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Once you have spent some time solo flying, you will come to a point when you are very comfortable with your launch, flying and landing skills and have a desire to move to the next level.

You will have acquired a minimum of 100 properly documented flights and 30 hours airtime. Note that iparaglide standards exceed those specified by the United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA, 90 flights, 20 hours) and the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada (HPAC, 80 flights, 10 hours).

You may have had some limited ridge soaring and thermaling experience. Your passion for the sport has only grown with time. Now you look for ways to improve your performance: to extend your flying envelope; to stay up longer and higher; to reach out for your first cross-country experiences.

You may also be looking to upgrade your beginner-class wing (DHV1) to a more responsive intermediate wing (DHV1-2 or DHV 2).

Now is a good time to return for some mentoring and coaching to accelerate you to the next level. It is also an important time to receive additional safety training that will become important as you venture out into unknown areas during your first cross-country flights.

The purpose of our Intermediate (P3) Rating and associated clinics is to empower the pilot with skills required to embark on extended thermal cross-country flights.

The joy of thermal and soaring flight cannot be adequately captured in words. That joy can only be felt by the few mortals who leave the earth hanging under a magical contraption of only fabric and lines and manage to harness the power of the pure elements of the wind and the sun to take them higher into the deep blue sky. Whether it is wind that is deflected upward by a ridge, rising warm thermal air, or suction created by clouds, the pilot who endeavors to and is successful in capturing these forces to propel them higher, will always feel hawk-like: a demigod that has overcome all earthly bounds. Then the magic moment comes, when one intuitively knows that they are high enough, and they fly over to the next mountain. And so the quest to fly onward, as far as the eye can see, begins.

3-Day Simulation of Flight Incidents (SFI) Clinic

It is our conviction that it is essential for pilots at this stage to undergo a Simulation of Flight Incidents (SFI) course (also sometimes termed advanced maneuvers training).

When pilots first begin extended soaring and thermaling during mid-day conditions, or leave the comfort of known terrain of their home flying site to venture to unknown bowls and ridges: they immediately expose themselves to the possibility of encountering sudden unexpected turbulence. Thus, it is essential for pilots to know how to prevent and/or correct for paraglider collapses and other non-standard flying configurations, prior to exposure to this risk.

We teach you recovery and prevention techniques for all possible unintentional, non-standard flight occurrences. We will emulate the entire series of DHV test maneuvers that are used to certify your glider. These will include the following categories:

· take-off;
· level flight;
· turn behavior;
· symmetric stall;
· symmetric tuck;
· symmetric tuck (accelerated);
· asymmetric tuck;
· asymmetric tuck (accelerated);
· counter steering an asymmetric tuck;
· full stall (symmetric exit);
· full stall (asymmetric exit);
· spin at trim speed;
· spin in stationary turn;
· spiral dive;
· b line stall;
· and landing.

In this manner, you will gain valuable insight in the DHV test process and see first-hand how your glider reacts at the limits of the flight envelope. You and your instructor will fill out a sample DHV test form during the clinic after each flight to establish your independent results to see how they measure up to the actual DHV report for your wing.

Your flight maneuvers will be professionally filmed by Big Vision Productions crew for your nightly review and critique from your coach.

Emphasis during the course will be on: deliberately inducing the particular non-standard flight configuration to understand how it may occur inadvertently; maintaining the configuration to be able to see and recognize when it has occurred; and then learning the most efficient techniques for rapid recovery to normal flight.

For your safety, all clinics will be conducted over a lake with a rescue boat on standby. We use a specialized tow rig and boat to tow you as high as three thousand feet above the lake (depending on conditions) where you will release and begin your routines while guided from the shore by your instructor.

Use of this specialized towing equipment allows us to not be dependant on wind direction and good cycles like other mountain launch based clinics. This means we can operate in any wind direction and strength up to 20 kmhr. The result is that you will get many more flights per day and also will learn more and enjoy while you wait for tow and watch each participant directly above you doing their maneuvers while hearing the instructors directions. Simply, a far more efficient and productive way of doing SFI.

Alternatively, we may also use helicopters to deliver you to high mountain sites overlooking lakes.

2-Day Cross Country Clinic

Our 2-day Cross Country Clinic will be comprised of the following components:

Classroom Intermediate Study including multimedia presentations: FAA and/or Transport Canada Air Regulations, Aerodynamics, Meteorology, and Thermal and Cross Country Flying Skills, and Aeronautical Chart Reading. (Study materials, Resources and Assistance to book your Transportation Canada HAGAR exam required for HPAC Intermediate Ratings).
Intermediate Ground-School training to polish launching and landing skills during thermal and moderate wind conditions.
Air-to-Air Radio Supervision and guidance during first Cross-Country Flights. Two flight minimum.
Study and Use of Intermediate-Level Equipment designed to assist you with your cross-country flying. All of our latest intermediate-class wings and instrumentation will be available for you to test fly free of charge.

2-Day Reserve Parachute Clinic

Having a reserve is only half the battle. Understanding the "throw- no throw" scenario is a complex set of decisions and requires a well-understood decision tree. The throw sequence itself requires a precise methodology that can be executed in extreme situations as an autonomous, systematic response. Having the skills to inspect, maintain and repack your reserve is essential to being a pilot, especially when traveling in a third world countries. Course components include:

Classroom theory including multi-media displays of reserve deployments gone well and deployment scenarios gone bad.
Multiple reserve deployments from a simulator.
Multiple reserve repacks in a group size not exceeding four pilots per instructor.

* Price includes boat tows or helicopter transportation for SFI clinic and transportation for Cross Country Clinic. Nine (9) SFI flight and two (2) Cross Country instructor supervised flight minimum. Students must have their own complete set of paragliding equipment. Reserve parachutes, back protection, helmet, hook knife, radio with spare battery, and boots with ankle support are mandatory. On course completion, requires student payment of intermediate (P3) rating fees and yearly insurance fees to USHGA/HPAC. Hagar Exam fees apply to HPAC Intermediates and are $35 payable to Transport Canada. Some landing sites require a $5/day fee payable to the landowner. Full payment of the course and time commitment to specific dates must be received prior to commencement of training, with no refunds for partial course completion. We reserve the right to discontinue training any student not following directions or conducting themselves in a manner that may endager themselves or others.

**Price includes all transportation, including boat tows or helicopter fare for SFI clinic. Minimum of nine (9) high SFI flights. Terms in * above apply.

*** Price includes theory regarding airspace, FAA/Transport Canada Regulations, how to thermal effectively. Transportation to launch and retrieving from Cross Country Flights. Two (2) air-to-air supervised cross country flight minimum. Terms in * above apply.

2-Day Reserve Parachute Clinic: $197 **** ...SIGN UP!

****Price includes: throw-no-throw theory, throw sequencing, multiple deployments from simulator, multiple repacks. Small group size to ensure pilots learn to pack on thier own. Terms in * above apply.