I-FLY Powered Paragliding Academy

02/07/2025

Time flies! That’s another reason to be a pilot!
I have been educating myself and gathering the safest and best information for 30 years now. Meeting and learning from a large number of highly experienced instructors, that exhibit exemplary safety habits, and teaching skills.
It’s now 10 years since I became a certified instructor for powered paragliders. It was a goal that I did not take lightly and I did not take the short road as some have been afforded.
I did everything by the book, I traveled all over the country. I checked all the boxes. I earned it and it’s something that I’m very proud of.
I don’t think I could be proud of myself if I didn’t impart the safest and what many feel would be the best advice to offer PPG pilots.
Is your goal to fly safely, minimize risk, put odds in your favor, and actually make this a very safe endeavor?
I have great news for you, it can be done!

Here is solid advice/wisdom designed to keep you alive ;

Fly in benign conditions only.

0 to 5 miles an hour is ideal for powered paragliding.
Can you fly in higher winds? Yes.
Can it be done as safely as flying in 0 to 5, no.

Higher winds at ground level equals mechanical turbulence and rotor from vertical obstructions, trees, buildings.
These forces are all working against you when you’re taking off and landing.
The stronger the winds, the stronger the turbulence and the farther the turbulence will travel from its source.

This situation can and does collapse paragliders at low altitude. 
And many times at low altitudes, the paraglider cannot properly recover from the collapse.

We are the lightest of the light.
We especially, do not want any issues down low.
How do you avoid the problem?

Fly in benign conditions only.
0-5 mph
0-8 km

Many times you will find the first couple hours of daylight and the last are the best times for you to fly in calm or still air.

Check all your wind speed sources before you fly and make sure they agree. Never rely on one source.

If you follow this advice, you will minimize very real risk of injury and increase safety exponentially.

12/06/2024

It’s been a little while since my last post, but we are back to provide quality content and information on the sport of powered paragliding. As a certified instructor for last 10 years and student of this sport for 30 years,
I promise to give you only the safest and best information possible on PPG.

I’ve been caring for my elderly father with advanced Alzheimer’s and dementia. As a result, essentially I’ve become a full-time nurse and needed to move 1200 miles away to do so.
During this time, my website was on hiatus, and the bill for the domain name apparently did not get renewed because of a change in credit card info on file. This situation got by me. We didn’t sell products on the site, just provided information.
A little bit of backstory, there are a lot of wonderful people in this sport, but like anything else in life, there’s an underbelly of not so good people.
Especially in business, things can be very competitive. Some misguided people take it to the next level and go out of their way to make life difficult for others by creating drama and issues within the industry. Sadly, some others are outright thieves waiting for to steal your hard earned money.

You must do your own due diligence and scrutinize every decision you make, especially for training.
All training, gear purchases and every person you deal with, treat as if your life hangs, or the very least your money hangs in the balance, because it does.

So what does this have to do with the lost website domain? A company and people related to it, have certainly gone out of their way, with a history to harass and meddle in our business dealings.
Why?-because our quality information directly contradicts many of their practices and/or products.

While caring for my father and our website domain not getting renewed, almost instantly, this other company had my domain.
So, therefore any links we had out there would take you to them.
Some may say, hey, that’s business!
I personally never engaged the principle of taking advantage of people in the name of “business”. All of our business ventures were successful, so there is that.
Some others may say you dropped the ball by not making sure that was paid even though the credit card information had expired, despite my head clearly focused elsewhere.
And guess what? They would be right.

There is no denying that it was a cold and calculated move on their behalf, however it rests on me to make sure that it was renewed, and not able to be stalked and taken.

I can’t help but return to the point that the overwhelming majority in this sport are smart, multitalented, and genuinely wonderful people!

Much positivity to follow!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Pilot: Paul Czarnecki
Photo credit: Eric Schlueter

02/24/2023

Game sold out? No worries! Remember FAA FAR 103 regarding ultralight operations, you can't fly over the people, but you can fly alongside them. Know the rules so you can use them effectively.

08/28/2022

Umm,...no bueno! Drowning is the 2nd leading cause of death in PPG. It's not worth your life.

Kookslams shared a post on Instagram: "“This one’s for the troops.” via ". Follow their account to see 1226 posts.

06/12/2022

It's as safe as you make it! I know you have heard that one before, lol. However these words ring true in PPG, and aviation in general, more than other many other endeavors you could choose because a mistakes can be extremely unforgiving. With the quality of factual information as it applies to Powered Paragliding, getting diluted through internet opinion, it is paramount you seek qualified, competent, and conservative instruction. I and thousands of others have sought out certified instruction with the USPPa. I believe when someone, like a flight instructor for example, goes the extra distance to achieve ratings and certifications not required by law, but only required by one's personal standards, I applaud them. It's so much easier to bypass a program when you have the option to do so. The system is designed for you to succeed. Fly above the crowd! Happy Landings! www.usppa.org

05/09/2022

Take time for yourself and relax.

12/04/2020

As far as learning PPG through chats and video's, sure, there is good advice out there. Unfortunately, there’s no good way to tell the difference between helpful and harmful until you are competent enough to tell the difference.

There is an abundance of terrible advice and poor examples available. Here is just a few.
Advancing paraglider sizes prematurely, flying overloaded gliders, low acro, ground starting, no reserve parachutes, and a big one, self-training.

You need someone dedicated solely to looking out for your interests and safety. If you want an instructor who has made a tangible investment in providing quality training, in the U.S., there is only one real source.

No other program offers a true syllabus, textbook, ratings program, and the ability to obtain liability insurance if required at your fly site.

Become a certified pilot in a sport where you are not legally required to do so. You will earn the respect of airport managers, land owners, and FAA licensed pilots who fear your presence in their airspace because of your assumed lack of aviation knowledge.
Sadly, these people have legitimate concerns because you are not legally required to ANY aviation knowledge to fly ultralights, and they know it.

You will find certified instruction is available for the same or similar rate as non-certified. Don’t short change yourself when it comes to learning to fly,..anything.

Have fun, invest in yourself, be safe, live to be old!

An Experience Like No Other Get ready for the ride of your life. Paragliding is the simplest form of flight: no plane, no windows, just you floating on air. A paraglider is a foot-launched inflatable wing. It is easy to transport, easy to launch, and easy to land! The About PPG Brochure answers most...

09/26/2020

Trinca Airport - Green Township Closing 9/30/20. This is a public use grass strip airport and ultralight aviation has been established there for decades. Green Township attempts to stifle your use by locking the gates during hours of operation. You can easily go around them with a paramotor. A sign stating you need a permit and insurance to use the site is false, illegal, and simply a scare tactic to reduce use of the airport. The 1900' of runway has been falsely stated for years. It is well over 2300'. This misinformation is designed to keep the airport quiet. It works. Come fly your ass off while you can. Say goodbye to another lost airport.