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Learn to fly

Paragliding school in Reunion Island since 1984

Three progression levels, from your first hops on the training slope to preparing for the pilot licence.

The Air Lagon paragliding school sits in Saint-Leu and has been running since 1984, training solo pilots. The path covers three levels: the introductory course, improvement 1, and improvement 2 which leads to the pilot licence. All instructors hold a state diploma. Flying happens on the sites of Saint-Leu and the west of the island. The full path adds up to fifty long flights: ten for the introductory course, twenty per improvement level. No fixed duration applies. The pace depends on the weather and on how often the student can fly. This solo training is not a tandem taster flight: it aims at the autonomy of the pilot. The school shares its sites and its team with the tandem flights, at Les Colimaçons as at Le Maïdo.

The three levels of the Air Lagon pilot training
LevelFormatFull flightsValidation
Introductory course2 half-days on the training slope10Level 1
Improvement 1Supervised flights on various sites20Level 2
Improvement 2Supervised flights on various sites20Pilot licence

The three progression levels

The path at the Air Lagon school covers three levels, drawn from the French free-flight teaching model. The introductory course leads to the first long flight. Improvement 1 opens up thermal flying. Improvement 2 leads to the pilot licence. Each level is validated on skills, never on a number of days. The pace depends on the weather and on the student. The full path adds up to fifty long flights: ten, twenty, twenty. The earliest steps happen on the training slope. Later flights leave from the sites of Saint-Leu, at Les Colimaçons. More varied ground arrives as autonomy grows. The instructors of the school hold a state diploma. No price is published: each path is built with the student, in Reunion Island as elsewhere.

Introductory course

Level 1

The introductory course takes you from the ground to your first long flight. It starts on the training slope, with a look at the gear and the earliest short hops. The Air Lagon school runs two teaching tandems: the student flies in double, instructor on board, before flying solo. The take-off and landing drills follow. The earliest long flights come after, from the sites of Saint-Leu and Les Colimaçons. The programme counts ten of them. The work covers pitch, roll and the search for autonomy. The course runs over two half-days and validates the earliest level. No technical background is required. The instructors hold a state diploma, as on the tandem flights.

  • Equipment discovery and first hops on the training slope
  • Dual piloting on a teaching tandem wing
  • Take-off and landing practice
  • First full flights from the Saint-Leu sites
  • Pitch, roll and building autonomy

Improvement 1

Level 2

Improvement 1 opens up thermal flying. The programme counts twenty long flights. They spread over several sites, not the single training ground. You learn to climb and to come down. Above all, you work thermal lift. Reading the air becomes central: sizing up the day, spotting the cycles, picking your moment. The landing approaches are drilled one by one. That is what makes a clean touchdown on new ground. Flights leave from Saint-Leu and other sites in the west, to suit the day. At the Air Lagon school, these twenty flights spread over several sessions. The pace follows the weather. This level marks the shift from gliding down to staying up. The instructors hold a state diploma.

  • 20 full flights on various sites across the island
  • Descent and climbing techniques
  • Using thermal lift
  • Weather and air-mass analysis
  • Different approach patterns

Improvement 2

Pilot licence

Improvement 2 leads to full autonomy. The programme counts twenty long flights, across several sites. The pilot works two kinds of lift. Dynamic lift, which the terrain raises against the wind. Thermal lift, which the sun sets off at ground level. Putting the two together makes duration flying possible. Landing accuracy is drilled until you land where you mean to, not where you can. This level leads to the pilot licence, which validates the path. The pilot picks the sites, reads the conditions and flies without supervision, at Saint-Leu as elsewhere. These twenty flights call for varied conditions. Reunion Island sometimes supplies them within one day. The Air Lagon school sees the licence preparation through, at Les Colimaçons as at Le Maïdo.

  • 20 full flights on various sites across the island
  • Using ridge and thermal lift
  • Duration flying
  • Spot landing
  • Preparing for the pilot licence

School outings

The school regularly runs outings to the flying sites of the island, sometimes simply to bring pilots together. Good spirits and a warm welcome come as standard. These outings carry the training beyond the supervised slots. Flying somewhere other than Saint-Leu means meeting other air patterns, other terrain and other landing approaches. Reunion Island offers a rare spread for a territory of this size. The west coast and the heights do not share the same air, and Le Maïdo differs from Les Colimaçons. For a pilot still progressing, that change of ground is worth the flying hours. It stops the habits of a single site from passing for autonomy. At the Air Lagon school, these outings stay open to all three levels. The spirit is closer to a club than to a class.

Your instructors

The training is led by John, Pascal and Jamel, all three holding a state diploma. It was John Jourdain who made the earliest paragliding flight in the history of Reunion Island, in November 1984, and who ran the very first course on the island. The school has trained hundreds of pilots since. That seniority has a practical upshot for the student. The sites of Saint-Leu and the west have been flown by the same team for forty years, in every condition the island produces. An instructor who knows how a sea breeze cycles anticipates instead of reacting. At the Air Lagon school, the team also leads the tandem flights, at Les Colimaçons as at Le Maïdo. Same sites, same certified gear, no stand-in.

Meet the team
Pilot taking off solo facing the ocean, yellow wing inflated above the launch strip

Pricing on request

The price depends on the level you are aiming for and the pace of progression. Write to us or give us a call: we will put together a proposal that fits your plans.

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Our team answers 7 days a week, 7am to 6pm.

Call · 06 92 87 52 87WhatsApp · Quick replySend a message
Opening hours
7h00 - 18h00, 7j/7
Address
46 Rue Général de Gaulle, 97436 Saint-Leu, La Réunion
Directions to the meeting point