I am writing a review from a non-glider who brought my 15-year old daughter to Parafly to fly with Steve Wilson. She will be writing a review of her own, but, frankly, her experience with Steve in the air and watching the video taken during their flight, warrants two of reviews: one from me as a watcher (I was "wowed") and as a parent, and one from the student flyer: my daughter. .
My daughter is an adventurous soul who asked me to find a local place where she can begin to learn paraglide - a sport see seemed driven to learn. She was very serious about doing testing the waters (air?) in this area, so I began to look to find an experienced person who can begin to show her the ropes and take her on her first fly. Neither she nor I had met Steve Wilson until we met at the flying field at Tiger Mountain.
I found Parafly Paragliding run by Steve Wilson solely by searching online and reading reviews. We made an appointment with him and went.
The following is from a Dad's perspective:
Most importantly, my daughter was literally and figuratively blown away. She has done several very cool things recently, including some international travel on her own. When she and Steve landed after their flight, it was clear. She had a blast. In her own words, "This was one of the best things I've ever done. It was unbelievable! I am going to keep doing this!"
She spoke very highly of Steve Wilson, her instructor, and after seeing the video they took in the air, it's clear to me: Steve both knows completely what he's doing AND is an excellent instructor for early flier of any age. With me, Steven has been totally responsive and answered all questions that any parent would have. With her, he maximized my daughter's flight time (beyond others that were flying that day) and elevated it one the best experiences in her life. He certainly knows what is doing.
THAT is pretty impressive, and so much so, that my daughter is now totally driven to continue with Steve to take more lessons and to fully learn the sport so she can fly solo. Again. From my perspective, Steve Wilson at Parafly is the place and person to get that done.
A very cool side note: by pure coincidence, on the day my daughter went with Steve to the launch area on Tiger Mountain ( I stayed below), at the top, with them, happened to be one of the most famous people in the world and his family. Let's put it this way: few in the WORLD do NOT know who this family is and what they do and have done. They, too, were flying that day. So, as icing to a remarkable experience for my daughter, she got to hang out with one heck of a pretty impressive crowd. In fact, she and Steve launched right after one of the most famous people on the planet. All-in-all, it was one heck of a banner day, both from my perspective watching, and triply so from my daughter's perspective.
She intends fully to continue with this sport, and without reservation (and she totally concurs), if ANYONE is at all inclined to give this a try, either as a one-off experience or as a entry into an instructional path to solo flying - we were both hugely satisfied with Parafly and Steve Wilson.
From what I saw from the ground, from the video they took while flying and from my daughters reaction, I don't see how anyone could not be, pun intended, BLOWN AWAY.
~ a Dad with a cool daughter. read more