XC Trips — Booking Terms & Conditions

1. Who we are, and who these terms bind

The operator of XC Trips is Sole Entrepreneur Serhii Mykhailiuta, registered in Georgia under Registration No. 329338355, trading as SkyAtlantida / Georgia Paragliding ("we", "us", "the Operator").

"You", "the Participant" or "the Pilot" means the person named on the booking. If you book for other people, you confirm that you have their authority to accept these terms on their behalf, that you have passed these terms to them, and that you are responsible for their payments.

"Trip" means any XC flying trip, XC camp, hike & fly trip, coaching camp or expedition published at georgiaparagliding.com/xc-trips/.

2. What these terms cover

These are the terms on which we sell XC Trips. For XC Trips they take precedence over the general site Terms & Conditions wherever the two conflict; on everything else the general terms continue to apply.

They apply to every participant on the Trip, including participants added later and substitutes.

3. What we sell — and what we do not

3.1 We provide guiding, coaching, organisation, ground transport and logistics for pilots who already fly independently. We are not selling a flight, a tandem, an air-taxi service, or beginner instruction.

3.2 You are the pilot in command of every flight you make. Every decision — to launch or not to launch, to take off in the conditions actually present, to continue or to land, to fly a task or abandon it, to top-land, to fly near terrain, to enter a gaggle, to deploy your reserve — is yours alone, taken by you, for you, in real time.

3.3 A briefing, a task, a forecast, a route suggestion, a radio call, or the sight of another pilot taking off is information and opinion. It is not an instruction, not permission, and not a warranty that conditions are safe for you. The guide does not have, and does not accept, command authority over your aircraft. If you are not satisfied that conditions are safe for your level on that day, do not fly. Nobody will pressure you to fly, and choosing not to fly never costs you anything under these terms.

3.4 Where a Trip includes coaching for pilots working towards a rating or a distance goal, that coaching does not alter clause 3.2 in any way.

3.5 Parts of a Trip — accommodation, ground transport, retrieve drivers, cable cars, local guides, launch operators, optional activities — are provided by independent third parties. We select and coordinate them with reasonable care; we do not control them and we are not their principal. See section 16.

4. Who may join — qualification, currency, honesty

4.1 Minimum requirement: an independent pilot holding a valid national licence or rating, or an IPPI card at level 4 (level 5 for advanced and expedition trips), able to launch, thermal, navigate and land safely without supervision, on your own certified equipment.

4.2 Before we confirm a place we will ask you about total airtime, airtime in the last 12 months, thermal and XC experience, mountain experience, wing make, model and class, SIV or pilotage training, and your goals. Your answers form part of this contract. If you misrepresent them, we may stop you flying or remove you from the Trip at any time, without refund, with your onward travel and accommodation at your own cost.

4.3 Some destinations require a local licence, an IPPI card, an insurance certificate, registration, a radio permit, or an airspace or national-park permit. Meeting those requirements is your responsibility. We will tell you what we know applies, but we do not warrant that the list is complete or current.

4.4 We may decline a booking without giving reasons. If we decline before departure for a reason that is not attributable to you, we refund everything you have paid us.

5. Your equipment

5.1 You fly your own equipment. As a minimum: a certified wing appropriate to your level and to the conditions of the destination; a harness with certified protection; an in-date reserve parachute, correctly installed and repacked within the manufacturer's interval; a helmet; an instrument; a charged mobile phone; and a radio where the Trip uses one.

5.2 You confirm that your equipment is airworthy, within its service life, correctly assembled and legal to use at the destination. We may inspect equipment and may ground equipment we consider unsafe. Grounding unsafe equipment is not a refundable event.

5.3 Loss of, theft of, damage to and repair of your equipment is at your risk, including while it is being carried in our vehicles. See clause 15.2(f).

6. Insurance — mandatory, and checked

6.1 Insurance that explicitly covers paragliding and cross-country flying, in the destination country and at the altitudes flown, is a condition of participation. A policy with an "extreme sports", "aerial sports" or "aviation" exclusion does not qualify, whatever else it covers.

