Icarus Tandem Paragliding

Paragliding is truly a romantic adrenaline sport and the team over at Icarus Tandem Paragliding knows a thing or two about soulmates and paragliding!

Jacques du Plessis, at the age of 8, thought he could fly. He was just passionate about flying from a very early age, also he wasn’t interested in going to school, he just wanted to be a bird and just fly away! Jacques constructed himself some wings and tried to fly off his two-story house. Luckily he didn’t hurt himself, but he, and his parents, got the fright of his life! At the age of 12, he witnessed a paraglider flying over his home, that moment would change his life forever.

At the age of 25 on the way to a business meeting Jacques pulled over on the side of the road near Hartebeespoort Dam and he watched as future pilots were being trained in the art of paragliding. A few hours later he approached the paragliding instructor and was allowed to ground handle his first wing. He was a natural and it was assumed he had done this before. Later, he was then taken on his first tandem flight and his dream came true, he was flying and hooked for life.

Then, he bought his first solo wing and began his new hobby, paragliding. He wasn’t aware that there were specific rules and techniques and that he actually had to go through various levels of training and licenses. Eventually, he found a paragliding instructor and was rewarded with his license. Any spare time he had, he spent it in the air, he finally had wings!

Working in an office became the thing of the past and he turned his hobby into his career and moved to Cape Town to become a Commercial Tandem Pilot. In 2009 he was ranked second in South Africa for Tandem Paragliding. In 2011 he was ranked first. A year later he took a certain lady for her first tandem flight, it was her birthday and she was buying herself a flight as a gift to herself. Little did she know that this would not be her last flight. They flew from Lions Head, she was fascinated by the experience and her pilot, Jacques.

She started working out her monthly budget to include a tandem flight every month. She didn’t have to, by the weekend she was flying a cross-country flight in Porterville with her future husband. Everyone teased her that adrenaline makes you fall in love. They were married two years after her first flight. Together these lovebirds came up with the name Icarus Paragliding, the name made sense and they were both in awe of the insight that Icarus, the mythical Green character, had.

Paragliding is an extreme sport, but you are in good hands with Icarus' pilots. All tandem pilots are highly experienced TFIs (Tandem Flight Instructors) certified by SAHPA (the South African Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association). The pilots will only fly in weather that is safe, if they don't feel the conditions are not optimal, they won't put you in unnecessary risk; for them, safety is key.