Bruce Goldsmith Design

Gleitschirme mit Persönlichkeit

Bruce Goldsmith Design Gründer

Es begann als kleines Unternehmen, das in einer Garage arbeitete, aber Bruce Goldsmith Design ist heute ein führender Hersteller von Qualitätsgleitschirmen und Ausrüstungen für das Gleitschirmfliegen. Inspiriert und angetrieben von Bruce, hat die Forschungs- und Entwicklungsabteilung ihren Sitz in Südfrankreich, wo immer die Sonne scheint. Der Vertrieb erfolgt in Österreich und die Produktion in Sri Lanka.

Die BGD-Familie ist stark und wir sind alle durch unsere Liebe zum Gleitschirmfliegen verbunden. Unsere Mission ist es, unseren Sport mit Freunden und Familie zu teilen. Wir lieben das Gefühl, mit der Luft verbunden zu sein, und unsere Produkte sind darauf ausgelegt. Wir produzieren sichere, unterhaltsame und frische Produkte, die immer mit der raffinierten Handhabung und den innovativen Eigenschaften geliefert werden, für die Bruce's Designs bekannt sind.

Bruce Goldsmith Design Gründer

Direktoren

Bruce

Entwicklung

bruce@flybgd.com
Bruce GOLDSMITH

BGD ist nach Bruce, MD und Leiter des Entwicklungsteams benannt. Fliegen ist in Bruce 'DNA. In den 1980er Jahren lernte er als Ingenieurstudent am Imperial College in London Drachenfliegen und schoss schnell an die Spitze des britischen Drachenfliegens, wo er 1991 die Superleague gewann. Ab 1986 war er ein Jahrzehnt lang Mitglied des britischen Drachenfliegerteams zweimal britischer Meister im Drachenfliegen. Ab 1989 war er auch im britischen Paragliding-Team, wurde dreimal britischer Paragliding-Champion und 2007 WPRS # 1-Pilot und Weltmeister.

Der in London geborene Bruce lebt heute mit seiner Frau Arna und drei Kindern in Südfrankreich. Als Gründungsmitglied von Airwave Paragliders und Ozone entwarf er zwei Jahre lang für Advance, bevor er 2012 die BGD gründete. Bruce ist Autor, Redner und Ausbilder. Er hat eine regelmäßige Kolumne im Cross Country Magazin und ist Präsident der APPI (Association of Paragliding Pilots and Ausbilder).

Bruce

Arna

Marketing

arna@flybgd.com
Arna GOLDSMITH

Arna war die erste Isländerin, die Hängegleiter flog, als sie im Alter von 17 Jahren mit dem Fallschirmspringen von ihrem Vater angelockt wurde. Er kaufte ihr einen Wills Wing Harrier und es war Liebe auf den ersten Blick! Arna nahm an mehreren Celtic Cups in Irland und Wales teil und traf sich mit den Stars der British League. Sie lernte Bruce jedoch erst kennen, als sie sich 1997 auf einem Parkplatz in Südfrankreich trafen.

Als Bruce 'Testpilot abstürzte und ihren neuen Wettkampfschirm Airwave Magic zerstörte, lieh er ihr den Gleitschirm, mit dem ihre Gleitschirmkarriere begann. Arna und Bruce heirateten 1997 und Arna flog viel und begleitete Bruce zu bis zu 14 Wettbewerben pro Jahr. Während sie sich ein paar Jahre lang auf die Familie konzentrierte, trat das Fliegen in den Hintergrund, aber jetzt sind die Kinder erwachsen und sie ist wieder am Himmel, wo sie hingehört, auf einem Magic.

Arna

Christoph

Finanzen

christoph@flybgd.com
Christoph Scheer

Christophs Flugkarriere wurde zum Teil von seiner damaligen Freundin im Jahr 2002 inspiriert. Er lernte das Paragliden in der Nähe seines Hauses in Wolfsberg, Österreich, und verliebte sich sofort in den Sport, indem er seinen Airwave-Paragleiter auf einigen großen Langstreckenflügen flog und brach damaligen 100 km Rekord mit großem Vorsprung. Anschließend trat er in der österreichischen A-Liga an. Der gelernte Ingenieur war beruflich an einigen großen Bauprojekten beteiligt, unter anderem am Bau von Brücken zwischen Österreich und Serbien für die PORR, eines der größten österreichischen Bauunternehmen.

Im Jahr 2012 lockte ihn ein anderes Leben, er verließ die Bauwelt und schloss sich mit Bruce und Arna zu einem aufregenden neuen Projekt zusammen - der Gründung von BGD. Christoph lebt noch immer mit seiner Frau Mila und seinem Sohn Maximillian in Wolfsberg, wo er vom österreichischen Büro und Vertriebszentrum aus den europäischen Vertrieb von BGD leitet.

