Our school was born out of the desire to pass on the indescribable pleasure and joy of paragliding to others.
We have:
- 19 years of accumulated experience
- hundreds of pilots trained
- Total availability and exclusivity for teaching the sport
It’s almost impossible to explain the feelings and emotions of paragliding. Everything counts: the feeling of freedom, the communion with nature, flying accompanied by seagulls, eagles or vultures, feeling the elevation of body and spirit, leaving worries behind when you fly, feeling the adrenaline rush of “pulling” the wing and doing some more daring maneuvers, or simply socializing with “aerial” people… paragliding is all this and much more!
When the founder of UonAir decided to take his first flight several years ago, he had no idea that his life would take a turn. Twenty-five years of computer science and a degree in Anthropology, Nature and Biodiversity Conservation. In fact, it’s computers that have been left behind, because nature really is our environment!
With the pleasure of flying came the natural evolution: accumulation of many hours and experience, progression in flight levels, and finally, instruction.
Enjoying flying is part of an instructor’s soul. The other aspect is the pleasure of teaching, and that pleasure, I discovered, is also here. It’s not enough to love flying or to be a great pilot. Knowing how to teach is the other fundamental component of being an instructor.
Being an instructor and teaching flying is a pleasure, a responsibility and perhaps a mission. The instructor is someone who is willing to stay on the ground and give up their flying for the sake of their students. The compensation is to “give wings” to new pilots.
The accumulation of experience and the encouragement of countless friends in the air over the years, combined with the pleasure of having already trained several pilots, were fundamental to the decision to create UonAir and to dedicate myself professionally and full-time to training new pilots.
O ano de 2020 foi absolutamente atípico devido à pandemia. Mas foi também o ano em que o meu antigo instrutor e amigo José Cardoso se juntou ao projecto. Com um vasto currículo desportivo, quer académico, quer profissional, o José já leva 18 anos de formação em parapente, com centenas de alunos formados por ele. À nossa equipa juntam-se também alguns pilotos de bilugar, com formação específica para transportar passageiros, ou auxiliares de formação de pilotos.
I hope to be worthy of continuing to receive the support, encouragement and affection of friends and former students in my mission to take more and more people flying, in the most beautiful and free way possible: on a paraglider’s wing.