to ensure that you fly at the correct speeds by the numbers. Recently, Sandie has taken on the challenge of aerotow tug pilot in her constant desire to learn more.

 

 

 

 

 

OUR GLORIOUS CFI MAKES ANNOTHER TANDEM PARAGLIDE CUSTOMER SMILE

Captions by email to office@airways-airsports.com