-
1965
David BARISH develops the first paraglider for NASA.
-
1989
1987 Bruce learns to paraglide in Australia (image: Britsh HG team 1989)
-
1979
Bruce learns to hang glide in the UK.
-
1990
Bruce starts the paragliding devision of Airwave.
-
1991
Bruce and Barney Barnes make the instructional film “Instability" in collaboration with BHPA.
-
1995
Scale model wind tunnel tests at Oxford and Bristol University on scale models and profiles.
-
1997
John Pendry World Champion on XXX and this glider dominates the competition scene.
-
1998
Saloman Trophy for Design Awarded to Bruce by Royal Aero Club in London.
-
2007
Bruce Goldsmith becomes Paragliding World Champion flying a Magic FR.
-
2010
With Cambridge and DELFT University Bruce uses stereo photography to help the design.
-
2012
BGD Founded by Bruce Goldsmith (GB), Arna Reynisdottir (Is), and Christoph Scheer (A)
-
2014
Ant Green brings a new look to BGD with his wild color schemes and graphic design.
-
2015
Cross Country publish 50 Ways to Fly Better by Bruce Goldsmith and friends.
Парапланы с индивидуальностью
Она начиналась как небольшая компания, работающая в гараже, но Bruce Goldsmith Design в настоящее время является ведущим производителем качественных парапланов и оборудования, связанного с парапланеризмом. Отдел исследований и разработок, вдохновленный Брюсом, базируется на юге Франции, где всегда светит солнце; офис распределения в Австрии, а завод в Шри-Ланке.
Семья BGD сильна, и мы все связаны нашей любовью к парапланеризму. Наша миссия - делиться своим спортом с друзьями и семьей. Нам нравится чувство связи с воздухом, и наши продукты разработаны с учетом этого. Мы производим безопасные, веселые и новые продукты, которые всегда поставляются в изысканной упаковке и инновационным качеством, которым славятся BGD.
Директора
BGD назван в честь Брюса, управляющий директор и руководитель группы разработчиков. Полет в ДНК Брюса. Он научился летать на дельтаплане в качестве студента-инженера в London’s Imperial College в 1980-х годах и быстро достиг вершины британского дельтапланеризма, выиграв Суперлигу в 1991 году. Он был в британской команде дельтапланеризма в течение десятилетия с 1986 года, и стал дважды чемпионом Великобритании по дельтапланеризму. С 1989 года он также входил в британскую команду по парапланеризму, трижды становясь чемпионом Великобритании по парапланеризму, и получил звание пилота WPRS # 1 и Чемпиона Мира в 2007 году.
Родившийся в Лондоне Брюс сейчас живет на юге Франции со своей женой Арной и тремя детьми. Основатель Airwave Paragliders and Ozone, он разработал для Advance два года, прежде чем основал BGD в 2012 году. Писатель, докладчик и преподаватель, Брюс регулярно ведет колонку в журнале Cross Country и является президентом APPI (Ассоциация пилотов-парапланов и Инструкторы).
Арна была первой исландской женщиной, которая начала летать на дельтаплане в возрасте 17 лет, ее отец дельтапланерист переманил ее из парашютного спорта. Он купил ей дельплан Wills Wing Harrier, и это была любовь с первого взгляда! Арна участвовала в нескольких кельтских кубках в Ирландии и Уэльсе, встречаясь со звездами Британской лиги, но она не знала Брюса до случайной встречи на автостоянке на юге Франции в 1997 году.
Когда тестпилот Брюса потерпел крушение и уничтожил ее новые дельтаплан от Airwave Magic, он одолжил ей параплан, который положил начало ее карьеры на параплане. Арна и Брюс поженились в 1997 году, и Арна много летала, сопровождая Брюса до 14 соревнований в год. Затем, в течение нескольких лет полеты отошли в сторону, потому что Арна сосредоточилась на семье но теперь дети выросли, и она вернулась в небо, где ей и положено, на BGD Magic.
Полетная карьера Кристофа отчасти началась благодаря его девушке в то времемя, в далеком 2002 году. Он научился летать на параплане возле своего дома в Вольфсберге, Австрия, и сразу же влюбился в спорт, полетав на своем параплане Airwave несколько больших маршрутных полетов и побив рекорд в 100 км с большим отрывом. Он продолжал соревноваться в высшей лиге Австрии. Инженер по профессии, его трудовая жизнь вовлекла его в ряд крупных строительных проектов, включая строительство мостов через Австрию и Сербию для PORR, одной из крупнейших строительных компаний Австрии.
