Many of our students start the paragliding course to perform this sport as a hobby. However, we also receive many questions from people who want to learn to fly paragliding to start a business. Many want to become tandem or two-seater pilots, that is pilots who carry paragliding passengers, as in Miraflores.
Although our courses are to learn to fly in a sporting manner, these are the initial requirement to be able to fly alone and gain experience, and then be able to take professional courses. Becoming an autonomous sports pilot takes about 30 days, however becoming a professional pilot who carries passengers can take between 2 to 3 years. So while being a two-seater pilot is not impossible, it takes a good time.
First step to be a professional paraglider pilot: Take the initial courses
If you want to be a professional pilot, you first have to learn to fly. To do this, you have to take our 3 courses: Basic course appi 1, intermediate course appi 2 and the advanced course appi 3. After these 3 courses, you are certified as an autonomous pilot. That is, you can fly completely alone, without the guidance or supervision of an instructor. Taking these 3 courses takes approximately 30 days and you can do them consecutively.
After being certified as an independent pilot, you must complete 50 flight hours. With these hours, you can obtain the pilot license granted by the APVL (Peruvian Association of Free Flight). Usually completing 50 hours of flight takes between 6 months to 1 year.
Basic Tandem Course
Once you are certified as a pilot by the APVL, you can start the Basic Tandem Course. In this course, in addition to the theory, you will perform between 15 to 20 two-seater flights with an instructor in different flight zones. It usually takes about 5 days. This course certifies you as a Basic Tandem Pilot, which allows you to fly with passengers, but only if these are other paragliding pilots. That is, you cannot take the general public as a passenger. For this, you need to be certified as an Advanced Two-Seater Pilot.
Advanced tandem pilot to fly with paragliding passengers
In order to carry paragliding passengers and charge for the ride, it is necessary to have the Advanced Two-Seater Pilot licenses. The requirements to get this license are: Have a year and a half flying and have made 50 flights. We always recommend applicants to this license is to make many more flights required by the regulation. This is because 50 flights are too few for the tremendous responsibility of carrying a passenger. We also recommend taking advanced courses such as the Cross Country course and the Advanced SIV safety course.
