Why Choose Airtime of San Francisco

Jeff

Flying and Teaching Paragliding have become synonymous with my life. I am Jeff Greenbaum and my flying enthusiasm started in 1984 with Hang Gliding. By 1986, I was teaching and had found flying was the love of my life. In 1988 I purchased the Hang Gliding school that I was teaching for and renamed it Airtime of San Francisco. For more of my history, please see my about page.

Most individuals who decide to teach paragliding do so because they want to share their love and passion for this amazing sport with others. I definitely fall into this category.

What I offer that is different and better:

I have been teaching sports since 1982 when I first taught Windsurfing / Sailboarding. Teaching sports for this long, I am confident yet humbled by the tasks of teaching. The longer I have taught, the more I feel I have to learn and continually work on improving my programs.
I began teaching Hang Gliding in 1986. I began teaching Paragliding in 1989. There is no substitute for the lessons of time and experience.
I am a full time Paragliding School, Shop and Repair Center. This is all I do, so I can teach midweek and flex my time to fit your schedule as best as possible.
I have been teaching aviation since 1986 in Hang Gliders and since 1990 in Paragliders. I currently hold an advanced Hang Gliding and Paragliding rating, an Advanced Instructor rating paragliding and am also a Tandem Instructor and Tandem Administrator (I teach Tandem Pilots to become Tandem Instructors).
I teach more than just the physical mechanics. I emphasize the points that can be overlooked, like respect, perspective and attitude.
I add techniques that are not included in the USHPA requirements. My goal is to have each student graduate with a solid understanding of Active Flying and Speed To Fly, two of the most important parts of Paragliding.
I am extremely prompt and respect your time. In 2009 I coined the term “promptiac” and I take pride in being one. I show up when I am supposed to be there and respect the time of each and every customer. I do expect students to make efforts to be prompt as well, so that other students are not missing training.
I run my business professionally and with full respect for every customer. I use a Yahoo Group called Airtime-Pilots for email communication between students, graduates and myself. If you want to join this group and view the calendar and get updates, click on the below link.

joinyahoo

Click here to join Airtime-Pilots

I go the extra yard to make sure that students are progressing and placing the importance on getting a full education. I call the students and help them schedule if they are not getting out enough. I do special groundschools outside of the normal schedule if students cannot make the regularly scheduled classes.
I use 2 Meter Radios, not the cheaper FSR radios, for guiding students for flying tasks. It is imperative that radios are not over-used and that in each flight the student is always able to fly the tasks at hand without the radio, but the radio can be there to help ad feedback and guidance.
I do Mountain trips throughout the year to ensure that students get some flights from altitude and possible thermal experience. For example, in 2006 I did 2 trips to Big Sur, 1 trips to Potato Hill, and 2 trips to Hat Creek. Each student in the program gets 1 Mtn. Trip included. Students that have graduated the program and have already been on one trip, can tag along on these trips for a flat fee for “site introduction”. For full radio support, I charge only $50 / day for graduates – this includes the site intro fee.
I have a free groundschool class available every Thursday night for the ongoing students. This makes it easier for the students to get the full technical part of the training which helps them prepare for the written exams at the end of the training.
I am currently and continuously writing articles. I write these to share information that I have learned over the years and to help new pilots become more knowledgeable and safer. Some of these have been published and more will be published in the near future. I am also beginning work on my own training manual.
I have design experience with flying gear – I designed and manufactured 3 Hang Gliding Harness models. I currently do parachute repacks and minor to medium repairs on paraglider wings. I also can build replacement lines for paragliders.