Today was the Northwest Paragliding Club's annual Fly-In. We reduced tandem flights from $195 to $130 with all proceeds going to the club. Michelle, Shannon and everyone else did a great job in organizing and executing. With about 20 pilots we flew 79 tandems, I few five. The day started out with fog covering launch delaying the first flights by about 2 hours.
My first passenger, Sasha, was from Russia and so I got to brush up on my Russian a bit. Unfortunately it took me FOUR attempts before I could finally get us into the air. Another passenger, Ming, was so expressive in his enjoyment of the flight. He kept making little kid noises like, "Whee, OOOOH, ahhhh." It made the flight enjoyable for me. My last flight was a younger newlywed who just moved from India. For logistical reasons she had to wait several hours before getting to fly. I think she enjoyed the flight, on a personal/mental/spiritual level, more than anyone else I have ever flow. There were times when I felt I should be quite and let her experience the sensation alone. I am very grateful/humbled that I got to fly her.
If you want to fly tandem, or learn to paraglide, check out seattleparagliding.com