6.2 Minimum cover we require:

• medical treatment and hospitalisation — €100,000 or more;
• search and rescue, including mountain rescue and helicopter evacuation;
• repatriation, including repatriation of remains;
• third-party liability for injury or damage you cause to other people or their property — legally required in some countries, strongly recommended in all;
• altitude limits appropriate to the terrain flown, and cover for remote or expedition areas, where relevant to the destination.

6.3 We may ask for the policy document and certificate before departure and again on site. If you cannot produce cover meeting 6.1 and 6.2, we may stop you flying or remove you from the Trip, without refund.

6.4 We do not insure you. Any insurance we hold covers our own liabilities and does not extend to you, to your equipment or to your flights.

6.5 We strongly recommend separate cancellation and curtailment insurance. The cancellation charges in section 9 are your liability and we do not waive them because you chose not to insure.

7. Medical fitness, disclosure, alcohol and drugs

7.1 You confirm that you are medically fit to fly and to spend days in remote mountain terrain, and that before departure you will disclose to us in writing any condition, medication, injury, pregnancy or disability that could affect your safety, your flying, or a rescue.

7.2 You confirm that you are not flying against medical advice or outside the conditions of your licence or rating.

7.3 You will not fly, drive, or take part in any Trip activity under the influence of alcohol, cannabis, recreational drugs, or any medication that impairs judgement or reaction time. The guide's assessment on this is final. Anyone flying or presenting impaired is removed from flying for that day, or from the Trip, without refund.

7.4 You authorise us to pass disclosed medical information to rescue services, medical personnel and your emergency contact where it is necessary to protect your life or health.

8. Prices and payment — 30% by transfer, 70% on arrival

8.1 Prices are published per pilot, in EUR, at georgiaparagliding.com/xc-trips/ and are calculated for a group of at least four paying pilots. Every date runs in two formats: Guiding — without accommodation, and Guiding + Stay — the same trip including twin/shared accommodation for a supplement of €330–440 depending on trip length. You choose the format when you book and it is recorded on the invoice.

8.2 Deposit — 30%, by transfer. The manager sends you an invoice on WhatsApp, Telegram or by email. Until the deposit arrives, your place is not held, whatever we agreed in conversation. The deposit is non-refundable, with one exception — see section 10.

8.3 Balance — 70%, on arrival. Paid on day one of the Trip, at the meeting point, before flying starts, in cash or by bank transfer — whichever suits you. In EUR unless we agree otherwise in advance. The Trip does not start until the balance is paid.

8.5 The early-booking discount of −20% (Georgia group tour only) applies where published and requires the deposit at least one month before the start date. Its conditions are stated with the offer.

8.6 Bank charges are yours, in both directions. Bank, card, transfer and currency-conversion charges on the deposit are yours, and the invoiced amount must reach us in full. If a refund ever becomes due, the charge for the outgoing transfer is deducted from the refunded amount — that is the bank's money, not a fee of ours.

8.7 What both formats include: coaching and guiding, daily forecast analysis and site selection, the task for the day, briefings, guiding in the air and on the ground, transport up to launch (vehicle, 4x4 or cable car — fuel and lift included), retrieve from wherever you land, every move along the trip's route — from the moment we meet at Café Bar PILOT until the trip ends, between launches, valleys and regions inside the programme, flying permits within Georgia, live tracking where available, flight debriefs and track analysis, theory, and organisation and support on the ground.

8.8 What the price does NOT include: accommodation (included only in the Guiding + Stay format); meals; getting to the meeting point — you make your own way to the trip location; airport transfers in either direction; international flights; insurance; launch, landing and national-park fees; flying permits outside Georgia — within Georgia they are included in the trip price, in other countries they are quoted separately and depend on the country the trip runs in; tandem flights at the locations, which are paid separately at the location price list; personal flying equipment; visas; and optional activities such as quad bikes and rafting.

