iparaglide.com

Welcome to what we believe to be the most liberating and fulfilling sport on the planet.

Paragliding is a natural evolution of recreational flying that sits somewhere between the modern skydiving canopy and the hang glider. A paraglider, is a ram-air wing that uses the wind and air pressure created by its flight to give it a rigid airfoil shape. Made of only fabric and lines, it folds down to be packed in a backpack, allowing one to the ultimate freedom to fly off any open alpine field and land in the valley below. It is ready to launch within minutes. Because of its relatively low airspeeds and agile turning ability, it is the ultimate soaring aircraft. It allows the pilot to harness tight and light lift that may be unfeasible for other aircraft. We may use thermals and ridge lift to climb and stay aloft for hours and fly many miles/kilometers; often out flying our close cousin the hang glider.

At iparaglide.com, we believe training students is about building relationships. The instructor/student relationship is one that is ever evolving and one that is always first and foremost a two-way-street. The student must trust his/her instructor, but at the same time, the instructor must be worthy of and have earned that trust. The instructor must possess superior first hand practical ability, technical/theoretical knowledge and most importantly, have outstanding teaching abilities. These are the three pillars on which we build our school.

Our instructors are all professionally certified by the United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA) and/or Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada (HPAC).

The Director of iparaglide has received specialized training and certification as a paraglider technician at a number of research and manufacturing facilities including ICARO, XIX and Airwave. We have the unique skills to inspect, repair and maintain gliders to factory specifications.

Our instructors are all performance class pilots. In our opinion, in order to be able to teach cutting edge techniques to students, one must first be a top-notch pilot who hones their skills through mentoring and competition. Our relatively young sport is in a constant state of flux - evolving rapidly and demanding that the pilot stay current with the very latest techniques and technologies. Competition is where the new technological advancements in paraglider design are first achieved and where pilots learn new techniques to deal with complex design revisions and push the flying envelope to new dimensions. This translates by the ripple effect to the mainstream end-user. Competition pilots can impart that knowledge to students directly, expediting the learning process and always keeping students one step ahead of the pack.

Our head instructors log hundreds of flying hours per season. We believe paragliding is not a business for the casual weekend warrior or hobbyist. We fly full-time and are available any good flying weather day, 365 days a year.

With complex physical phenomena such as aerodynamics and micrometeorology greatly influencing our judgements and ability to fly, we believe in only hiring competent professionals who have the technological background and education to understand and apply these concepts. The Director of iparaglide.com is a certified Professional Engineer.

We believe in safe flying. We promote and implement flying awareness and safety protocols to mitigate risk in a pro-active manner. Our instructors are all accident free in their flying careers.

It is common knowledge that a first class practical and theoretical expert does not necessarily make a good coach. Communication, interpersonal skills, team building, and visualization/demonstrational techniques are essential to relaying knowledge to students. Most of all, good coaching demands a lot of patience and a cool head. The Director of iparaglide.com spent many years as a coach at Flicka Gymnastics Club, a gym club that teaches the balance, discipline, and precision required of Olympic class athletes.

It is not enough to love flying, but one must first and foremost love to teach. We offer innovative approaches including multimedia presentations, flying simulators, and models to relay fundamental flight principles during class theory study sessions held at our convenient downtown Phoenix and Vancouver offices.

We have the skills to empower you with the joy of free-flight.

While teaching students how to fly, we adhere to the following principles in order to achieve the optimum learning environment:

Structure. Before we start anything, we will give you the "big picture" of our course structure so you can pre-visualize where we are and where we are going. We chart your progress of achieving critical milestone skills on a report card. We require successful completion of a written and flying exam before pilot certification.

The Right Stuff. We make no compromises when it comes to your equipment. We routinely test fly all our products and others to ensure our product range is always on the cutting edge of technology. When we include the use of our equipment for your training, you can be assured that it is the very finest, state-of-the-art equipment available on the market, and that it is carefully inspected and maintained.

Small Group Sizes. We don't believe in having a large group of "lemmings" on the hill. Group sizes are limited to a maximum of four students per instructor to ensure we can focus on your individual needs and carefully monitor your progression.

Theory always proceeds and is followed by Practical Application. We use state of the art techniques to explain micrometeorology and aerodynamics to you visually and in plain English. Then we take you out to the hill so you can experience first hand how that technical theory translates directly to your flying.

Ground Skills. Perhaps the most critical component of your pilot training and future development is the ability to practice and hone vital flying skills from a controlled safe environment while on the ground. You will not apply skills in the air until you have mentally and practically rehearsed and mastered them on the ground. This will include the use of simulators.

Progression. When we have achieved success on a particular skill, we will immediately have you repeat it. Repeating success consolidates the learning process. New skills will be introduced on each flight in a synergestic manner to ensure learning during airtime is optimized. Before each flight we will make a detailed flight plan to establish "mission" objectives, and at the end of the day you will be debriefed on your flights.

Varying Terrain and Conditions. We believe in having you fly at as many different types of sites and as many different weather conditions as possible during your course. It is critical that students learn to launch, fly and land using different approaches to develop an understanding of what works for particular situations.

Taking you Higher. We will ensure that you are competent at all the skills required by USHGA/HPAC before certifying you to that level. But then, our programs are designed to exceed these expectations. We will give you a sampling of higher level skills to give you a taste of what to look forward to.

Pilot Boot Camp. Paragliding is a lot of fun, but we save the giggles till after flying and sharing a beer. We give and expect respect and discipline from our students. We will issue and execute our daily training objectives in a timely, efficient manner. For the benefit of the group, pilots who are not on time will just have to wait for the next flight. You will leave our course with the skills, discipline and confidence to move onward to your unsupervised flying.

Value. Paragliding is not a sport of compromise. Prospective pilots should be wary of operations offering "crash courses" and/or equipment at a signifcant discount. A students ability to become a competant safe pilot, who also can soar and thermal to have extended flights, is directly influenced by the quality of instructing and the agility and performance of the equipment. For this reason, our policy is to select only the very best equipment for our students and provide the highest level of instruction available. We charge the right price to graduate superior, safer pilots.