There isn’t a mountain in sight in this area and so one would think paragliding is something you would have to travel for. Local extreme sports enthusiasts may be happily surprised to find out there is a way to paraglide just five minutes out of town and catch some gorgeous Drayton Valley views
Air Adventure Flight School is based north of Drayton Valley and offers extreme sports such as paragliding and powered parachutes. Traditionally paragliding begins on a mountain where paragliders will run off the side, catch the wind and fly; at Air Adventure Flight school they have a different way of enjoying the fun.
“We have a winch that brings you up to a certain altitude and then you can paraglide from there so we don’t have mountains but with this winch you can make your own mountains basically,” says Claudio Mota who is the chief flight instructor at the school.
The winch can bring people up to 2,000 feet; once at the desired altitude they are released from the airplane and can glide through the air taking in the views.
Currently Air Adventure Flight School has not seen a ton of local traffic but does bring in many people from out of town.
“The funny thing is most of our students and clients don’t come from Drayton. Most of our students come from anywhere in Canada. I think we’ve had maybe so far two people from Drayton but we’ve had people who have come all the way from Prince Edward Island,” says Mota.
If paragliding is not your thing the flight school does offer airplane flying lessons or even just 30 minute flights over the area where they show you a few introductory tips and tricks on how to fly an airplane.
Air Adventure Flight School came to Drayton Valley as it has a less restrictive air space so they are able to provide more opportunities to fly and do other air activities. With the base the schools has, they are also able to create an environment that many schools don’t have such as a games room for when it’s too rainy to fly.
