The trainees, comprising four military personnel and eight civilians with two females and ten males sought to expand the sports of paragliding with the development of both solo and tandem paragliders.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the training grounds, Mr Kwesi Agyemang, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), said the authority had the vision of making paragliding an all-year-round sporting activity with local paragliding pilots. 

Mr Agyemang said for the Authority to achieve this aim, there was the need to train Ghanaians to take up the skill to make it a possibility and hence the incorporation of the training session for local pilots.

He noted that the training of local paragliding pilots would help reduce the cost of having to transport pilots from all over the world to come over to fly Ghanaians on annual basis saying, “We hope that very soon we will have enough Ghanaians who can fly solo (flying alone) or tandem (flying with other passengers)”.

Mr Agyemang noted that the paragliding site at Kwahu was undergoing redevelopment to broaden the take-off base to ensure that it accommodated more people to fly during Paragliding Festival.

The CEO hinted that the Authority also has the vision of establishing a paragliding school as stated during the last event held during the Easter celebration in Kwahu.

Mr Ed Stein, the Paragliding Instructor taking the trainees through the process, said it took in average of 10 days for an individual to reach the novice level, after which constant practice would be required for perfection. Mr Ed Stein noted that the trainees, after undergoing a 2-day training session have proven to be talented in the sports saying, “I am proud of them”.

In an interview with some of the trainees, Nana Efua Assan, an Engineering student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, noted that everything in life was dangerous but you just have to follow the laid down rules.

She indicated that because she had gone through the training for only three days, she was unable to fly but was capable of kiting, thus opening and sustaining the paraglider in the air for some time.

Nana Assan was however optimistic of flying by the seventh day.

Mr Kwame Adu Appiah, an Electrical Engineering Student, said he had always been interested in paragliding and when the opportunity came, he decided to take it up.  He urged the public to quench fears regarding paragliding, saying, there was nothing to fear when paragliding.

 “When you follow instructions, the guidelines and the safety measures, you should be fine.”

Ms Rita Naa Kordey Clottey, an Information Technology Student at the Ghana Technology University College, said when preparing to paraglide, you have to ensure that all your equipment were ready before you take off.

Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders by a single pilot or with other passengers. In 2003, the then Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, the late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey first e stablished the sports in Ghana. The first Ghana Paragliding Festival was then launched in 2005 by the then Vice President, the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama.