Top Gun Omega > Aug 19-27

We are gearing up for one of our favourite weeks in the year: Top Gun Omega.  

In the Vancouver area, the last week of August (Aug 19-27) has one of the most reliable weather patterns based on historical climate normals.  We choose this window and new local and international pilots come from around the world to join us on a week long paragliding holiday.  They leave refreshed and empowered with the joy of free flight as competent iP2 paraglider pilots!

We start the week with theory and then take new paragliding pilots out to the very finest training hill at Diefenbaker Park.

Students learn to inflate the paraglider to get it flying overhead...  

Load and accelerate to take-off speed in the "superman" position...  

...and steer and fly the paraglider at low altitude to come back down for a soft, graceful landing.

Once new pilots have grasped the fundamentals for launching, flight control and landing,  we move on to additional kiting skills at Vanier Park. 

 

Then off to Mount Woodside for first high mountain paragliding flights. The Launch Instructor carefully selects ideal wind conditions for the student and guides them to achieve a beautiful launch. 

Pilots take to the sky and soar over a stunning view while executing some graceful turns and other manoeuvres in the sky, as orchestrated by thier flight command Instructors via radio... 

A Landing Field Instructor guides the new pilots in for a safe, gentle landing in the valley below.  

Pilots never forget their first high mountain flight and the smiles after landing are huge! 

We work an optimized progression during mountain flying, soaring onward and upward. Pilots learn how to engage and core thermals and dynamic lift, to stay up, or even climb higher into the deep blue sky.

This one-of-a-kind training progression results in plenty of "aha" moments that change the adventurers perspective of the sky and mountains forever.

With Top Gun total immersion, pilots learn in a positive, efficient and empowering environment that yields more flights per day and skills being built in a synergistic manner.  As a result, Top Gun graduates enjoy a performance and safety advantage that builds a solid foundation of piloting skills that take pilots to ever higher highs. 

 

Learn more about Top Gun here. We have a couple of spaces still available, if interested, please contact us here. 

We look forward to working with Top Gun Omega Pod from their first steps leaving the ground to fulfilling their greatest flying dreams as certified paraglider pilots.  A lifetime of adventure awaits!

Update on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 8:38 by Sven Dwars

2017 August – Top Gun Omega  - Testimonial Sven Dwars

As a participant of  August 2017’s Top Gun Omega Class I graduated together with fellow pilots Lina and Regi. It was an amazing experience and I’d love to share some of the highlights & photos of our adventures right here with you!

Learning how to fly has been on my wish list for several years. After building some experience in skydiving I discovered I wanted to stay up in the air and fly under a glider more than anything else. Drawn to iParaglide by the professional looking website and the Top Gun programme’s promise to teach me to fly in a super intense 9 day course, I decided to drop iParaglide an e-mail. I quickly got a response, and after having been in touch with iParaglide owner Dion extensively in the run-up to the Top Gun course, I felt more than ready to take on whatever was coming. Choosing my own glider before the start of the course added to the excitement and I couldn’t wait to start flying!

However, before my first actual take-off, the course kicked off with an intense theory drill on the ground by Dion – who, it turns out, lives and breathes paragliding. Covering basic flying theory and meteorology 101 was compulsory before we were allowed to launch the first time. We jumped right in and covered the essentials during our first day, all with the objective in mind to prepare us for practicing take-off and landing on the training hill scheduled for the next few days.

After theory on Day 1 we went kiting in Vanier Park, Vancouver, to practice getting our gliders up and obtain a good “feel” for our equipment. Also, it turned out to be a great opportunity to check out how awesome my new glider looked in the afternoon sun when inflated! :)

Dion has a gift of being extremely thorough in his theory explanation, without ever getting tedious. He manages to convey his immense enthusiasm and dedication to paragliding even when discussing technical matters. One thing I did find out this first day: Top Gun is INTENSE. So, if you do join – buckle up, bring Red Bull, and be mentally prepared. It’s awesome.

Dion explained us that statistically the weather on the chosen dates for Top Gun Omega in August are the best in Vancouver area for novices to learn to paraglide. Indeed, the weather gods were on our side: we got an entire week of blue skies & sunshine – except for 2 cloudy days, which were actually perfect for completing the theory part of the course.

After covering 2 days practice at the training hill, Dion deemed us ready to move to higher grounds and get our first serious airtime.

So it was decided: the next day we were heading to Mt. Woodside 1.5 hour east of Vancouver. We were all immensely excited to finally go flying off large mountains. 

Arriving at Mt. Woodside very early morning in order to get the most out of the day, we first went to check the flying site’s LZ – the Landing Zone. Dion made sure we verified every obstacle, turned over every stone, and closely inspected every single one of the nasty bramble bushes in the field to guarantee we knew where we needed to land, and most importantly – which spots and bushes to avoid.

Then it was finally time to head up the mountain. The off-road logger’s path up Mt. Woodside in Dion’s 4x4 was already an adventure on its own.  

Arriving at the top of the mountain & taking in the unparalleled view from Mt. Woodside at early dawn was truly amazing. The prospect that we were about to fly off in a few moments, soon to be enjoying these views on a whole different level, while soaring over the mountain, was still somewhat beyond my grasp at that point. 

All students set up their gliders, and eventually it was my turn to take off. Adrenaline kicking in and racing through my body, performing the final 10-point check on my glider, I was ready to go and received the highly anticipated radio instructions from Dion:

3….2…..1…. Tension! ...Release and Stabilize...Check...Check...Load and Run!!! 

And off I went; I touched air. I was flying. The most amazing feeling as my glider lifted me up, Dion talking on the radio guiding my flight all the way down, slicing through the perfectly still glass-like morning air, in complete serenity, the trees underneath and all the while enjoying this terrific 360-degree panorama vista. The feeling was unreal, and I have not often felt closer to absolute Zen than during these moments of being airborne for the first time.

After landing my 10 minute inaugural Mt. Woodside flight safely, successfully avoiding the brambles, I just couldn’t stop smiling and thinking: I want to go again, I want to go again!

And go again we did. The objective of Top Gun is to complete at least 20 mountain flights. We did not only fly at Mt. Woodside, but later also headed to nearby Mt. Bridal, an even more impressive mountain that is best known among paragliders for its massive cliff-drop just after take-off, a feature that will test pilots’ vertigo-coping abilities, and make you feel like a pro once you have landed safely.

During these mountain flights the level of what was expected from students progressed: from simple fully step-by-step guided flights to 100% solo-flights, figure-8 landing approaches, utilizing the speed-bar, spiraling, pulling big ears, and – the best thing in paragliding – thermalling.

Having successfully completed the course, Regi, Lina and myself are now very proud (& almost) inaugurated pilots. I can’t wait to fly again, and the knowledge that I can continue paragliding for the rest of my life, in search of the most beautiful spots on the planet to fly, is greatly empowering.

Paragliding – literally – changed my outlook on how I see the world, which is something I am immensely grateful for. For me it’s about overcoming all fear, letting go, being truly in the moment, and being able to see everything from a distance, providing a clearer picture of things that matter.

Besides Top Gun being so awesome and Dion a great and passionate teacher, a very important aspect of paragliding is safety and risk. As I have learned and experienced in Top Gun, risk connected to paragliding is manageable – but feeling safe is essential, and comes from within. Flying and preparing my glider is procedure, but unless I feel 100% safe or comfortable, I should not take off. For me this is where Dion’s teaching really stands out: never during the course did I feel at risk or experience pressure of any kind.

After completing Top Gun I now feel confident to proceed and fly on my own – at sites compatible with my Novice rating – and that’s something amazing I wish every aspiring paraglider to attain when deciding to realize their flying ambitions.

I will post more pictures and stories from flying adventures soon. Stay tuned :)

Fly high, 

Sven Dwars
The Netherlands

2017 August – Top Gun Omega  - Testimonial Sven Dwars

As a participant of  August 2017’s Omega Top Gun Class I graduated together with fellow pilots Lina and Regi. It was an amazing experience and I’d love to share some of the highlights & photos of our adventures right here with you!

Learning how to fly has been on my wish list for several years. After building some experience in skydiving I discovered I wanted to stay up in the air and fly under a glider more than anything else. Drawn to iParaglide by the professional looking website and the Top Gun programme’s promise to teach me to fly in a super intense 9 day course, I decided to drop iParaglide an e-mail. I quickly got a response, and after having been in touch with iParaglide owner Dion extensively in the run-up to the Top Gun course I felt more than ready to take on whatever was coming. Choosing my own glider before the start of the course added to the excitement and I couldn’t wait to start flying!

However, before my first actual take-off, the course kicked off with an intense theory drill on the ground by Dion – who, it turns out, lives and breathes paragliding. Covering basic flying theory and meteorology 101 was compulsory before we were allowed to launch the first time. We jumped right in and covered the essentials during our first day, all with the objective in mind to prepare us for practicing take-off and landing on the training hill scheduled for the next few days.

