Bertie Kennedy is the Chief Flying Instructor. After a spell building and flying radio controlled model aircraft, he started hang gliding in 1974 and introduced paragliding to Northern Ireland in 1990. He has accumulated many hours' airtime in a wide variety of hang gliders and paragliders and has been teaching people to fly both types of aircraft. He also flew a flexwing microlight for a while in the  early days, including displays at the Dublin Air Show and at Eglinton but he abandoned that for the challenge of free silent flight.

In 1996 he formed First Flight Paragliding, after formally qualifying as a Senior Instructor with the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA), the Governing Body for the sport throughout the UK. Bertie is also a BHPA qualified tandem hang glider and paraglider pilot, club coach and Assessor for tandem paragliding ratings.

On the wider sporting scene he served five years as a member of the Executive Committee of the Northern Ireland Sports Forum, the independent body that represents the interests of all sports Governing Bodies in Northern Ireland and was a founder member of the Countryside Access and Activities Network. Now retired from his day job, he has more time to devote to paragliding.

From time to time other Instructors and Trainee Instructors are there to help.