Paragliding school
at Chamonix Mont-Blanc
The Air Sports team
Air Sports Chamonix regularly works with a carefully selected group of around ten independent paragliding instructors, chosen for their experience, professionalism and personal qualities.
All are qualified instructors, hold a valid professional licence and are insured for their activities. Each has their own experience, specialist skills and teaching approach. This diversity allows us to match you with the instructor best suited to your level, expectations and preferred type of flight.
Although they work as independent professionals, our instructors regularly work with Air Sports Chamonix and share the same high standards of safety, teaching and customer care.
Air Sports Chamonix manages the booking process and puts you in contact with the instructor responsible for your flight or training. The activity is carried out under that instructor’s professional responsibility. Air Sports Chamonix invoices and collects payment in the name and on behalf of the instructor.
Our administrative and logistics team is also available in the office and out in the field to welcome you, answer your questions and make sure everything runs smoothly, from your initial booking through to the end of your activity.
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Benoit
From model aircraft to airliners, including paragliding, Benoit Micolon is passionate about everything that flies.
Co-manager with Jean-Charles, he is also an instructor at AirSports, and you will have to deal with him when he is not in his Boeing 757. He loves to talk about his passion and pass on his knowledge. He is in charge of microlight flights at Air Sports
Fast fact : Benoit is also an airline pilot !
Laurent
A paragliding pioneer, he first took to the air in 1989, and failing to follow in his father’s footsteps as an engineer, Laurent began teaching paragliding in 1993 at Les Carroz d’Araches.
In 1998, Laurent spent his first season at the Choucas school in Mieussy, the birthplace of paragliding. For the record, it was also the first paragliding school in the world. In 2000, he bought the school and will keep it until 2022. A great experience.
But as time went by, the desire to turn to something else became more and more pressing: Chamonix, the capital of mountaineering and a paragliding mecca, was the perfect place to continue an already busy career… He joined Air Sports in 2023, and after one season became Technical Director.
Fun Fact: Laurent is the creator of the Parapente360 educational website.
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Romain (nickname “Rominet”)
As comfortable on skis as in paragliding, born on skis, and flying since he was 12 years old…
Originally from the resort of Les Arcs in Savoie, he grew up in the world of outdoor sports: Mountain biking, skiing, paragliding, rafting… All means are good to explore our mountains!
He is a ski and snowboard instructor since 2008. In 2013, he obtained his paragliding certificate.
His credo: to share as much in teaching as in tandem and to allow the discovery of the most beautiful aspects of paragliding and skiing, in complete safety and simplicity.
Some will say that he is “a licked bear”, others will see him as a “Grominet”… It’s up to you! 🙂
Fast fact : Romain also likes to fly small planes, or to cross the mountains by mountain bike or on foot.
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Adrien
Adrien, 34 years old, has been flying paragliders solo since he was 14 years old, after having learned in PE classes, in high school, on the island of Reunion. He practices paragliding in all its forms but is more attracted to cross country and bivouac walking and flying…
Beyond paragliding, he is a fan of board sports. He has been skiing for 32 years, but also snowboarding and ski touring. He likes to turn to speed-riding in the winter and kite-surfing in the summer. He is also an amateur of climbing (routes and boulders, in natural and SAE), of hiking and trekking for several days.
Himself a PE teacher, passionate about teaching, Adrien loves to share his knowledge and experience. Even more so when it comes to paragliding, whether it’s taking passengers to visit the sky or teaching aspiring (or even experienced!) pilots. Very calm, even in stressful moments, he knows how to reassure his students and lighten their emotional load to make them more available whatever the situation. As caring as he is persevering, he knows how to adapt his teaching to the different profiles of students. Safety is a central element of its approach.
“Paragliding is a way to enter a completely different world than the one I know on the ground. It becomes a second skin, which transmits us the information of the air mass. It makes us live strong and rich moments. No matter how much we analyze and how experienced we are, there is always a part of uncertainty. Am I in the right place to look for my next thermal? Will I succeed in completing my course? The feeling is exhilarating when everything works. But even when it doesn’t, the adventure and the game will have been there. What is certain is that there is always something to learn: I am in a state of eternal learning. That’s what I love about paragliding.
Fast fact: Adrien is a regular assistant to athletes who practice bivouac flying in high level competition.
Richard
Richard, 53 years old, has been flying for 10 years. He is a calm and patient instructor but also determined, enduring and very enthusiastic. His reassuring voice is particularly reassuring to students. His strength? Listening before speaking. His favorite phrase? “Never give up!”
For him, paragliding is above all the incomparable sensations of gliding, but also the adventure at his doorstep. Each day of pararpente is for him a new day, a new challenge.
“To fly is to free ourselves from our human condition, to surf the air bubbles…”
Richard also likes to share a powder session and surf the waves with his son or a buddy. He also enjoys trout fishing in the mountains (always with his son!), traveling, a good movie, a good piece of music. It is also concerned about its carbon footprint.
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