8.9 What we can arrange as a paid extra if you ask: accommodation (this is exactly what the Guiding + Stay format is; in Gudauri the accommodation is our own), transfers — from the airport, back, and to the meeting point, meals, and flying permits in those countries where they are not included in the trip. The price depends on the country, the season and the size of the group — we quote it manually for your request. If there are several of you, the cost of a vehicle is split between you.

8.10 We may correct an obvious pricing error before you pay. If the error is found after you have paid a deposit, you choose: accept the corrected price, or cancel and take back everything you have paid us.

9. If you cancel

9.1 Cancellation must be in writing, to skyatlantidabooking@gmail.com or to our WhatsApp number, and takes effect on the day we receive it.

9.2 The whole rule fits in one line:

No escalating percentages and no invoices for "actual costs incurred". If you do not come, you lose the deposit and that is the end of it — the remaining 70% is simply never paid, because it is paid on site.

9.3 Instead of losing the deposit, you may ask to transfer it once to another trip or another date within 12 months, subject to availability and to any difference in price. A transfer is at our discretion, and the closer to the start you ask, the less likely it is.

9.4 More than 14 days before the start you may send a substitute pilot of a suitable level. We qualify them exactly as we qualified you, and the deposit passes to them.

9.5 If you arrive late, leave early, miss flying days for reasons personal to you, or are removed under section 7 or section 13, the deposit and any balance already paid are not refunded.

10. If we change or cancel

10.1 The published itinerary is a statement of intent, not a contractual promise. Weather-driven trips change: launch sites, valleys, regions, the plan for the day, and on some trips even the country. Making that change well is the service you are buying, not a failure of it.

10.2 Changes we may make without compensation: launch sites and flying areas; the daily programme and the order of days; vehicles and the method of getting up the hill; and the guide, replaced by another guide of comparable experience.

10.3 If we cancel the entire Trip — for any reason, including a group that did not reach the four-pilot minimum and including force majeure under section 18 — we refund everything you have paid us, deducting only the bank charge on the outgoing transfer.

Where the group did not form, we tell you as early as we reasonably can and offer the alternatives first: join a group that did form on similar dates, run your own dates privately by covering the four-pilot minimum, or transfer the deposit to another trip. You choose — and the refund remains your right in every case.

10.4 Our liability for a change or a cancellation is limited to the sums you have paid to us for that Trip. We do not reimburse flights, accommodation you booked yourself, visas, equipment, time booked off work or any other consequential loss — see section 15. That is exactly why clause 9.6 says: do not buy tickets or book rooms until the group is confirmed.

11. Weather and distance — what we do guarantee, and what nobody can

11.1 What we guarantee — and it is what the price buys:

• forecast analysis every day and a site chosen for the weather that is actually happening, not yesterday's;
• a task set for the group's level and for the day, with a shorter and an extended option;
• a briefing before launch and a debrief of your track afterwards;
• guiding in the air and on the ground, radio, and retrieve;
• theory and work on your specific mistakes, rather than "we flew, see you next year";
• flexibility: if it is not flyable here, we move to where it is, as far as the format of the Trip allows.

11.2 What nobody guarantees — not us, and not any other operator in the world:

• that a particular day will be flyable;
• how many days of the Trip will turn out to be flyable;
• that a particular launch will be flown;
• that you will achieve a particular distance.

11.4 A day on which nobody flies because of the weather is a normal part of a weather-driven trip. It does not generate a refund and it does not extend the Trip. Flying in any conditions just to tick a box on an itinerary would be dangerous, not good value.

11.5 Distances, records and tracks we publish describe what has already been done, by us and by our pilots. They are not a forecast of your result and they are not a term of this contract.

11.6 The decision that conditions are unsuitable for the group to be guided is the guide's, and it is final. Your own decision not to fly on a day the group flies is always yours — and nobody will think less of you for it.

