At age 16, Paul took his first Hang Gliding lesson in Kitty Hawk, N.C. in 1972; he was one of John Harris’ first students. His family was on vacation from New York at the time. That day changed his life forever.
He ultimately bought a used glider with a friend and they “self-trained” at a sand pit on Long Island. He also started going up to Ellenville Mountain, NY, later in the 70’s; it was the closest mountain flying site to where he lived. The local Hang Gliding school in Ellenville at the time was called Aerial Techniques. He asked the owners if it was possible to make a living in hang gliding and they said they were looking for an instructor, so he moved to the area and started working there in 1980. The US Nationals were held in Ellenville that summer (hosted by Aerial Techniques), and he helped with the administration of that competition.
Paul started traveling for hang gliding in the early 80’s; participating in several of the U.S. Nationals competitions throughout the 80’s. He placed 1st in 5 region 12 National qualifier meets. Additionally, he participated in the Telluride aerobatic meet and fly-ins in Colorado, the Grouse Mountain meet in Vancouver, and often visited the Point of the Mountain, Utah, giving him the opportunity to meet a lot of pilots across the country.
He also organized several regional qualifier competitions and 19 Ellenville “fun meets” (a mountain version of the KHK “Spectacular”), and several National Fly-Ins. He opened his own Hang Gliding business, “Fly High Hang Gliding”, in 1985, and operated until 2017, and his school maintained a spectacular safety record throughout all those 32 years. Paul trained many hundreds of people in the art of flying Hang Gliders.
Paul was always a strong advocate for Wills Wing equipment, and working in hang gliding provided frequent contact with the staff at Wills Wing. He became good friends with the owners, leading to lifetime friendships and future opportunities.
In the early 80’s, Paul started organizing flying trips for his friends and club members, to the flying sites he had been to across the country. Eventually, that led to organizing trips to Mexico, and to utilizing a car and gliders from Wills Wing, and holding annual “Wills Wing demo days” events for them in Lakeview, Oregon. (among other locations on the East coast)
Paul joined the Board of Directors of the USHPA (then the USHGA) in 1989, holding the position of Vice President three times. He continued on the Board for 34 years, until the end of 2022, attending 98 consecutive Board meetings, and he participated in another 2 meetings in 2023 as Chair of the Tandem Committee, (a position he held for over 20 years), making his perfect attendance at Board meetings an even 100 meetings in a row, prior to retiring. Minimizing excessive rule making, and supporting the USHPA Instructors were two of Paul’s main passions while on the board. He also served on (and sometimes chaired) the Safety and Training and Towing Committees for over 30 years. Paul was also known as the Chair of the Financial Redistribution Committee, (providing oversight for the USHPA board meeting poker games in the evenings)
Paul also started paragliding in 1989, and became a Paragliding instructor, and instructor administrator. He participated in creating the paragliding training syllabus in 2009 and was on the committee that updated the hang gliding training syllabus in 2010).
Paul also starred in, and narrated the “USHPA safety video” for the USHPA in 2010. In 2014, Paul was on the 5-person team that filmed the “USHPA Hang Gliding training module” video. Locally, Paul was President of the local Ellenville Mountain hang gliding club for 15 years or more, and still continues as the club’s Treasurer.
Most likely, Paul’s greatest contributions to the sports has been in his capacity as an Instructor and/or tandem Administrator. Over the past 34 years, Paul has mentored and certified hundreds of pilots as instructors, many of whom are still out there teaching and promoting our sports safely. Paul has held clinics all across America, including Washington State, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, Utah, Illinois, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, New Hampshire and of course, North Carolina (among other places).
