Top Gun Flight School

At iParaglide Top Gun Flight School, we take pride in having taught over 1900 paragliding students in our 26 years of operation.

We are the the longest running school based in Metro Vancouver. Due to our central location, we are the only school that flies all of the relevant kiting parks, training hills and mountains within a 3 hour radius of Vancouver.  This empowers pilots to get to know the key training and flying spots early, optimizes and accelerates learning, and allows them to grow into great future pilots.  

We have the reputation of being an industry leader with an emphasis on engineered safety systems, quality instruction, the finest equipment and a positive learning environment for fun and empowering flying.

We offer the highest level of accreditation, with Senior HPAC and Advanced USHPA paragliding instructors, who coach from first flight to expert paraglider pilots and teach and qualify new paragliding instructors.

Top Gun References

We recently graduated a CF-18 Hornet Pilot from our Top Gun iP2 Novice Paragliding Pilot program.  Read about his impressions of iParaglide.

Social Links

iParaglide Location

Located at 962 - 51st Street Tsawwassen, near Vancouver, BC, Canada, for all your paragliding needs. We are ideally situated just minutes away from the finest training hill at Diefenbaker Park.

iParaglide Flying Sites

We are central to paragliding sites in the Vancouver, Chilliwack, Pemberton, Whistler, Bellingham and Seattle area so students enjoy maximum variety and we can work with weather to optimize selection of the best location each day.

Right Stuff Equipment

We regularly test fly the latest paragliding gear and select only the very finest for our iParaglide Right Stuff Paragliding Equipment Store. This ensures our paraglider pilots enjoy a state of the art performance and safety advantage to accelerate their learning curve.

Paragliding Webcams/Wind Stations

Vancouver Paragliding Webcams - get a view of cloud base to plan your paragliding cross country flight adventure.

Woodside Mtn Webcam

Woodside Wind Station

Bridal Webcam

Bridal Wind Station

Chilliwack Webcam

Hope Webcam 

Pemberton Webcam

Tsawwassen Webcam

Bellingham Bay Webcam

Tiger Mtn Webcam 

Sunday
Feb072016

VIMFF Art of Flight Night Feb.18 @ Rio Theatre 

The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) runs Feb12-20 this year, with some great nights covering the spirit of flying.

Of special note is the Art of Flight Night Feb 18 @ 1930 @ The Rio Theater opens with Guest Speaker Gavin McClurg  whose past adventures include 2 circumnavigations of the earth sailing; 8th place in paragliding's Red Bull X-Alps; and some epic cross country flights paragliding.

Films for the evening include:

  • The Mont Rebie Project attempts to break the world rope jump freefall record.

 

  • In The Rocky Mountain Traverse, Will Gadd and Gavin McGlurg push the limits of paragliding cross country, in an epic 250 km traverse attempt of the Canadian Rockies. 

Looking forward to a night of sharing with like minded adventurers at VIMFF!

Wednesday
May132015

Taking Flight with the iP2 Course

Scott running out a clean forward launch in perfect conditions, underneath his crisp new ICARO Instinct TE paraglider!

It feels so good to fly!

The last couple weekends have gifted us with exceptional weather and it finally came time to launch our brand new paragliding wings off Mt. Woodside!

My first paragliding mountain flights felt almost too good to be true. I'm sure the rest of the group must have felt the same. I felt more than ready when it was go time. After the theory classes, a solid training hill experience at Diefenbaker Park and kiting the paragliders at Vanier Park the day prior, we had definitely acquired the skills to go for it.

Dion and our instructors, Russ and Degas, have it dialed in! Every aspect of what they have taught us and put us through, has been really solid. From launch to landing, confidence was high knowing the amount of experience and structure that is behind every decision made prior, and every word we hear on the radios during flight.

So stoked for the good times to come!

 

Monday
Mar302015

Discovery Theory Night April 1@17:45

 

We are hosting a fascinating evening of Paragliding Discovery Theory for new student pilots on Wednesday night April 1, 2015, at 17:45, at iParaglide: conveniently situated in downtown Vancouver.

For prospective pilots to get the big picture of all paragliding has to offer, we will be kicking the evening off with a special presentation of The Sky is Your Playground, with striking images and epic videos from around the world. We will take you on a guided tour of paragliding from your first steps leaving the ground, to ever greater adventures in the sky: soaring, thermalling, festivals and acrobatics.

Designed so that all can come down directly from work and not have to worry about dinner, we will take a brief break for pilots to socialize and have some pizza.

