Paragliding Queensland supplies instruction by highly regarded and experienced HGFA certified instructors using hill/mountain launching. If necessary, feasible or practical, and at the sole discretion of the Chief Flying Instructor, winch launching may also be utilised. At Paragliding Queensland, we strive to give you the most complete instruction possible.

Paragliding Queensland commenced operations as a HGFA certified training facility in 1993 and has given the gift of flight to hundreds of very satisfied customers since then. Practical teaching operations are conducted at a number of locations in the Scenic Rim Regional Council area of S/E Qld with our shop/service centre located 2km from the township of Canungra.

Paragliding Queensland is highly regarded in the paragliding industry for excellence in teaching all facets of paragliding flight. Many of our past students move on to excel in the national and international paragliding competition scene.

Our mission is to produce competent pilots, not simply licence holders. We pride ourselves on the quality of our newly graduated pilots. If you simply want a piece of paper at the end of 8 days, and believe that this will give you the skills necessary to competently fly your paraglider in a wide variety of conditions, then maybe our teaching style may not work for you. Contrary to most new students expectations gleaned from watching "youtube" or even from the personal experience of having done a tandem flight, paragliding is not an easy sport to learn. or at least to learn well. Once airborne, flying a paraglider in smooth conditions is deceptively easy. The pendulum stability offered by the shape of a paraglider makes it basically want to fly in nothing but a straight line when in smooth air. The launching process of a paraglider on the other hand, is almost exactly the opposite. The glider seems to want to do everything other than what you want it to do. This is where your skill as a well trained pilot becomes an asset which will repay you over and over again with stress-less launching, flying and landing. For this reason, we feel that our training is the most thorough offered by any school, anywhere in Australia or overseas for that matter. And thoroughness takes time, so if you are looking for a piece of paper, in the shortest possible time, then you should look elsewhere for your training. But if you are looking for training that goes ABOVE AND BEYOND the minimum required for the issue of your initial HGFA "supervised" rating, and are willing to spend the time and effort to achieve those skills, then we at Paragliding Queensland look forward to taking you on board and help you "spread your wings". Remember that your safety, both during, and post training is our number one priority. We are happy to offer ex students all the advice they need in order to make informed decisions on equipment selection, site appraisal and weather conditions.

Paraglding Queensland was started, and has been owned and operated by Phil Hystek since 1993. Phil started flying and teaching hang gliding in the late 1980's but quickly saw the benefits of portability and comfort offered by paragliding and made the switch in the early 1990's. Phil has been instrumental in initiating and perfecting many of the current widely used paragliding instructional techniques used in HGFA certified Paragliding Schools in their lesson & course curiculum. Phil has also been an active paragliding competitor, spending many years in the top 10 ranking in Australia. Phil has also won the Indonesian National Championships as well as being Australian "Sports Class" champion in 2004 and has been Queensland State Champion. Phil has flown in countries as diverse as the U.S.A, Mexico, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Nepal, India, East Timor, Europe & New Zealand as well as running annual Paragliding Tours to many exotic International Paragliding locations.