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Cloud Hugger PPG

What an Awesome Gift - The Gift of Flight!

Contact Information

Christiansburg, VA 

Flying above the clouds

540-239-5462

Videographer Credit:  James Jensen

At Cloud Hugger PPG, we provide the opportunity to fly like a bird on a Powered Paraglider!  You will experience what it is like to soar smoothly through the air looking down at the glory of creation as if you were a bird!  

We offer a variety of flight programs ranging from provision of a 30-minute Introductory Powered Paragliding (PPG) experience by  a qualified instructor on a two-person tandem trike, to one-on-one training on either a foot-launch or trike (wheel) based unit for individuals who would like to more formally embrace the sport. 

All flights and training are provided on our own equipment.  Flights are conducted out of the New River Valley Airport in Dublin, VA.

Looking to provide a totally life-changing gift/experience for an loved one?  Please consider Cloud Hugger PPG!  

Videographer Credit:  Kris Wolf

How to Prepare for your Flight

Instructional flights and training are usually conducted within a couple hours of sunrise and sunset when atmospheric conditions are most stable thereby ensuring a smooth and safe flight. 

 

Dress warmly!  When flying, you will be experiencing about a 25-30 MPH wind across your body.  In addition, temperatures above the ground are often cooler than that on the ground, so dress a bit warmer than you otherwise might before getting up into the air!

 

Prior to your flight instruction, your flight instructor will be in contact via text and cell phone to answer questions and provide updated weather forecasts which will influence when the flight can be taken. 

 

Once you arrive at the airport, it will take about 30-minutes to go through a pre-flight briefing which will cover 2-way radio communication and gear set-up, address any remaining questions that you may have, and ensure that flight waivers have been completed.

Meet Your Instructor

Hello!  My name is Dave Wert, and I am a meteorologist who retired from the National Weather Service in January 2020 after over 36 years of Federal service.  I have always dreamed of becoming a pilot, so in February 2020, I completed a 2-week formal training program with Aviator PPG to become a Powered Paragliding (PPG) pilot - receiving both PP1 and PP2 foot-launch certificates. 

 

In September 2022, I received my Basic Flight Instructor (BFI) Certification through Aero Sports Connection (ASC) after additional wheel-based training was completed at Aviator PPG.  The BFI Certification is required by the FAA to provide the exemption needed for tandem-based PPG flight.

 

All tandem-based PPG Introductory Flights are conducted in a tandem trike which has wheels, so no running is needed to takeoff and land - just sit in a seat and enjoy the ride while the wheels do all of the work!         .      

Flight Instructor Education & Experience

1979-1982

Degree:  Meteorology
University: SUNY - Oswego

Dynamic and Synoptic Meteorology, Atmospheric Dynamics/Thermodynamics, Differential & Integral Calculus,  Climatology, Air-Pollution, Physical Oceanography, Advanced Physics, Physical Chemistry, Astronomy, Mathematical Statistics. 

1983-2020

Meteorologist-in-Charge 

Started work in National Weather Service (NWS) as Intern, gradually being promoted to General Forecaster, Senior Forecaster, Deputy Meteorologist-in-Charge, and finally Meteorologist-in-Charge at eight NWS offices throughout the country before retiring after 36 years of Federal service.

2020-Current

Received PP1 & PP2 certifications from Aviator PPG in Lake Wales, FL (February 2020), and Basic Flight Instructor Certification from ASC (September 2022). Member of the United States Powered Paragliding Association (USPPA) since March 2020.  

Flight Media
 

Tandem instruction - instructor in backseat and student in front seat
Student standing next to tandem trike
Bethany.jpg
Back on the ground after tandem instruction - instructor on right an d student on left
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Favorite Quotes

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you will always long to return" - Leonardo da Vinci.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat” —Theodore Roosevelt (Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910)

High Flight

BY JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air ....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Cloud Hugger PPG

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