В 2012 году Кристоф соблазнился другой жизнью, и покинул строительный мир и объединил усилия с Брюсом и Арной в новом захватывающем проекте - создании BGD. Кристоф все еще живет в Вольфсберге со своей женой Милой и сыном Максимилианом, где он управляет европейским отделением BGD из офиса и распределения в Австрии.
Crew
Kyle Mooney
R&D / PPG Team Pilot Manager
kyle@flybgd.com
Kyle started flying from his back yard with his father and paramotoring quickly took over his life. He is a paramotoring instructor in Florida, and works with BGD's R&D team to develop paramotor wings. He also heads up the BGD paramotor team pilots.
Pasquale Biondo
Paramotor test pilot
pas.biondo@gmail.com
Pasquale Biondo has been passionate about flying since playing with his father's wing at the age of 13. He did a degree in aerospace engineering before starting out in paramotor competitions. He has been Italian Paramotor Champion multiple times, and Paramotor World Champion in 2022. He works on development and testing of our paramotor wings.
Lucas Bonin
R&D
lucas.bonin@flybgd.com
Lucas started paragliding when he was 15 years old. He has always been interested in aircraft and how they fly, and studied aerodynamics at ENAC, the Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (National Civil Aviation School) in Toulouse. He works for BGD in research and development.
Tyr Goldsmith
Test Pilot / graphics
TYR@FLYBGD.COM
Bruce and Arna's eldest son, Tyr was born into paragliding and has flourished. He has already won numerous paragliding competitions (US Nationals, Rio Cup, Weightless, etc.) and loves everything related to the air. He is a test pilot and works on glider graphic design for BGD.
Mila Scheer
Office Austria
Mila@flybgd.com
Mila lives in Wolfsberg, with her husband Christoph and son Maximillian, where she helps manage the Austrian office and distribution centre.
Maria Baumgartner
Accounts / Book-keeping
maria@flybgd.com
Maria works in the accounts department in the Austrian office. A mother of two, she loves to travel, and enjoys skiing, snowboarding and tennis in her spare time.
Irena Koler
Shipping Austria
Irena@flybgd.com
Irena lives in Slovenia, near the Austrian border, and looks after stock and shipping at BGD’s warehouse in Austria. Before moving to BGD she was a wood technology engineer for 25 years. She loves the great outdoors and beautiful landscapes, but she feels most connected to nature through her sports – paragliding, mountaineering, skiing, cycling and surfing.
Nikola Dukleski
Software developer
nikola@flybgd.com
Nikola has a short history of flying, but a passion for writing long lines of code. An in-house developer, he is responsible for the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, making sure every part of the process runs smoothly and error-free. He lives with his wife and his two lovely children next to the oldest lake in Europe, Ohrid. He loves playing guitar and travelling.
Kay Arianpour
IT guru
kay@flybgd.com
Kay is a paraglider pilot who is enthusiastic about hike & fly, and a kiteboarder who likes to go far in the sea. He has been a computer programmer since 1994. He lives in Fethiye close to the famous paragliding site of Ölüdeniz, and is here to boost the BGD IT infrastructure.
Media
Anthony GREEN
Graphic Design / Film
ant@flybgd.com
By age 16 Ant’s passion for adventure led him to paragliding. He has flown competitively since 2004 in acrobatics and cross country. Studying film, business and maths he has been with BGD since the start bringing all the wild colours to the products. Ant is currently our graphic and in-house film guy and lives and works out on the open sea.
Agata Dominguez
Social Media & communications
agata@flybgd.com
Agata is a bubbly Spaniard, based in Interlaken. A graduate in journalism, filmmaking and motion graphics, she is also passionate about photography and of course, paragliding. She’s been combining these passions since 2015, and is our social media guru. You'll find her, always smiling, with a camera on take-off, or working behind a screen.
Charlie King
Editor
Charlie@flybgd.com
Charlie’s first paragliding flight was back in 1994, a 21st birthday gift that has lasted 30 years and counting. She now flies an Echo 2, a far cry from the parachute used on that first tow launch in rural England. She lives with her family in southern France and is a daytime desk jockey who works on BGD’s newsletters, manuals and brochures.
