HPAC Senior Instructor, Jayson Biggins, is proud to head the Canadian distributorship of Airwave. Since 2002, he has been recommending Airwave gliders to students at his paragliding school on the Canadian west coast. Throughout this time he has been thoroughly impressed by the performance, quality, and durability of their wings.
Airwave was formed in 1979 initially as a hang glider manufacturer. With a strong team of top British pilots, the Magic series hang gliders dominated the World Hang Gliding Competition circuit for over ten years. In 1989, Bruce Goldsmith was brought in to set up the paragliding branch of the company. Since then, Airwave paragliders have gained a reputation for safety and uncompromising quality. In 1997 John Pendry won the World Paragliding Championships flying an Airwave paraglider.

In 1999, Markus Villinger took over Airwave and moved the company to his hometown of Stubai, high in the Austrian Alps. Markus ran Wills Wing Europe with great success throughout the early 90s – taking a hand in the design side as well as having his own competition team. After several successful years, Marcus sold his share in Wills Wing and concentrated his efforts on property development while always longing to return to the world of flying. When the opportunity to lead Airwave arose again, he quickly seized it as it was the perfect fit for his ambitions.

Today, Markus runs an impressive, modern Airwave factory in his new hometown of Fulpmes, Austria. Backed by a team of enthusiastic Austrian, Italian and German pilots, he continues to develop hang gliders in the new state of the art Airwave factory. Airwave’s paragliders are manufactured by subcontractors who are carefully selected for their unwavering commitment to quality as this is an essential element of producing a superior product.

Likewise having a hiatus from the company, Bruce Goldsmith returned to Airwave in May 2000, where he once again designs their paragliders from his home in Greolieres, France. Flying conditions here are very consistent and this enables Bruce to thoroughly test and develop his products year round.

The fruits of his labour are evident by his winning of the 2007 World Paragliding Championships on a production model Airwave FR3. This victory makes Bruce the first and only paraglider pilot to have won a World Championship on a glider designed by him/herself! This commitment to excellence is evident throughout the entire line of Airwave paragliders as they strive to break new ground in each class.