12. Acknowledgement and assumption of risk

12.1 You acknowledge that paragliding, and cross-country paragliding in particular, is dangerous. It carries an inherent and irreducible risk of serious personal injury, permanent disability and death — to you and to others, in the air and on the ground. No equipment, no certification, no guide, no forecast and no procedure removes that risk.

12.2 You acknowledge the following risks specifically, and accept that this list is illustrative and not exhaustive:

• wing behaviour including collapse, stall, spin, spiral dive, cravat, riser twist and line-over;
• turbulence, rotor, violent thermals, gust fronts, wind shear, lee-side conditions and rapid weather change;
• failure, incorrect installation, or non-deployment of a reserve parachute;
• collision with terrain, obstacles, power lines, cables, trees, water, livestock, vehicles, buildings or other aircraft;
• mid-air collision, including in a gaggle with other participants;
• ground-handling and launch injuries, and injuries during landing or on rough terrain;
• landing out in remote, hostile or inaccessible terrain;
• hypoxia, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, dehydration and the effects of altitude;
• delayed, difficult or impossible rescue;
• the acts, omissions, errors and misjudgements of other pilots, including other participants on the Trip;
• equipment failure of any kind;
• airspace infringement and its legal and financial consequences;
• road, vehicle, launch-site and landing-field conditions;
• animals, insects, food, water and illness;
• the limited standard, availability, speed and cost of medical care, mountain rescue and evacuation at the destination.

12.3 You take part voluntarily, with knowledge of these risks, and you freely and expressly assume them — including risks arising from ordinary negligence in the provision of guiding, coaching, information, forecasting, task-setting, site selection or logistics.

12.4 You accept that whether to fly at all, and whether to fly in any given condition, is your own decision under clause 3.2, and that you retain full responsibility for the consequences of that decision.

13. Conduct, guide authority and removal

13.1 The guide is responsible for organising the group and for safety on the ground, and has full authority over the running of the Trip. You will follow reasonable instructions relating to safety, timing, transport, airspace, local law and site-access agreements.

13.2 We may exclude you from a flight, from a day, or from the entire Trip — without refund, and with your onward travel, accommodation and repatriation at your own cost — if in our reasonable opinion you:

• fly beyond your declared or actual ability;
• disregard safety briefings, airspace rules, local law or landowner agreements;
• fly or participate while impaired under clause 7.3;
• behave dangerously towards others in the air or on the ground;
• are abusive, threatening, discriminatory or harassing towards participants, guides, suppliers or local people;
• damage property; or
• make the Trip materially unpleasant or unsafe for other participants.

13.3 You are responsible for any damage, fine, penalty, landing or access fee, airspace-infringement charge, rescue cost or third-party claim that you cause, and you will indemnify us against any claim, cost or loss arising from it.

13.4 Access to launches and landing fields usually depends on long-standing relationships with landowners, clubs and local communities. Conduct that puts that access at risk is grounds for removal under clause 13.2.

14. Retrieve, rescue and emergency costs

14.1 Retrieve is included as described for the Trip: by road, within the normal operating area and during normal operating hours. It is a logistical convenience. It is not an emergency or rescue service.

14.2 Any cost of search, mountain rescue, helicopter, ambulance, hospital treatment, medical evacuation, repatriation or extended recovery is yours — this is precisely what the insurance required under section 6 is for. Where we advance such costs so that you receive help quickly, you will reimburse us on demand.

14.3 If you land out beyond the operating area, in another country, in restricted or inaccessible terrain, or outside operating hours, recovery of you and your equipment may be delayed, chargeable, or entirely your own responsibility.

14.4 You will carry a charged mobile phone and, where the Trip requires one, a tracker or satellite messenger, and you will keep it switched on and reachable while flying.

