Judy Leden

Judy Leden, MBE, born in 1959, is a British hang glider and paraglider pilot who has held three world champion titles, two in hang gliding and one in paragliding. She began flying while at university in Cardiff in 1979, started competing in 1982 and turned professional in 1988, becoming the only woman to earn a living as a hang glider and paraglider pilot. She won the Women's World Hang Gliding Championships in 1987 and 1991 and the Women's World Paragliding Championship in 1995. In 1989 she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel by hang glider, launched from a hot air balloon at 13,000 feet, and her work includes films, stunts, flying displays, teaching and writing.