Sales Agents
Blaise Brogan
Sales Team Leader
blaise@flybgd.com
Blaise learned to fly in 2009 and soon after became involved in guiding and social media for PG/PPG brands. A former tree surgeon and windsurfing instructor he has always sought adventure. He works with RISE Paragliding in SIV and ACRO, and this role was instrumental in bringing about the EPIC FreeStyle. Blaise heads up BGD's sales team and looks after our UK sales.
Alex Schweig
Sales Austria
alex@flybgd.com
Born and raised in Peru but now based in the Austrian Alps, Alex is on a lifelong quest to discover and master all types of flying, from coastal soaring, to acro, hike and fly, and most recently, the Paragliding World Cup. An avid outdoor sportsman, he now manages BGD Sales in Austria where his colourful personality is a match for the most colourful brand out there!
Anna Darchenkova
Media Creator
ANNA@FLYBGD.COM
Anna was born and raised in the Caucasus mountains. She started paragliding in 2007 and was instantly hooked. She is an interior designer by trade. . Anna is traveling all over the world with her paraglider. She is a highly skilled media creator.
Masta (Francesco Delpiano)
Sales Italy
MASTA@FLYBGD.COM
Masta, born Francesco Delpiano, was infected with the paragliding virus in 2012 during a trip to Nepal. In 2018, thanks to his friend Malcom Deodati, he started flying under the colours of BGD. He lives with his partner Alessia and his son Theo in the north west of the Alps, works as a show technician and keeps an eye on sales for BGD. If he doesn't answer the phone he is probably smiling under the clouds or on a mountain take-off somewhere!
Navid Saleki
Sales International PPG
NAVID@FLYBGD.COM
Half Swedish, Half Iranian grew up in Sweden and lived in many places. Navid Saleki has a mechanical/business engineering background and has been passionate of extreme sports since he started learning riding a bicycle. After reaching the top in freestyle BMX riding he turned to the sky. After skydiving and paragliding he is all about paramotoring. Navid is rooted in the paramotor and paratrike world.
Val Tanniger
Sales Switzerland
valentin@flybgd.com
Valentin has been flying since the age of 21, first on planes, then moving to paragliders, drawn to it by the simplicity of an aircraft in a bag you can hike with. He loves flying vol-biv with friends, or combining it with skiing or biking – he is an avid cyclist. He studied geomorphology and is cares deeply about our environment.
Raphael Laghi
Sales International PPG
raphael@flybgd.com
Coming from a family of pioneering pilots in Brazil, Flying is part of Raphael's DNA. He has been flying paragliders and paramotors since 2008 and works as an instructor and tandem pilot in Sri Lanka and Europe. He is passionate about XC across Brazil and paramotoring over the Amazon. Raphael knows our paramotor range well and is our international paramotor sales guy.
David CHAUMET
R & D
David@flybgd.com
David CHAUMET works with R&D, and runs a service center. He has been flying sailplanes, paragliders, hang gliders, and UL aircraft since 1989 and was part of the French hangliding and paragliding team from 2002 to 2008 winning several world championship podiums in class 5 hang gliders! He's specialized in composite materials and electrical engines for aeronautical applications. Check out his electric Swift and electric paraglider.
Mario Koller
Sales Germany
Mario@flybgd.com
Mario lives, breaths, and dreams paragliding. He is always smiling and strives to share his passion with everyone. Mario lives and works mostly from home in Nesselwang, Germany.
Benedikt Bös
Sales Germany PPG
bene@flybgd.com
Another medical man, orthopaedic technician and prosthetics-maker Bene was infected with the flying bug at the age of 16. Powered paragliding is the bug that has bitten the hardest, and Bene is an international competitor in classic and endurance paramotoring. He is also a PPG test pilot and has headed up BGD’s motor division since 2013.
Wingmen
Franck Largeault
Branding/marketing
Franck learnt to fly after a bet with his brother in 2019 and immediately fell in love with the sport. He is a trail runner, father, and general outdoor enthusiast. He has already flown several nice triangles around his home site of Aix-les-Bains and plans to break the site distance record. He is a specialist in outdoor sports marketing strategy and helps BGD with branding, social media, and marketing.