Dates
Instructional Week #1 – Saturday, Oct. 15th (arrival) to Saturday, Oct. 22nd (departure) – (P-2 to P-4 level)
Iquique Week #1 – Saturday, Oct. 15th (arrival) to Saturday, Oct. 22nd (departure) – (proficient P-3 to P-4)
Iquique Week #2 – Saturday, Oct. 22nd (arrival) to Saturday, Oct. 29th (departure) – (P-3 to P-4 level or P-2 that participated in Instructional Week)
Instructional Week #3 – Sunday, Oct. 30th (arrival) to Sunday, Nov. 6th (departure) – (P-2 to P-4 level)
Iquique Week #3 – Sunday, Oct. 30th (arrival) to Sunday, Nov. 6th (departure) – (proficient P-3 to P-4)
Iquique Week #4 – Sunday, Nov. 6th (arrival) to Sunday, Nov. 13th (departure) – (P-3 to P-4 level or P-2 that participated in Instructional Days)We will not be flying in the afternoon of October 29th and the morning of October 30th. If you are booking multiple segments, then consider this “non-flying time” as a rest period. You will need it! Also, this extra night between the 2 segments is free! Plus, you get a discount for booking 2, 3 or 4 segments! Check the prices below…
Early payment discounts!!!
Check our discounted payment schedule down below.
Tour Descriptions
This year we divided the tour into 4 weeks. The format of the first two weeks repeats itself on week # 3 and # 4. The main difference is that on Instructional week #1, we will focus on ground handling and ridge soaring skills, and during the Instructional week # 3 we will focus mainly on thermaling skills. The “Instructional” Weeks #1 and #3 overlap with “Iquique” Weeks #1 and #3. Pilots that sign up for the “Instructional” weeks will receive more dedicated instruction (focusing on perfecting ground handling, launching, ridge soaring, and thermal flying skills). Iquique Week #1 and # 3 are designed so that a self-sufficient (not needing instruction) friend or partner can also join the trip at the same time and not use the instruction.
Instructional Week #1 (8 days, 7 nights)
This part of the trip is focusing on P2- P4 pilots who would like to improve ground handling, launching, landing and ridge soaring skills. The first 3 days of this tour will focus on intensive basic training. We will have multiple instructors available to help you adapt to Iquique’s unique high wind launching conditions. This is a perfect opportunity for pilots who fly less than 30 hours per year or for any level of pilot who would like to improve basic skills. We will be focusing on kiting and launching to ensure that low airtime pilots will gain good control and knowledge, and more advanced pilots will get pointers that will take them from good to great! Most visiting pilots are humbled when they arrive to Iquique and find that they don’t have as good of kiting or launching skills as they thought they did! So, if you aren’t sure you have those skills, then you should probably join this trip. Our instructors will be helping you launch and assisting you with radio communication for flying tips. If desired, they will guide you to find areas of lift in the thermal/dynamic conditions. We are planning a 1:4 instructor to pilot ratio for the first 3 days in order to allow more individual attention at the start of the trip. Then for the remaining 4 days we will have at least a 1:5 instructor to pilot ratio to provide assistance.Iquique Week #1 (8 days, 7 nights)
These options are designed so that a self-sufficient (not needing instruction) friend or partner of someone in the “Instructional Week” can also join the group at the same time. It is also an option for proficient pilots that have timing restraints and can’t enroll for Iquique Weeks #2 or #4. This segment will be focused on proficient P3 to P4 pilots who would like to log some airtime and work on thermaling, launching and kiting skills on their own. Novice (P2) pilots are required to attend the Instructional Week before joining the Iquique Weeks. All pilots attending these days are required to have good launching, flying, and landings skills. If you do not have good high wind launching skills then we expect you to sign up for the Instructional Weeks. Iquique and the surrounding flying sites are superb training grounds for less experienced pilots, but will also satisfy the advanced level pilot who would like to improve overall skills. Less experienced pilots will be able to log many hours of airtime plus practice in the moderate wind conditions at the dunes. More advanced pilots will be able to fly until they are exhausted! The conditions are excellent for fine-tuning thermaling skills, flying small out and return XC flights, working on top landing and hillside landings, and perfecting your kiting at the world famous Palo Buque afternoon flying site. If the opportunity presents itself, we may also do a few mini XC flights in the last half of this segment.Iquique Week #2 (8 days,7 nights)
This 8 day long tour is basically the same as the Iquique Week #1 and it does not offer any training. It is basically designed for pilots that need to secure the skills acquired during the previous instructional week, or for pilots who don’t need any instruction and are limited to just one-week vacation time. All pilots attending these days are required to have good launching, flying, and landings skills. If you do not have good high wind launching skills, then we expect you to sign up for the Instructional Days. Iquique and the surrounding flying sites are superb training grounds for less experienced pilots, but will also satisfy the advanced level pilot who would like to improve overall skills. Less experienced pilots will be able to log many hours of airtime, plus, practice in the moderate wind conditions at the dunes. More advanced pilots will be able to fly until they are exhausted! The conditions are excellent for fine-tuning thermaling skills, flying small out and return XC flights, practicing top landing and hillside landings, and there is always room to improve your kiting skills at the world famous Palo Buque afternoon flying site! We will do some short XC flights on a few of the days.
