Over 40 years of experience

The green dragons team

We offer training courses for all levels and types of pilot

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Meet our team of experienced instructors

At Green Dragons we have a hugely experienced team of instructors in a wide variety of airborne activities. We teach, paragliding, hang glider, paramotoring, parascending and more so whatever your airborne passion is we have the experience to develop your skills further.

You are in safe hands with our Chief Flying Instructor Andy Shaw, who oversees all activities and is one of the most experienced instructors in the whole of the UK. If you would like more information about training with us then please use our contact form below and we will be happy to help.

Andy Shaw

Chief Flying Instructor & Owner of Green Dragons

Andy is Green Dragons, investing his life into the school and the sport of paragliding and hang gliding. He displays strong leadership, imagination and positive can do attitude towards all his teaching and any project he works on. Like his father and brothers he spent his early life in the military with 6 years with the Parachute Regiment and the Red Devils. Andy was introduced to airborne activities from an early age has been a cornerstone of the development of paragliding and hang gliding in the UK. Andy has been working with the BHPA, developing training programs and best practices for training new and existing pilots.
Andy has been at the helm of Green Dragons since 1988 and has steered the team to multiple podium positions in a wide range of airborne disciplines and continues to contribute to many national established procedures used across the world of Free Flight. With this wealth of knowledge and experience Andy runs excellent fun training courses that instil discipline and safe practices into all of his students preparing them for real world flying.

Justin Rose

Senior instructor and tandem pilot

Justin is known throughout the world of extreme sports with his wing suiting, base jumping and parachuting activities. When he isn’t throwing himself off buildings or out of planes he is the senior instructor at Green Dragons. Justin has been training students for 20 years and is one of the top instructors in the UK. He has a confident cool head on his shoulders and has a unique knowledge of teaching on our sites on the North Downs. He loves to share his knowledge and inspire others into airborne activities whilst insuring safe training practices are followed.

William Lawrence

Instructor and service specialist

William has been with Green Dragons for 5 years following his Club Pilots course. He has progressed into one of our instructors and loves to share his passion about flying with our students. Early on in his flying story he has been interested in the equipment and has established himself as an experienced service and repair technician for all of your equipment needs. You are in safe hands when training with William and his ability to get the best from his students is one of his strengths.

Michael Collins

Instructor and paramotor technician

Michael has been involved with Green Dragons for over ten years and as is a crucial part of the team. He is a highly experienced instructor and has a passion for paramotoring. Michael heads up our sales department and has a wealth of experience flying and demonstrating wings around the country. He also works in our busy service centre and is one of our office managers when he isn’t flying. Michael is also a keen paramotor pilot and often runs flying sessions at Green Dragons for a range of pilot abilities from novice to more adventurous pilots.

Matt Bignell

Training Instructor and Accuracy pilot

Matt is another Airfield child growing up on flying sites and has a long history with Green Dragons. Matt’s love is flying and in recent years has focused on accuracy competitions becoming one of the top UK pilots. He has competed and won competitions around the world and continues to mentor pilots entering the world of accuracy competitions. Matt is an experienced instructor and brings a unique set of skills to his teaching. He has a lovely, infectious and positive attitude to all of his training sessions that can be seen in all of his students.

Request a call back

Complete our online contact form and we will be in touch as soon as we can.

If you would like to join our mailing list then please enter your email address. We will send you updates on our products and services. We will also update you of Green Dragon activity days and new equipment releases.

You can also email us on fly@greendragons.co.uk or give us a call on 07860875567

what our Clients say

"I completed my EP and CP course with Green Dragons. Andy is a great instructor focused on teaching you the skills you require whilst keeping you safe. I would highly recommend training with him because he knows his stuff and his flying sites. Their small private sites mean you fly more and learn faster without the need to wait for others to fly first or navigate busy club sites. Thank you so much!"
JEREMY SLADENParagliding EP & CP Course
"I bought myself and my wife a paragliding fun day with Green Dragons. We had a brilliantly fun day running around a field and had 3 flights by mid afternoon. The instructors were very patient, knowledgeable and we felt safe throughout the experience. With minimal training and no previous experience we were able to fly solo in under a day. You won't regret giving it a go!"
STEVE HARRISParagliding fun day
"I learnt to hang glide with Andy and had a great time. I live in London so originally picked Green Dragons because it was the closest school. looking back now I am glad i choose to train with them because. They use both hill and winch training so i got to fly days when other schools wouldn't have been able to train. Andy is fantastic with a patient but firm approach to training. Thank you!"
silvia snowEP & CP Hang Gliding course
I took a paraglider tow conversion course with GD and was very pleased with the experience. As well as being a lot of fun, I was really impressed by the quality of instruction I received. We had a small group (five), but it felt almost like individual tuition because our instructor gave each of us supportive commentary and advice to help us achieve our goals. Good facilities and a great learning environment, backed up by Andy's total commitment, positive attitude, long experience and attention to detail meant that we were all able to get the best out of the time available and maximise our learning. Highly recommended to others!
Richard DTow conversion course
Paragliding in the UK is always less predictable due to the changing British weather, however, once your airborne the frill of free flight is wonderful and worth the wait. A little patience is required due to the British weather so if your day is cancelled, then a little para-waiting is required and you need to rebook via email. Email is best to contact the club as if it’s flyable then everyone will be out! This afternoon, I got in five tow flights! This is a risky sport and safety is paramount. The instructors at Green Dragons will ensure you have fun as well as be safe.
Victor MalpeParagliding Fun day
Just wanted to thank Andi for a nice and friendly chat and showing me the site and talking through my options to restart flight again. cannot wait to get back to the sky.
Savalan GHLapsed pilot returning to flying
Best place, best experience and most importantly best coach, Andy Shaw, along with other wonderfully talented professionals in the field with decades of flying time. It is a MUST to go there - truly, you'll love it without question.
Oliver McCourtyHang Glider Fun Day
Fantastic day out, had Will as a coach for the day and couldn't have asked for better as really knows his stuff, clear in his coaching style and got me flying in no time. Can't wait to go again.
Chris NormanParagliding Fun Day
I bought a tandem paragliding flight as a present for someone and we all had a great time. The Green Dragons team are very friendly and will always seek to get you the best experience, which does involve occasional waiting that can't be helped due to the weather, but is completely worth it in the end. The whole group had a great experience. I was a bystander this time but I think next time I'll be going airborne!
David BrookTandem Flight Booked as a gift
I did the paragliding fun day and had such an excellent time. It's amazing what you can learn in a day! It's pretty tiring so I do recommend you go in good health (although you can rest whenever you feel like it), but it's so much fun. Sid was a brilliant instructor - just the right mixture of pushing everyone forwards while being caring if anyone had any issues. The tuition was spot on and everyone seemed to get a good amount of attention. I do feel the communications beforehand could have been a bit better (sometimes I had to chase for confirmation emails etc), but I couldn't bring myself to knock a star off for this as the day was so awesome. Highly recommended! PS For information, Uber will go there from London. Cuts the journey time massively and probably worth it for the morning at least.
Jessica ElkinParagliding Fun Day
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BHPA and Green Dragons
Green Dragons Paragliding and Hang gliding School since 1974

We offer a comprehensive range of BHPA approved training courses and fun days. We are located within the M25 and we are the closest school to London. We use private flying sites and have some of the most experienced instructors in the country. Our courses are fun, safe and focus on creating independent pilots.

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BHPA and Green Dragons
BHPA and Green Dragons