After theory on day 1 we went kiting in Vanier Park, Vancouver to practice getting our gliders up and obtain a good “feel” for our equipment. Also, it turned out to be a great opportunity to check out how awesome my new glider looked in the afternoon sun when inflated! :)

Dion has a gift of being extremely thorough in his theory explanation, without ever getting tedious. He manages to convey his immense enthusiasm and dedication to paragliding even when discussing technical matters. One thing I did find out this first day: Top Gun is INTENSE. So, if you do join – buckle up, bring Red Bull, and be mentally prepared. It’s awesome.

Dion explained us that statistically the weather on the chosen dates for Top Gun Omega in August are the best in Vancouver area for novices to learn to paraglide. Indeed, the weather gods were on our side: we got an entire week of blue skies & sunshine – except for 2 cloudy days, which were actually perfect for completing the theory part of the course.

After covering 2 days practice at the training hill, Dion deemed us ready to move to higher grounds and get our first serious airtime. So it was decided: the next day we were heading to Mt. Woodside 1.5 hour east of Vancouver. We were all immensely excited to finally go flying for real.

Arriving at Mt. Woodside very early morning in order to get the most out of the day we first went to check the flying site’s LZ – the Landing Zone. Dion made sure we verified every obstacle, turned over every stone, and closely inspected every single one of the nasty bramble bushes in the field to guarantee we knew where we needed to land, and most importantly – which spots and bushes to avoid.

Then it was finally time to head up the mountain. The off-road logger’s path up Mt. Woodside in Dion’s 4x4 was already an adventure on its own, but arriving at the top of the mountain & taking in the unparalleled view from Mt. Woodside at early dawn was truly amazing. The prospect that we were about to fly out in a few moments, soon to be enjoying these views on a whole different level while soaring over the mountain was still somewhat beyond my grasp at that point.

 

All students set up their gliders, and eventually it was my turn to take off. Adrenaline kicking in and racing through my body, performing the final 10-point check on my glider, I was ready to go and received the highly anticipated radio instructions from Dion:

3….2…..1…. GO! Steady the glider, run, run, run!! Keep running!... Take off!!

And off I went; I touched air. I was flying. The most amazing feeling as my glider lifted me up, Dion talking on the radio guiding my flight all the way down, slicing through the perfectly still glass-like morning air, in complete serenity, the trees underneath and all the while enjoying this terrific 360-degree panorama vista. The feeling was unreal, and I have not often felt closer to absolute Zen than during these moments of being airborne for the first time.

After landing my 10 minute inaugural Mt. Woodside flight safely, successfully avoiding the brambles, I just couldn’t stop smiling and thinking: I want to go again, I want to go again..!

And go again we did. The objective of Top Gun is to complete at least 20 mountain flights. We did not only fly at Mt. Woodside, but later also headed to nearby Mt. Bridal, an even more impressive mountain that is best known among paragliders for its massive cliff-drop just after take-off, a feature that will test pilots’ vertigo-coping abilities, and make you feel like a pro once you have landed safely.

During these mountain flights the level of what was expected from students progressed: from simple fully step-by-step guided flights to 100% solo-flights, figure-8 landing approaches, utilizing the speed-bar, spiraling, pulling big ears, and – the best thing in paragliding – thermalling.

Having successfully completed the course, Regi, Lina and myself are now very proud (& almost) inaugurated pilots. I can’t wait to fly again, and the knowledge that I can continue paragliding for the rest of my life, in search of the most beautiful spots on the planet to fly, is greatly empowering. Paragliding – literally – changed my outlook on how I see the world, which is something I am immensely grateful for. For me it’s about overcoming all fear, letting go, being truly in the moment, and being able to see everything from a distance, providing a clearer picture of things that matter.

Besides Top Gun being so awesome and Dion a great and passionate teacher, a very important aspect of paragliding is safety and risk. As I have learned and experienced in Top Gun, risk connected to paragliding is manageable – but feeling safe is essential, and comes from within. Flying and preparing my glider is procedure, but unless I feel 100% safe or comfortable, I should not take off. For me this is where Dion’s teaching really stands out: never during the course did I feel at risk or experience pressure of any kind.

After completing Top Gun I now feel confident to proceed and fly on my own – at sites compatible with my Novice rating – and that’s something amazing I wish every aspiring paraglider to attain when deciding to realize their flying ambitions.

I will post more pictures and stories from flying adventures soon. Stay tuned :)

Fly high,

Sven Dwars

The Netherlands