A couple got their engagement off to a flying start just before Christmas.

Paragliding enthusiast Paul Reynard, 27, popped the question to his girlfriend Lisa Jones by trailing a 10ft banner behind him while floating 1,000ft up in the sky.

Paul's head is still in the clouds after Lisa, 23, accepted his proposal by parachute without a second thought.

Although Lisa was not actually there to see his flight of fancy, Paul and his friend, Dean Crosby, filmed the event so that he could play back the video to her later.

Lisa said: "I could see this big green banner and I said to him 'what's that? You've never used that before'. It took me a while and I kept on saying 'what does it say?' but he just said 'work it out'.

"When I saw what it was I was a bit shocked. I think I was just a bit giddy at that point."

Paul, an electrician, had been working away in Luton when he decided to propose to Lisa.

So he bought a ring for his intended and began thinking how he would go about popping the question.

After some thought Paul decided that he wanted to combine the event with the other great love of his life and resolved to perform an airborne proposal. He contacted Dean and the pair set about hatching a plot as to how exactly he would do it.

In the end they opted for tying a banner emblazoned with the words "Will you marry me?" to the back of his harness and video filming him flying past. Everything went according to plan save for the loss of a few letters from the banner. Now Paul wants to get Lisa interested the sport in the hope that the couple, who live in Oakbank Drive, Keighley, can get married in the air.

He said: "We have just bought a house so we are talking about marrying in the summer of 2005.

"I have got between now and then to get her into paragliding!"

Lisa, however, does not share quite as much enthusiasm for the idea just yet. She replied: "No chance!"