Paragliding Flight Procedures

Due to the rapidly-changing coastal weather patterns, we spend a lot of time monitoring long and short range forecasts. Most important factors are wind speed and direction, as well as cloud level. There are a variety of weather forecasting apps available to us, as well as tools provided by Hong Kong Observatory: using long range forecasts we try to come up with a rough idea of where we will be flying, and then on the evening before the flying excursion we make a more detailed plan using a short range forecast. However, this can always change on very short notice, especially if we see that the weather data from live automated reporting stations indicates that the forecast is inaccurate.

We rely very heavily on radar data during the thunderstorm season (April through August) as rainstorms can pop up (or disappear) within minutes. We check the radar first thing in the morning to see what we can expect, and again few minutes before takeoff, just to confirm that everything is safe and we will have a nice, dry flight. Due to the very localized nature of thunderstorms, sometimes we have a situation where HK Island is getting rained on, while Lantau has blue skies (or vice versa). Thus, patience is always helpful, and it doesn’t hurt to bring a small umbrella.

Hong Kong is unique in the way that paragliding is allowed here despite close proximity to one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. However, as a result, it is a very tightly regulated activity, and there are many rules and procedures in place in order to safely share the very busy airspace with airline traffic.

Here is a map showing the sub-divisions of the uncontrolled airspace areas and the paragliding areas within them:

The airspace above Hong Kong is divided into controlled, and uncontrolled areas. Paragliding is allowed in some parts of the uncontrolled areas, but just because the air traffic controllers do not direct paraglider traffic, it doesn’t mean paragliders are free to do what they want. The uncontrolled area is sub-divided into smaller airspaces, all of different sizes and “ceiling” heights which paragliders are not allowed to venture outside or above. The ceiling heights range from 1000 feet to 2500 feet, to provide separation from the airline traffic above.

The following height limits apply to paragliders in Hong Kong:

Long Ke Wan – 1000 feet
Sai Wan – 1000 feet
Shek-O East – 1500 feet
Shek-O West – 1500 feet
Lantau East – 2000 feet
Lantau West – 2000 feet
Pak Tam Au – 2000 feet
Ma On Shan – 2500 feet
Pat Sin Leng – 2500 feet