SAFA Skysailor Magazine

21 SPRING 2026 | September-October-November SKY SAILOR We spoke about how flying (and his approach to risk) has changed over more than 30 years, what drew him to SAFA, and the opportunities he sees for making the organisation easier to deal with while keeping safety, cost and the work that keeps us flying firmly in view. Q&A with Gavin Hanlon Take me back to the beginning. How did paragliding start for you? I was at university during my first degree. A mate and I wanted to try something different, and a friend said, “My brother’s doing this thing called paragliding. Why don’t we give that a go?” We did, and I stuck with it. I learned near Michelago, south of Canberra, in the early 1990s. The equip- ment was very different then. The glider I learned on had around 11 cells, and the attachment points were up around your shoulders. Compared with modern wings, it was incredibly basic. As I got more involved, flying became a bigger part of my life. In the late 1990s, I gained my instructor and tandem ratings and spent a couple of years travelling and flying. I lived around Stanwell Park for a while, flew tandems for a school in Europe, entered competitions, and generally built my life around the sport. Then I met my wife, and almost literally folded up the paraglider. Career and family took priority for a while. I flew occasionally, but became more of a weekend pilot, and with periods when I hardly flew at all. Over the past 10 years I’ve properly come back to it. These days, I’m free-flying again, and I’m enjoying it enormously. The kids are out of the house now, so there’s a little more space for flying again. Photos: Gavin Hanlon