Instructional Week #3 (8 days, 7 nights)
This part of the trip is focusing on P2- P4 pilots who would like to improve ground handling, launching, landing and thermaling skills. The first 3 days of this tour will focus on intensive basic training. We will have many instructors available to help you adapt to Iquique’s unique high wind launching conditions. This is a perfect opportunity for pilots who fly less than 30 hours per year or for any level of pilot who would like to improve basic skills. We will be focusing on kiting and launching to ensure that low airtime pilots will gain good control and knowledge, and advanced pilots will get pointers that will take them from good to great! Most visiting pilots are humbled when they arrive to Iquique and find that they don’t have as good of kiting or launching skills as they thought they did! So if you aren’t sure you have those skills, you need to join this portion of the trip! Our instructors will be helping you launch and assisting you with radio communication for flying tips. If desired, they will help guide you to areas of lift in the thermal/dynamic flying conditions. The instructors will also be giving tips to improve thermal flying skills. We are planning a 1:4 instructor to pilot ratio for the first 3 days in order to allow more individual attention at the start of the trip. Then for the remaining 4 days we will have at least a 1:5 instructor to pilot ratio to provide assistance.Iquique Week #3 (8 days, 7 nights)
This option is designed so that a self-sufficient (not needing instruction) friend or partner of someone in the “Instructional Week” can also join the group at the same time. It is also an option for proficient pilots who have limited vacation options and can’t enroll for Iquique Weeks #2 or #4. This segment will be focused on proficient P3 to P4 pilots who would like to log some airtime and work on thermaling, launching and kiting skills on their own. Novice (P2) pilots are required to attend the Instructional Week before joining the Iquique Weeks. All pilots attending these days are required to have good launching, flying, and landings skills. If you do not have good high wind launching skills then we expect you to sign up for the Instructional Weeks. Iquique and the surrounding flying sites are superb training grounds for less experienced pilots but will also satisfy the advanced level pilot who would like to improve overall skills. Less experienced pilots will be able to log many hours of airtime plus practice in the moderate wind conditions at the dunes. More advanced pilots will be able to fly until they are exhausted! The conditions are excellent for fine-tuning thermaling skills, flying small out and return XC flights up and down the ridge, working on top landing and hillside landings, and perfecting your kiting skills at the world famous Palo Buque afternoon flying site! If the opportunity presents itself, we may also do a few mini XC flights in the last half of this segment.Iquique Week #4 (8 days, 7 nights)
This 8 day long tour is basically the same as the Iquique Week #3 and it does not offer any training. It is designed for pilots who need to secure the skills acquired during the previous instructional week, or for pilots who don’t need any instruction and have limited vacation time options. All pilots attending these days are required to have good launching, flying, and landings skills. If you do not have good high wind launching skills, then we expect you to sign up for the Instructional Days. Iquique and the surrounding flying sites are superb training grounds for less experienced pilots, but will also satisfy the advanced level pilot who would like to improve overall skills. Less experienced pilots will be able to log many hours of airtime, plus, practice in the moderate wind conditions at the dunes. More advanced pilots will be able to fly until they are exhausted! The conditions are excellent for fine-tuning thermaling skills, flying small out and return XC flights, practicing top landing and hillside landings, and there is always room to improve your kiting skills at the world famous Palo Buque afternoon flying site! We will do some short XC flights on a few of the days.
Commentaries and Flying Sites
Iquique is located in the northern part of Chile along the Pacific Ocean, 120 miles south of the Peruvian border. The city has a population of 300,000 and is thriving due to the duty free zone and mining in this northern zone. This area is also known as the Atacama Desert, which is why the flying conditions are so consistent. It NEVER RAINS! The lower surface winds are always blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, generating incredible lift for more than 500 miles along the northern Chile coastline. The ridge varies between1,500 and 4,000 feet in altitude, and XC flights can be flown in both directions quite easily. In November, the breeze normally starts blowing at 10 AM, and lift lasts until 7 PM. There are several takeoffs near Iquique, and all of them allow pilots to reach beach landings while flying above the city and the dunes. There are many other launches to the south and to the north.
Alto Hospicio is our typical morning site. It offers a very easy flight to Huayquique beach for an early day sled ride, or after some ridge soaring and light thermal flying. It also allows more advanced pilots to fly roughly 12 miles south and 6 miles north, for a fun out and return flight! These mini XC flights require good thermal flying skills and a pretty good bump tolerance! Landing at Brava beach, just in front of our hotel, is the common task for most pilots with good thermaling skills.