Christoph

Tom

Entwicklung

tom@flybgd.com
Tom LOLIES

Tom started paragliding at the age of 14 in Saint Hilaire du Touvet. At 15 he bought a sewing machine and started designing his first kites and paragliders in his bedroom. His enthusiasm for paraglider aerodynamics and structures grew even more when he entered one of the top aerospace engineering schools in France, ISAE-Supaero in Toulouse. He started working for BGD in 2017, when he was entrusted with the development of a new simulation software that became operational in 2018.

The software is now an integral part of BGD’s R&D tools, and Tom and Bruce work closely together on the new designs. Alongside this work, Tom is pursuing academical work to better understand the physics of our flying machines. His PHD is the first to be dedicated to paragliding: “Fluid-structure interaction simulations of highly deformable sails.”

Tom

Besatzung

Killian Kopczynski

Killian Kopczynski

Product Designer

killian@flybgd.com

Killian is our in-house harness designer. He has been flying since the age of 15, encouraged by his father. He also has a younger brother who started flying at the age of 13 – you could say it's a family passion! He studied Industrial Engineering in Grenoble, specialising in materials strength and worked with the R&D team in the summer of 2022. He joined the R&D team full-time in 2023.

Lucas Bonin

R&D

lucas.bonin@flybgd.com

Lucas started paragliding when he was 15 years old. He is studying aerodynamics at ENAC, the Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (National Civil Aviation School) in Toulouse, to be an aerodynamic engineer or researcher. He's interested in all aircraft and how they fly, and works for BGD in research and development.

Lucas Bonin
Tyr Goldsmith

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 as well as working on graphic design for BGD.

Mila Scheer

Office Manager

Mila@flybgd.com

Mila lives in Wolfsberg, with her husband Christoph and son Maximillian, where she helps manage the Austrian office and distribution centre.

Mila Scheer
Maria Baumgartner

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.

Irena Koler
Nikola Dukleski

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. He lives with his wife and his two 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.

Kay Arianpour

Flügelmänner

Franck Largeault

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.

Medien

Anthony GREEN, Test Pilot/Social 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 math he has been with BGD since the start bringing all the wild colors to the products. Ant is currently our graphic and in-house film guy and lives and works out on the open sea.

Charlie King

Team pilot manager / Editor/ Graphics

Charlie@flybgd.com

Charlie’s first paragliding flight was back in 1994, a 21’st birthday gift that has kept on giving! She now flies a Base 2 Lite, 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.

Charlie King

Verkaufsagenten

Blaise Brogan

Blaise Brogan

Sales Team Leader

blaise@flybgd.com

A father, pilot, windsurfer, and tree surgeon, Blaise was born with adventure in his blood and started flying in 2009. He works for Miniplane Paramotors, Rise Paragliding, FlySpain and Freeflight Academy and now heads up BGD's sales team and looks after our UK sales.

David CHAUMET

Sales France

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.

David CHAUMET
Lucas Machado

Lucas Machado

Sales Brazil

Lucas@flybgd.com

Lucas is a medical doctor, and took up hang gliding in the early ‘80s. He flew Airwave hang gliders and paragliders – his first paraglider in 1993 was a Bruce design. He and Bruce have been friends since then, and Lucas has been with BGD from the start. He’s since thrown in the stethoscope to be BGD’s Brazilian importer. “Still working while others play”, he sighs!

Yan CHEN

Sales Southeast Asia

yan@flybgd.com

Yan discovered paragliding while in Nepal in 2012, a life-changing experience that led to her quitting her management consultancy career to pursue her love of free-flight. With a background in journalism and public communication, Yan is now a paragliding freelance writer and Chinese interpreter / translator, sometimes she’s even the Chinese commentator / host in flying events. Yan currently lives in Spain, and looks after BGD’s southeast Asia sales.

Yan CHEN
Mario Koller

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

benedikt@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.

Benedikt Bös
Timo Schumacher

Timo Schumacher

Sales Germany

timo@flybgd.com

Born in the German flatland Timo has craved to fly since he was a little boy. After starting paragliding at the age of 14 he began to push the limits of Cross-Country flying in his region, along the way he fell in love with BGD and joined the team at first as a team pilot. Now he is supporting the German sales from the flatlands.

Claudia Riquelme

Sales Latin America

Claudia@flybgd.com

Claudia started paragliding in 1994, and since the beginning of the millennium has worked as a professional journalist and translator specialized in paragliding and paramotor. With a deep knowledge of the sport and the Spanish-spoken scene, she oversees our sales in Spain and Latin America.

Claudia Riquelme
Alev Durgun

Alev Durgun

Sales Turkey

Alev@flybgd.com

Born in Turkey but living in Germany Alev first started paragliding in 2009. A anesthesiologist by profession she is now also working in a flight school in Germany to become an instructor and tandem pilot in order to share the joy of flight. Since June 2018 she became responsible for the BGD Sales Turkey.

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.

Raphael Laghi
Anna Darchenkova

Anna Darchenkova

International sales

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 but has put her artistic life aside for now and made paragliding her work. Anna is a professional tandem pilot, working and traveling all over the world. She is in charge of BGD international sales.

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!

Masta (Francesco Delpiano)
Navid Saleki

Navid Saleki

International Paramotor Sales

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.

Val Tanniger