SAFA Skysailor Magazine

29 March | April 2022 SKY SAILOR “For me, flying is pure freedom, a source of mental power and positive energy,” Ralf said. “I love taking people on tandem paragliding flights and introducing them to our wonderful sport. I’m also grateful for my countless flying friends around the world and my wonderful flying buddies I am sharing the skies with here in Australia,” he added. Ralf is currently supporting a Sydney Paragliding School as a Flight Experience Instructor and says he has always had the vision to become an instructor and one day operate a flying school. As an experienced pilot, Ralf enjoys men- toring others to achieve their fullest potential in sports aviation and believes that continual learning is an important aspect of the sport. “Despite flying for more than 30 years, I still feel that, next to the personal flying experience and skills I have accumulated, flying is an ongoing learning process. We all learn from other pilots, particularly from senior mentors over time which helps us become better pilots. I feel seeing a young pilot entering the sport and me contributing to their progress is in fact very rewarding. I recall some passengers I took once for a Tandem Introduction Flight and later they decided to take up the sport,” he explained. Aside from his mentoring efforts, Ralf names one of his biggest flying achievements as the time he took his first 150km flight in Manilla NSW in 2014. While he loves flying in Australia, like many other pilots, Ralf is looking forward to inter- national borders reopening again so he can travel overseas and visit more flying sites. Opposite page: Ralf Gittfried Right: Tandem flying to share the joy Photos: Ralf Gittfried and Vision Xtra Photography