Paragliding in Armenia

History

First flights were held by the members of “Small Aviation Club of Armenia” in 1996. Armenian Paragliding Sport Federation was founded in 2008. Paragliding has been taking up popularity in Armenia since then.

Currently AVIS club[1] and Sky club[2] are most active.  

In 2015 and 2016 Russian Open Cup was carried out in Armenia and qualified as pre-world cup competition.[3] [4]

Armenian pilots often keep in touch via their facebook group. [5]

Weather

Country has favorable landscape[6] and weather conditions[7] for both cross-country[8] [9] and tandem flights. With some 300 sunny days per year and divers micro-climate regions tourists have good chances to catch good flyable weather conditions.

Flying season in Armenia is quite long with most flights being taken between May and November.

Launch spots
Mt Hatis (higher one) and Mt Guthanasar near Yerevan.

Main launch spots[10] are:

All of above mentioned are accessible by car and except for Tsovagyugh site are good for cross-country flights.

Armenian pilots often hike and fly also from other mountains (e.g. Armaghan, Arteni and Artanish) too.

Further launch spots are hills above village of Yenokavan and Mount Gutan (Guthanasar).

Tandem flights

Experienced trainers offer paragliding courses and tandem flights.[1][2] Since 2017 paramotor courses and tandem flights are offered too. [11]

Tandem flights are mostly offered at launch spots near Tsovaghugh at lake Sevan and Mount Hatis close to Yerevan. Depending on the weather conditions the duration of tandem flights can up to 20 minutes.

There is a hostel "Glide" in Yerevan, where foreign pilots come together and where the owner is a paragliding pilot. [12]

Practical use

In Armenia paramotor flights are helping out in archeological surveys.[13]

See also

References
  1. "AVIS small aviation club". Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  2. "HOME". "SKY CLUB" Paragliding in Armenia. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  3. "Pre PWC Armenia and Russian Open Cup 2016". airtribune.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  4. "Armenia hosts international paragliding competition (PHOTO)". news.am. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  5. "Log into Facebook | Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  6. Map, Paragliding. "Paragliding Map - Live Weather Map". www.paraglidingmap.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  7. "Paragliding weather forecast". Google Docs. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  8. Simon,Manolis,Alex,GUS,John. "Paragliding Forum - LEONARDO". www.paraglidingforum.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Worldwide flights search :: XContest.org - world of XC paragliding". www.xcontest.org. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  10. "Paraglider launch sites in Armenia". Paraplan.am. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  11. Armen Sargsyan (2017-01-30), Powered Paragliding trike in Armenia. PPG School and tandem flights., retrieved 2018-01-16
  12. "Home". hostelinyerevan.am. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  13. Faustmann, Antje; Palmer, Rog (June 2005). "Wings over Armenia: use of a paramotor for archaeological aerial survey". Antiquity. 79 (304): 402–410. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00114188. ISSN 0003-598X.
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