The Discovery Solo Theory course is the foundation theory class that forms the backbone of the majority of the courses we offer, including Discovery Solo, iP1 and iP2 programs. 

We will quickly build on key concepts that are essential for pilots to understand and be able to apply:

 

  • basic aerodynamics and principles of flight;
  • how to choose safe wind and weather for paragliding;
  • how to set up on launch;
  • how to launch;
  • how to fly your paraglider with smooth coordinated turns;
  • and how to set up a nice soft landing.

 

Course cost is $67 for those taking it individually. It is also included in Discovery Solo, iP1, iP2 programs. Please bring cash only, with exact change, if your have not paid in advance.  

Please click here to RSVP your spot, if you have not already reserved by separate email. We will send you an email confirming your spot.

We are at 1003-1238 Seymour Street, Vancouver.  When you arrive, please use the buzzer to the left of the door and buzz "0122", so we can buzz you in.  Any problems please call our cell at "604-603-REMOVE THIS4459". When you enter the front entrance, please walk straight ahead (east) in the lobby and then left (north) when you come to a wall.  Head north down the short hall to The Space Lounge, which will be a blue door on your right (east).

Looking forward to helping pilots learn and understand the fundamentals of paragliding!

Saturday
Mar282015

Flight Club Season Opener Launches the 2015 Season

Spirits were soaring Friday night Mar.27, launching the new 2015 paragliding season at Flight Club!

We had our legendary winging ceremony for 2014 season paraglider pilots that achieved their iP2 wings. 

Local iP2 pilot graduates included:  Dan Ashby, Mike McCabe, Toby Stier & Jay Wildeman.  

International visitors from abroad that achieved iP2 pilot certification via our Top Gun total immersion programs were: Scott Morris (Orlando, Florida), Matt Reid (Hong Kong) Malcolm Wood (Hong Kong).

Special awards for most noteworthy performances were:

Most Improved 2014 iP2 pilot: Dan Ashby. By the end of the 2014 season, Dan's confidence and skills had really improved, executing the most committed, impressive and massive full frontals during our SIV Seminar at Pitt Lake.    

Top Gun 2014 iP2 pilot. Toby Stier gets our Top Gun pilot award, with precise sequenced launches, smooth coordinated turns, and accurate landings.  As the season progressed, he commenced having multi hour soaring and thermalling sessions, including an epic 8 hour flight in Pemberton!

Best Photo Paragliding 2014 went to Degas Levesque for his shot, First Flight Smile, of Dan Ashby.

 

Best Video Paragliding 2014 went to Bill Hughes for camera work, and Toby Stier for editing, on the Paragliding SIV Pitt Lake 2014 video. Hours of great footage, we hope to release excerpts shortly.

A close second for BEST Video Paragliding 2014 was for Malcolm Wood's:  Paragliding the Bridal.

 

A thanks went to all the pilots from the 2014 season for great attitude and focus. All worked as a team helping each other set up; spent hours at the training hill and Vanier Park kiting; and displayed good judgement while mountain paragliding, following precise flight plans. They truly earned their wings, and the countless flight smiles made it a pleasure to coach.  

A special thanks went to Degas Levesque, who has continued to grow as one of our Instructors.  In 2014, his boundless passion for the sport radiated through in positive energy while guiding student pilots.  He always ensured pilots were learning the full spectrum of skills, going beyond the requirements of the USHPA and HPAC systems. 

The night proceeded with veterans sharing stories of epic flights, including Degas' recent trip to New Zealand and a planned "top secret" reconnaissance mission of the Terrace area with an upcoming helicopter & paraglide to some previously un-flown summits.

There were many 2015 student pilots bubbling with questions and keen anticipation of upcoming first training hill and mountain flights.

We had a great night sharing a few beer while discussing the upcoming paragliding season, especially with new 2015 prospective pilots, whose budding interest promises to bring a season filled with great new adventures, exploring the sky and plenty of "aha" moments.

Looking forward to a stellar season of paragliding!

Monday
Mar162015

HPAC Instructor Certification Seminar: April 25, 26 & (April 27 or May 2)

iParaglide is hosting an HPAC Paragliding Instructor Certification (and re-certification) Seminar on the weekends of April 25, 26  and (April 27 or May 2, 2015). 

Designed to be a hands on seminar, participants will be working with real students in the classroom, at the training hill and at the mountain.

Full details of our HPAC Instructor Certification Seminar are here.

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