Lookout Mountain SCHEDULING + LOGISTICS

SCHEDULING WITH THE PRO SHOP

So you’ve got your package purchased, some dates lined up… now is the time to contact the Pro Shop and schedule your lessons. The ProShop is your scheduling hub while at Lookout Mountain Flight Park. It is located up on launch at 7201 Scenic HWY, Rising Fawn GA 30738 and is open between 9AM – 6PM EST, every Thursday through Monday.

Send us an email, stop by in person or give us a call during business hours to start your booking process! You can reach us at 706-383-1292 or FLY@FLYLOOKOUT.COM. Our student capacity is limited; the sooner you book your lessons, the better! Please provide at least 24 hours notice for all cancellations.

GROUND SCHOOL

Every Learn-To-Fly package starts with an introductory Ground School. On your first day you will meet up at the Pro Shop (typically at 7:30 AM EST unless otherwise noted) to complete your waivers and meet your instructor.

You will then head over to the training hills to get a safety briefing and take your first steps toward flying a glider. Please arrive on time and have transportation arranged to get yourself to and from the training hills. Your instructor will guide you but directions can be found here.

Ground School sessions are not available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays unless by special appointment.

HOW TO PREPARE

1. STUDY THIS GUIDE
2. REST WELL THE NIGHT BEFORE
3. BRING PLENTY OF FOOD + WATER
4. DRESS TO BE OUTSIDE ALL MORNING
5. EXPECT TO GET GRASS-STAINED + MUDDY
6. WEAR WATERPROOF ATHLETIC FOOTWEAR
7. BRING A CHANGE OF CLOTHES
8. STRETCH
9. HAVE A BLAST!

THE TRAINING HILLS

After your first day Ground School, you will head straight to the hills at 7:30 AM EST for all further Small and Big Hill lessons. We offer instruction seven days a week, but please make sure you are on the schedule! If there are no students booked, there will be no instructors present. Do not expect to be able to just show up or always book a lesson the day before.

Please help us help our instructors by calling the Pro Shop and scheduling your lessons in advance.

Please Be Advised: As a foot launch student, rental gear is subject to availability and is rented out as first come first serve.

* REPEAT NO SHOWS WILL HAVE THEIR PACKAGES REVOKED

ALL STUDENTS PLEASE BE ADVISED OF OUR PRIVATE LESSON INFORMATION WHICH MAY APPLY TO YOU:

AM Only Hills Lessons:

A $50 fee to the Lookout Mountain Flight Park Training Program will be applied to lessons with only (1) student present.

Office staff will make you aware of this fee, and you will be required to make payment before your lesson commences. This fee will have to be paid, at the latest, the night before your lesson starts as our office will be closed during your original lesson at 7:30 AM EST.

You may be granted special permission to pay this fee after your lesson. However, this can only be offered to you by an instructor, so please do not count on this to happen!

Morning Private Lesson fees can be paid via cash, credit card, or check directly to Lookout Mountain Flight Park. We only offer all of these payment options for lessons happening within our regular business hours.

If you are able to schedule a lesson during regular hours with another pilot, this will void the $50 fee requirement. We recommend connecting with other students, when scheduling, to form a buddy system and avoid this private lesson fee, if you are scheduled for the morning. A maximum of four students can be assigned per one instructor.

After-Hours AM/PM Lessons:

All after-hour lessons will require a $50 cash fee.

Currently, we do not offer a private AM lesson option before our regular hills lesson start time of 7:30 AM EST.

Because our instructors will be performing a lesson outside of their regularly scheduled hours, this fee will be directly used to compensate the instructor for their time. We ask that you make this cash payment directly to your instructor on the date of your lesson.

After-Hours Mountain Launching: If a mountain launch is requested and scheduled before or after our office hours of 9 AM EST to 6 PM EST, a $50 fee will apply, as well. We ask that you make this cash payment directly to your instructor on the date of your lesson.

All After Hour Lesson fees can be shared among students. Example: Two scheduled students would be required to pay their instructor $25 each. A maximum of four students can be assigned per one instructor with an after-hour lesson fee of $12.50/student.

