About Us

We rise by Lifting Others

We are firm believers in the concept of “oneness” and paragliding fits this concept perfectly. After all, there are no borders or fences up in the sky. There is only “one sky” and it is there for those who want to be part of it.

Paragliding is not only our passion. It is our purpose. At Paraglide Florida we’ve been blessed with the gift of flight. It is with great honor and pleasure to be your guide as you rise into the sky. We share this gift with you with great care and responsibility.

Paraglide Florida is conveniently located in South Florida. We are easily accessible to all of Palm Beach County, Martin County, Broward and Dade County.

We also adventure beyond south Florida occasionally. We organize flying getaways to unique and exciting destinations. Stay tuned for future itineraries and adventures.

Our Team

Paraglide Florida is a boutique paragliding school with a small team. Our Chief Instructor, Julio Vega, has been a free flight pilot since 2007 and has flown over 500 passengers. He feels extremely comfortable with his passengers and, in fact, flying tandems is what he enjoys most. Our programs are customized so we offer one-on-one instruction, directly taught and supervised by Vega. Although Paraglide Florida is starting as a small paragliding school, we envision growing our company into a complete training facility.

Paraglide Florida is committed to safety and to making our instruction fun and motivating so students enjoy the learning process even when they feel moments of doubt and frustration.

Julio-Vega-Instructor.

Julio Vega

Paraglide Florida Program Director & Chief Instructor

Paramotor (USPPA) / Paragliding (USHPA) Instructor & Tandem Pilot

Julio experienced free flight for the first time back in 2007. By 2012 he discovered some great tandem sites on local mountains in his hometown in El Salvador. Soon after, he was flying tandem commercially. He later trained with Discover Paragliding in Oregon where he acquired experience with their flawless towing operation and procedures. He was then able to successfully tow tandem passengers on the beaches of El Salvador. Around 2014, as some of his local flying buddies owned paramotors, Vega became interested in paramotor flight. When he moved to south Florida in 2016, Vega purchased a paramotor before buying a car. He completed all required stateside certifications and updated all of his flying credentials. After a lot of hard work and many, many flights, he recently completed his certification with USPPA and is now legally certified in both the Paragliding and Paramotor U.S. Associations. Today he is ready to lift you and share the gift of flight.

WHERE YOU WILL FLY WITH JULIO

  • Deerfield Beach, FL

  • Jupiter and Juno Beach, FL

  • Lake Okeechobee, FL

  • Miami Homestead Airport, FL
  • LaBelle, FL

John Wagenhause

Ground-Handling Coach and Local PG Pilot

John’s story is very interesting. He was self-taught. He kited his wing at the beach for about two years before he ever flew. After two years, he decided to approach us for guidance. John flew tandem with Vega to build his confidence and soon enough he was soaring next to trained pilots. John and Vega became good friends ever since and both have became two of the most active pilots on this site. If you have ever walked by Deerfield Beach during sunrise, noon, or sunset and seen somebody soaring the buildings, yeah, it’s probably John. Wagenhouse is one of those souls who lives to fly and will come out and play anytime conditions are decent. He loves to help students with building their ground-handling skills at the beach as he himself has totally mastered ground-handling over the years.

WHERE JOHN FLIES

  • Deerfield Beach, FL

Gaby de Vega

Storyteller and Graphic Designer

Gaby is the woman behind the man! She chases the story with camera and phone in hand ready to document and amplify the experience as a vivid tale audiences can barely resist. She is not only super creative and colorful but enthusiastic and passionate about life. She sees content in terms of colors, shapes and patterns and can quickly shape the abstract into the concrete with evocative imagery and graphic storytelling techniques. The unique perspective she gets when she flies only heightens her ability to share the magic of flight with others. A brilliant, multi-cultural communicator she is an effective brand ambassador and messenger of our essence.

WHERE YOU WILL FIND GABY

  • Where the wind blows

  • Florida

We Rise by Lifting Others

If you are inspired with us, we get motivated. If you feel good, we feel great. If you feel happy with us, we feel rewarded. When you learn from us, we learn from you. If you write your story, you become part of our story.

Our Promise

To share the gift of flight with you with great care and responsibility.
We achieve this by staying true and aligned with the following values:

Professionalism

We promise our customers to stay up- to-date and current with SOP’s, Regulations, Safety Briefings, Industry trends, Technology, and Equipment.

First and foremost, we promise our customers to be honest over all things.  Even if the truth is uncomfortable, we promise to stay truthful in regards to their ability and skill level, the conditions, personal opinions and honest with all other aspects in general.  We also promise to stay hopeful. 

We promise our customers to always prioritize safety over profit.  We promise our students we will always use safe, current, and “beginner” rated equipment.  We will stand strong and will not be peer pressured or obligated to perform if safety is compromised. We take great pride in never EVER injuring anyone in any of our flights or endeavors since we started flying passengers or training student back in 2012.

We promise economic fairness at all times.  We promise to make a fair profit and stay competitive with industry prices.  We believe in building long term relationships with our students.  To achieve this, Paraglide Florida also needs to feel that our training is “fairly” appreciated just like customers need to feel that what they pay is fair for what they receive. 

We were all students at some point.  We also understand about the different styles and learning abilities students’ exhibit.  With this in mind, we promise to always stay empathetic with our students and try and put ourselves in their shoes. We also promise to be as flexible and adapt to his/hers learning abilities.

Paragliding is intense and intimate in a lot of ways.  There is a comrade and brotherhood that grows between pilots and between souls that experience flight of some sort.  A Teacher/Student relationship is no exception.  After the student graduates, do not be surprised, if a new lifelong friendship is born. 

We rise by lifting others.

Make flying possible for you today!

  • 305-984-2747

Testimonials

Here’s what our passengers and students from all walks of life had to say about our services:

Gaby-Storyteller

I’m not one for heights but Julio made me feel very safe and comfortable during our tandem flight. He was communicating with me regularly through the headphones. I never felt uneasy. Quite the opposite, actually. I was able to fully enjoy the view and indulge in the experience.

Gaby, Graphic Designer
John-Paragliding-Pilot

Doing a tandem flight with Julio definitely changed my life .I was able to ask questions and learn and see the sport up close.Thanks to Julio’s guidance and patience, I was able to finally realize the dream. His flexibility and my busy schedule, he was able to help guide me through the process, Julio is passionate about teaching the sport and, most of all, devoted to students safety .. Being in the sky and flying my wing now feels as natural as riding a bicycle.

John, Glassblow Artist
Jason-Wildlife-Director.

“We loved our flight!! It was a beautiful day at the beach and it was such a great reward to be peacefully floating over the ocean being able to see marine wildlife. We saw sharks, Manta rays and more. Julio, our paramotor guide, was very informative and patient in helping us understand the process of flying that day. Flying tandem on paramotor will be a lifetime memory and it’s all thanks to Paraglide Florida. Thank you again for sharing the gift of flight with us!!”

Jason, Wildlife Director