Freedom Flight School

I spent a week in May and another in June getting my P2 and really enjoyed the experience out at Freedom Flight Park. Dave, Terry, Brad and Jason bring a wide variety of teaching styles and experience to the course, and are able to provide varied teaching styles to work with different people. The course progression from the bunny hill, to towing system and finally up to Coopers, seems to work well, and keep things entertaining without being overwhelming. There is a variety of different gear to train on and learn what works well for your style and abilities. If you decide to get your own gear, Dave is super helpful letting you know what is available, what will work well for you, and can then get it in quickly. I think he genuinely cares that you end up with gear that will work for you and would rather see you buy from a competitor than sell you something that isn’t ideal. I would recommend camping out at the flight park during training if possible. The pilots lounge has everything you need for cooking and relaxing. Spending the off time at the park allows a much more immersive experience, providing you the opportunity to get to know some of the local and visiting pilots. All in all, this was a great experience, akin to a summer camp for adults, and I look forward to getting back and flying with them again!

Had a great time getting my P2 paragliding course here this summer. Dave Terry and Jason were professional, calm and patient, and delivered great instruction. Always felt safe. The atmosphere at the flight park is super friendly, and everyone there (not just students and instructors) I found to be approachable and happy to talk about their experience. Best place to get airborne!

Did my P1 and P2 here last summer and I can't say enough good things about this place. The instructors are knowledgeable and laid back as well as super conscious about safety. This school is also super accommodating and let me learn and progress around my comfort level as well as my work schedule. When you come to this school, you're more than a student, you're family and that's that. Can't wait to come back!

I did my course in May with Dave, Terry, and Dingo, and couldn’t have asked for better instructors! They all are very thorough and relaxed, and very passionate about flying. Dave truly wants the best for his students, and doesn’t pressure them into buying equipment. He even helps with advice and an experienced opinion on used gear before buying if found elsewhere. The flight park’s chill pilot hangout zone is pretty awesome too for meeting people and sharing stories after a good day of flights. I’m always stoked to come visit on days off to see everyone and get some flights in

A friend and I learned to paraglide here recently (P1 + P2) and we have nothing but great things to say about Freedom Flight School and the instructors there! We booked 2 weeks of holiday and drove over from the west coast without knowing ANYTHING about paragliding or what we were getting into. We returned pilots, and hooked on flying! Our instructors were primarily Dave and Terry, and both were excellent. Instructions were always calm, clear, and precise, demonstrating both of their extensive knowledge and expertise. There was an emphasis on understanding the material, rather than just memorization for the purposes of passing the written tests. This is especially important since paragliding can lead to serious injury, and safety was a constant point of discussion. Their goal is to educate you for a long and safe flying career, rather than just pumping out students as fast as possible. Lessons were well structured and had excellent progressions to build upon skills, ensure you don't get overwhelmed, and have mastered concepts at one level before continuing to the next. We started with ground handling to learn about our paragliding equipment and how to perform a clean forwards launch. Next was the "training hill", which allowed for a few seconds of flight in relative safety, and further refinement of being able to feel the glider and understand how to control it. Then towing, proper flight(!), getting to heights of 600 feet above the large grass landing field. We were equipped with radios and the instructors maintained constant communications to guide us on judging approach and landings. Once that was mastered, we did our first mountain launches! These launches were the first of many in the following days, with additional skills being explained and then experienced under close 1-1 supervision over radio. As we gained experience, the instructors slowly reduced the amount of explicit guidance (unless necessary for safety), so we gained first-hand experience and got better at making our own judgement calls and landings. Nearing to the end, we also got a few lucky days with longer flights and our first experiences riding thermals up and above the mountain launch site! Before arriving, We were concerned about fully finishing both the P1 and P2 lessons due to the risk of poor flying conditions relatively early in the season (late April). Although we did have some no-fly days, we took advantage of those by doing ground school and writing the mandatory written tests for HPAC certification. We saw a similar situation with the students before us, who had come from even further, and it was very nice to see Dave and Terry work hard on getting them fully finished their 25 high flights. Other reviewers have talked more about the pilot's lounge, so I won't go into more detail other than saying it's an awesome hangout area with everyone being super friendly and encouraging to the students. I learned all sorts of tips and tricks from many different people, giving me lots of additional perspectives and ways to learn. After getting taught by Freedom Flight School, I feel well prepared for unsupervised flying, understand the risks and dangers, knowing where my limits are, and how to make weather and conditions judgement calls (of course with the caveat that there's still lots more to learn). PS. If you're not looking to learn to fly quite yet, I'd highly recommend a tandem flight!! We saw a few of those happen while we were learning (joining us on the shuttle up to Coopers launch), and it looked like a great (and safe!) experience!!