Should you become the only student scheduled for a lesson, the Pro-Shop will make you aware of this private lesson fee (whenever applicable) typically the afternoon before a lesson. As the student, you can decide if you would like to cancel this lesson or continue with the private lesson/fee.

Looking for extensive use of both our small and big hill? Current, rated pilots can purchase “A Day on Our Hills” for $150.

Still have questions? Our office staff would love to help!

We can be contacted via phone call or email:

P: 706-383-1292

E: fly@flylookout.com

Manager: admin@flylookout.com

For full, in-depth policy, information, recommendations, and inquiries, please contact an acting manager.

We want to thank you for choosing Lookout Mountain Flight Park—America’s #1 choice for hang gliding, and we now offer paragliding lessons! Please stay tuned for more exciting news with paragliding!

We continue to focus on growth and expansion each day to ensure the future of free flight stays attainable to all.

Tips are never expected, but they are always greatly appreciated by our office staff members, instructors, apprentices, and pilots!

STUDENT TANDEMS

Our aerotow program runs every day except Tuesday and Wednesday. To give you the smoothest air possible, student tandems take place in our first and last time slots; 9AM and 6-8PM EST depending on the season.

Student tandems get booked up quickly due to the limited window of “student-able” conditions. The sooner you can book these morning and evening slots, the better!

TESTS + CHALK TALKS

As you progress through your training you will have to pass your USHPA and LMFP tests.  This Study Guide and your textbook will give you all the information you need.

Tests must be taken in person at the Pro Shop and reviewed by an instructor, between 10AM and 5PM EST any Thursday – Monday. You will need an 80% to pass each test. It is fine if it takes you a few times, we all do! The questions can be purposefully confusing to ensure proper review with your instructor.

Once you clear for the mountain, you will have a Mountain Chalk Talk where we will review your approach pattern and the specifics of flying off our 1,340ft launch. Chalk Talks and Parachute Clinics can be scheduled most afternoons, Thursday – Monday. Please call the shop in advance to make sure an instructor is available.

MOUNTAIN LAUNCHES

Once you have completed your tests and Mountain Chalk Talk, you are cleared to launch off of the mountain. Your first 10 mountain flights must be under direct instructor supervision. As a novice pilot, your window of “flyable” conditions is very narrow, usually first thing in the morning and just before sunset.

During normal business hours, we typically have an instructor on hand to supervise launches and make sure conditions are suitable. Morning/Evening Mountain Launch Instruction is available for students wanting to maximize their opportunities to fly outside of normal hours. The $50 fee is split between the group and goes straight to your instructor.

If more than seven days have passed since your last flight, you will have to do a skills-check and re-clear on the training hills (see more details on re-clears below).

Getting your first ten flights can take a while if mother nature doesn’t cooperate. During this process you will learn a lot about HANG WAITING. A huge part of flying is hanging around on launch watching the conditions develop and discussing knowledge and lore with your fellow pilots. Please be pro-active and take the time to research the conditions and be able to forecast when and will not be a suitable time to fly.

RE-CLEARS

Once you are cleared for a mountain launch by your instructor, you will be required to make a mountain launch within seven days of being approved to launch. If you are unable to perform your first mountain launch within this period, you will be required to perform a “re-clear” on our training hills. This will entail a lesson on our big hill in which an instructor will do another assessment of all the tasks required before mountain launching (turning, straight/level, speed run, and landing). 

A re-clear will not be required once an instructor has confirmed that you are eligible to safely launch yourself after you have completed (10) eligible flights. Of course, we welcome re-clear appointments for any and all pilots who wish to do a practice run with us before mountain launching.

Re-Clear pricing is as follows:

• Eagle Package Holder: An Eagle Package will include (50) flights on our training hills. If you have remaining flights left over on your package at the time you are ready to solo, you may use any remaining flights and turn them into a re-clear session. 
  
• VIP Package Holder: VIP Packages come with 75 training hill flights! As a VIP member, you also receive (3) free re-clears.
• Current/Other Pilots: All current pilots or new-student pilots who have used up/completed their learn-to-fly package may purchase a re-clear session for $79/lesson.

When you schedule with our office, please inform the staff member that you would like to schedule a re-clear and confirm which package you hold (if applicable).