Paradise Air - Powered Hang Gliding

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Heading to Hawaii? Why don't you free that daredevil in you? Powered hang gliding is an excellent way to spend a couple of hours of your holiday, trust me.

Located in the North Shore of the island of Oahu, Paradise Air can provide you with an exciting, open-air experience from high above the island. This is a fantastic alternative to the usual helicopter ride.

Paradise Air is open seven days a week and they fly for four hours each day, with sunrise as an option. My friend and I decided to go for this time of the morning and although we had to wake up way too early for our liking, we have absolutely no regrets. If you do decide to head up there, might as well do it with a nice sunrise background, don't you think?!

It takes just around an hour of driving from Waikiki up to Waialua where Paradise Air is located. When we arrived, owners and pilots Tom and Denise were nothing short of welcoming. They managed to calm my friend down, who became quite nervous and got me even more excited to get up in the air when I didn't think it was possible.

For safety reasons, we were asked to take off any jewellery and accessories that could fall off. No cameras, phones, GoPros allowed…sorry! Once done, we were put into some very attractive red suits and fitted with helmets. And finally, it was time to go for a ride!



Taking off into the sunrise was thrilling but being up there and having the chance to look down on the island and see it in all its glory was spectacular!





You do get to see how huge and never-ending the ocean is, and that gets a little scary but more than anything, makes you want to keep exploring what else is out there.

Tom and Denise flew us around different areas of the North Shore whilst providing information on the scenery. We flew over pineapple plantations, valleys, hiking trails and the famous surf spot, Pipeline.

The flight is considered an introductory lesson to powered hang gliding, which meant that for part of the flight, we got to steer the aircraft! Very fun!



Towards the end of flight, I did feel a little bit sick. I'm not prone to motion sickness (at least I don't think so) so I'm going to say it was altitude sickness. Denise was very helpful in offering ways to make me feel better. If you do decide to take on powered hang gliding, and know that there is a possibility of you getting motion sickness, don't be afraid to let Tom and Denise know, they'll help you out.

The aircraft has both a camera and a videocamera to capture every moment of your flight. Photos and videos are available for purchase at the end.



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