15. Limitation of liability

15.2 Subject to clause 15.1, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

• (a) we are not liable for loss, injury, damage or death arising from the inherent risks of paragliding that you assume under section 12, or from your own act, omission or decision, including your decision to fly under clause 3.2;
• (b) we are not liable for the acts or omissions of other participants;
• (c) we are not liable for the acts or omissions of independent suppliers under section 16, except to the extent of our own failure to select or coordinate them with reasonable care;
• (d) we are not liable for weather, airspace closures, border or visa refusals, strikes, transport disruption, or the other force-majeure events in section 18;
• (e) we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss of any kind, including international flights, accommodation, equipment, loss of enjoyment, loss of earnings, or the cost of substitute arrangements;
• (f) we are not liable for your property, including flying equipment, whether or not it is being carried in our vehicles.

15.3 Subject to clause 15.1, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with a Trip — in contract, in tort including negligence, or otherwise — is limited to the total amount you have paid to us for that Trip.

15.4 Any claim must be notified to us in writing within 30 days of the end of the Trip.

16. Independent suppliers

You arrange your own accommodation, meals and travel to the destination, so your contract for those is directly with the hotel, the restaurant or the carrier you booked. We can tell you where pilots usually stay — that is a suggestion, not a warranty of quality.

Where you ask us to arrange something as a paid extra — accommodation, transfers, meals, permits — we act as coordinator and select suppliers with reasonable care, but we do not become their principal and we are not responsible for the standard of their service.

Cable cars, retrieve drivers, local guides, launch operators, airlines and medical providers are independent businesses. They operate on their own terms and, where applicable, subject to international conventions that limit their liability.

17. Optional activities

Quad bikes, buggies, snowmobiles, rafting, horse riding, guided tours and similar activities are optional paid extras. They are priced separately, supplied by third parties, and form no part of the flying service or the trip price. Participation is entirely at your own risk and on the supplier's terms.

18. Force majeure

We are not liable for failure or delay in performing our obligations where it is caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including: weather, storms, snow, flood, fire, drought, earthquake, landslide, avalanche and other natural events; epidemic, pandemic and related restrictions; war, threat of war, civil unrest, terrorism and the threat of terrorism; border closures, visa refusals, sanctions, airspace closures and other acts of government; strikes and industrial action; failure of transport, power or communications networks; and the closure of, or loss of access to, launch or landing sites.

19. Photography, video and media

19.1 We film and photograph on Trips for debriefing, safety analysis and marketing.

19.2 By taking part you agree that we may use images and footage in which you appear, without payment, in our marketing and on our websites and social media. You may withdraw this consent by writing to us; we will stop future use and remove material under our control where that is reasonably possible.

19.3 Media captured for you personally is provided as a courtesy where conditions and equipment allow. It is not a guaranteed deliverable of the Trip.

20. Personal data

We process the data you give us — identity and contact details, emergency contact, flying qualifications and experience, insurance details and any medical information you disclose — in order to administer your booking, to meet our safety and legal obligations, and to respond to an emergency. We share it only with the guides, suppliers, insurers, and medical and rescue services who need it for those purposes. Our Privacy Policy applies to this processing.

21. Complaints

Tell the guide at the time, on site, so that the problem can be fixed while the Trip is still running — most things can be. If it is not resolved there, write to skyatlantidabooking@gmail.com within 30 days of the end of the Trip, quoting your booking details. We will reply within 14 days.

22. General

22.1 If any provision of these terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or severed if that is not possible, and the remaining provisions continue in full force.

22.2 A failure or delay in enforcing a term is not a waiver of that term or of any other.

22.3 These terms, the booking confirmation and the published trip description are the entire agreement between us and replace any earlier discussion or representation. Nothing in this clause excludes liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.

22.4 We may update these terms. The version that applies to your booking is the one in force on the date your deposit is received.

22.5 A person who is not a party to this contract has no right to enforce any of its terms.

23. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or with a Trip — whether contractual or non-contractual — are governed by the law of Georgia. The courts of Georgia, sitting in Tbilisi, have exclusive jurisdiction, except that we may bring proceedings in the country of your residence where the law requires it.

Where mandatory consumer-protection rules of your country of residence give you rights that cannot be excluded by agreement, this clause does not remove those rights.