Palo Buque, a site just outside of Iquique, became famous when the SAT Team shot their first video here. The launch is at the “bottom” of a 3,000 foot sand ridge! Yes, depending on the wind, you only need to kite your glider up 30 feet or so, and then you can soar all the way up to the top of the ridge! It is an amazing place to practice top landing and hillside landings, fly mini XC flights, practice basic decent techniques, improve kiting skills in all areas, ski in the sand, or just enjoy the beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and the unique colors of the desert! Mid afternoon conditions are usually strong, then the thermals and wind strength back off as the evening progresses.
Black Mountain to Iquique is a classic, 20 km XC flight back to the hotel. Less experienced pilots, or those who prefer to fly locally, will be able to land at Los Verdes for a delicious local seafood lunch!
Just a little further to the south is our Patillos launch. With a steep 1,100 ft face, this bowl shaped ridge is easy to soar and starts early. With a huge landing area at the base, this is another great location to fly locally and then head off to Chanavayita for more local seafood cuisine. Or, for those interested in XC flights, it is also possible to fly the 35 miles back to the hotel (when issued permission to pass the airport).
Alto Chipana and alto San Marcos are our favorite XC sites that we will be using for our more advanced XC flights. Thirty-five mile flights are quite easy to achieve from both of these sites. A 70 mile flight is also possible when we get special permission to fly past the airport on the weekends, and are able to make it all the way back to the hotel! These sites are also great for just flying locally, and landing on the huge open beaches below the launch, after hours of thermaling!
The thermal/dynamic flying conditions in Iquique are so consistent at this time of the year that most of these flights are possible almost everyday! After a hard day of flying, it doesn’t get much better then to dine out at one of Iquique’s many restaurants, feasting on Chile’s reputable sea food and pisco sour!
Accommodations
We will be staying in the four-star Terrado Club Hotel, www.chile-hotels.com. Our spacious “2 bedroom, 2 bathroom” hotel accommodation allows everyone to have their own bedroom and bathroom. The rooms also include a kitchenette, living/dining room, and outside balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The hotel is centrally located, with grocery stores, restaurants, beaches, markets, banks, pharmacies, etc, are all within a few minutes walk from the hotel. A top buffet breakfast is included every morning to make sure you are powered up for a full day of flying! And, for the intermediate/advanced pilots, we will be landing on the beach in front of the hotel after our morning/mid-day flights! It doesn’t get much easier than this!
Terrado Club www.terrado.cl/inicio-terrado-
club
2873 Emilio Recabarren Avenue (ex Avda Aeropuerto)
Playa Brava Iquique – Chile
(56-57 463100)
The Price Includes
- 1st class accommodation 4 star hotel (1 bedroom/bathroom for each person, 2 bedrooms/bathrooms per apartment – breakfast included)
- Transfers to and from the airport on arrival and departure days
- Transport to and from all flying sites
- Daily weather updates
- Site information and flying tips
- Launching supervision
- Radio communication with guides and drivers during flights
- Flight retrieval back to launch site when weather permits
- Flight retrievals
- Free downloadable movie of the trip
- Free custom designed T-shirt
Prices
Instructional Week #1 – (8 days, 7 nights)$ 2,250Iquique Week #1 – (8 days, 7 nights)$ 1,950Iquique Week #2 – (8 days, 7 nights)$ 1,950Instructional Week #3 – (8 days, 7 nights)$ 2,250Iquique Week #3 – (8 days, 7 nights)$ 1,950Iquique Week #4 – (8 days, 7 nights)$ 1,950Per day rate any week$ 325Extra cost for single room apartment per night$ 55
Discounts and payment options
For either partial or total advance payment the following range of discounts will be applied proportionally to the received amount.
Before June 10th, 201610 %Before July 10th, 20168 %Before August 10th, 20165 %If you book 2 portions of the tour
(#1 & #2 or #3 & #4)2 % (in addition to any discount up above)If you book 3 portions of the tour4 % (in addition to any discount up above)If you book 4 portions of the tour6 % (in addition to any discount up above)Bring your spouse, girlfriend or friend! Use a large single room apartment with one king bed or two twin beds and get an extra 3 % discount for each one of you!If you sign up for 3 or 4 weeks, you will get one free night on October 29th.
We accept cash, checks, credit cards, and PayPal
Refunds and cancellation policy
20 days before your trip starts or earlier – refund 80% or 100 % credit for next year
10 days before your trip starts or earlier – refund 70% or 90 % credit for next year
9 days before your trip starts or later – refund 50 % or 80 % credit for next year.
Requirements
P2, P-3 or P-4 certification depending on segment chosen, VHF radio, certified equipment, reserve parachute and helmet, and a good attitude because we are going fly heaps and have lots of fun!