Zakopane is not associated with aviation, but it is worth noting that through the initiative of a group of enthusiasts, among whom were well-known skiers and mountaineers such as Bronisław Czech, Kazimierz Schiele, Mieczysław Kowalski, and Mieczysław Lewandowski, a glider circle was established in Zakopane in 1932, and a year later a regional aero club was founded as a branch of the Kraków Aero Club. The association thus created took the name “Zakopane Aero Club.” The Association was intended to extend its activities over the area of the Nowy Targ district, the Tatras, Spiš, and Orava. Some data indicates that an aero club badge was even created — a stylized clasp of Podhale highlanders (parzenica) with a white-and-red checkerboard in the center. In October 1936, the first experimental glider flights took place in Zakopane, and the Zakopane Scout Glider Platoon, part of the Scout Squadron at the Kraków Aero Club, acquired three training gliders — two Salamandra types and one Wrona type. On Furmanowa and Gubałówka — after previously completing training at the glider fields in Bezmiechowa and Ustianowa — instructors Tadeusz Derengowski, Mieczysław Kowalski, and Kazimierz Schiele conducted flights. In the winter of 1935/1936, air shows took place in Zakopane with the participation of crews from the 2nd Air Regiment from Kraków. Before the start of the winter season in 1937, Bronisław Czech — also a gliding enthusiast — demonstrated his skills, and in late October and early November, the Scout Glider Platoon named after Major Pilot Ludwik Idzikowski organized its first glider flights there.
The flights were conducted on the slopes of Gubałówka, at Furmanowa (above the teachers’ sanatorium), from an altitude of 1,000 m above sea level. These flights demonstrated the considerable merits of this terrain for this aviation sport to such a degree that it was even planned to use the areas of Kasprowy Wierch and Czerwone Wierchy as launch sites — the gliders were to be transported there using the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch. At the beginning of 1938, there were plans to commence systematic training of young people; however, the Zakopane Aero Club faced considerable difficulties — including the lack of a hangar, the construction of which was planned only for the following year in the context of planned powered aircraft training. On May 28, 1939, a General Meeting of the members of the Zakopane Aero Club was held, at which a report on activities for the last term was presented — the Aero Club in Zakopane then had 470 members, while the Żwirko and Wigura Scout Squadron had 42 pilots, including 2 instructors.
A separate issue related to aviation in Zakopane was the landing of aircraft in connection with the great flood of 1934, when the “capital of Podhale” was cut off from the world and the only way to bring aid was by air. Aircraft carried supplies, presumably taking off from the airfield in Nowy Targ or Kraków, and landing at Lipki, an elongated hill situated in the foreground of the Giewont wall.
The war interrupted aviation activities in Zakopane, and it was not until 1958 that a balloon was to launch from the former glider field on Gubałówka for a flight over the Tatras. The launch site was, however, moved to the area near the Krokiew ski jump, and due to weather conditions, the balloon launch did not take place until October 29. The balloon, carrying a commemorative postal dispatch, landed in Bukowina Tatrzańska. Only later did hang glider flights begin on the slope of Nosal — in January 1976, the first hang gliding competition was held there with the participation of 25 pilots from 6 countries (Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, West Germany, Italy, Poland). This competition was of great significance, as for the first time Polish hang glider pilots encountered so-called second-generation hang gliders, whose performance fundamentally surpassed the capabilities of previously used equipment. Hang gliding became established in the “capital of the Tatras” — in April 1985, a hang gliding camp was held in Zakopane, and later paragliding as well — in 1992, the first paragliding competitions were held in Zakopane.