This place is what dreams are made of. My brother and I did our P1 and P2 courses at the Freedom Flight School over the course of 12 days in April 2022. Dave, Terry and Jason taught us how to fly. They are incredible pilots and teachers. I didn't have a single dull moment here, even the ground school lessons were fun. I felt completely safe under their supervision. Camping at the park is also an experience in itself. You are constantly bumping into new faces who are friendly and eager to share their passion for flying. The park also has great facilities: trailers you can rent (or you can just bring your own tent), a fully equipped kitchen in the lounge (BBQ with a burner, fridge, plates. cups, utensils), and an outdoor shower. After a day packed with fun and learning my brother and I would cook food on the BBQ and go sit by a massive fire pit to hear stories (Dave is an amazing storyteller). On the right nights you can expect to see a sky overflowing with stars and so clear that you will be able to spot satellites with your naked eye. It's magic. I can't recommend this experience enough. Learning to paraglide is insanely fun. I plan to come back to the park in the future to continue exploring all the flying the area has to offer (I have only scratched the surface!). If you want to learn to paraglide, you can stop searching for schools now. Contact the Freedom Flight School. They are the best.

I recently spent 2 weeks down in Lumby at Freedom Flight School to obtain my P1 & P2 rating in May. It's hard to imagine a more down to earth, knowledgeable, inclusive and helpful group of people to learn from. From day 1 of getting in touch with the school I was offered the flexibility of working around my own personal schedule rather than having set intake dates which doesn't really work out with the sort of schedule I have with work. Upon arrival at the flight park I was warmly welcomed by all the patrons who were there (no students at first!). It's a unique setup with a large area for camping and a fully equipped lounge+kitchen that students are guests were able to use. This setup allowed for a nice social environment getting to know locals and other members of the community in an easy way. Both instructors Dave & Terry were fantastic. In both a technical and personable aspect they excelled at presenting the material they were teaching. Time spent waiting for better weather up on launch was rarely wasted, rather it was spent teaching things like observing birds to gauge thermal conditions, observing nearby weather systems and teaching how they may affect the upcoming flight or simply sharing some of the incredible stories these 2 have experienced throughout their flying career. The wealth of knowledge shared between the two of them is enormous and is delivered in a matter that made it incredibly easy to pick up on the nuances of something that may not make sense in the beginning. It was clear that rather than just feed you the information required they truly cared about making sure it was understood why they were teaching certain things. In a safety conscious environment like freeflight this really made me feel much more comfortable in my training. The program was delivered in a well thought out matter and took steps to make sure that you were prepared for the next stepping stone along the way each time. Having completed my P2 rating with the instruction from Dave & Terry I feel very comfortable being a solo pilot and making smart decisions whilst I do so. You can't go wrong learning from Freedom Flight School.

In April of 2022 I spent 12 days at the Freedom Flight School completing the P1 and P2 courses with my brother. We had wanted to fly since we were kids, and we finally decided it was time to do it, so we traveled from Montreal and Toronto to Lumby to learn from the best instructors in Canada: Dave, Terry and Jason. The experience of learning to fly was incredible. We always felt safe with our instructors supporting us on the radio, and we got to see so many beautiful things. My brother flew next to a bald eagle, and I got to see a black bear with her cub walking in the forest down below. The ground school was also a lot of fun! Our instructors have a million stories to tell, and each one is more interesting than the last. Even waiting for the right conditions at Cooper's Launch was fun. We would look at hawks and how they adjust their wingspan to spot thermals and turbulent air, and also at the clouds. It's crazy how you start looking at nature in new ways when you learn how to fly. I recommend camping at the Flight Park if you can. It's awesome to live and breathe paragliding while you are there, and they have everything you need: trailers and space for tents, a fully equipped kitchen (fridge, BBQ, kettle, plates, utensils, etc.), an outdoor shower and bathrooms. My only regret is that I didn't learn how to fly sooner. I don't know why I waited so long to do something that I had always wanted to do. So stop hesitating. You already found the best school ever, so go and learn how to fly! You'll make lots of new friends along the way too :-)