Paragliding Papa Takes To The Sky

Siskiyou County Dad Takes To The Sky And Becomes A Better Parent

For some kids, the name “Dad” connotes a hero who can do anything but fly. However, for Elliot, 9 years old, and Fern, 6 years old, not even this limitation distinguishes their dad from a superhero. By day, Troy Bainbridge works for Shasta Regional Medical Center in Weed, CA, primarily as a physician assistant for family medicine, but after hours, Troy’s alter-ego takes flight under the bright canopy of a paraglider wing.

Troy first paraglided in 2012, thanks to his friend Brian Kerr, owner of Paraglide Shasta. A few years later, Troy took to the sport in earnest, training and purchasing a wing. Troy’s affinity for flight began at age 16 when he joined his father and brother in becoming licensed pilots for single-engine airplanes. He still flies small aircraft, but paragliding opened a dimension of flight for him that feels closer to nature. During a flight over Doris to the Oregon border, for example, one of Troy’s navigational instruments died. Deprived of the technology, Troy simply turned his eyes to his flying companions – a pair of red-tail hawks. “We were probably a couple of thousand feet up the air,” Troy recalls. “I followed the red tails as they caught a thermal and just flew with them.”

Like hawks, paragliders spend their air time soaring and thermaling, carried by a 30 foot-long nylon or ripstop polyester wing at an average speed of 30 miles per hour. Soaring involves riding ridge lifts, air movements like those created when the wind comes off the ocean and runs up a cliff face. Thermaling describes riding hot, upward-spiraling air masses that can carry winged passengers up to 18,000 feet high, the legal altitude limit for paragliders. Thermals have taken Troy as high as 14,000 feet. 

While some paragliders seek adrenaline-infused rides, Troy and his friends focus on safety. “We’re casual recreational pilots,” he says, “We want to get home at night to see our families and get to work the next day.” Safety requires paying careful attention to the weather and maintaining control from the moment the wing unfurls.

Troy describes the paragliding community as small, close-knit, and welcoming. “Since the community is so small, you can actually talk with some of your heroes,” he says. The amount of dedication required probably contributes to the size of the community. Flights themselves usually last about two hours, but becoming skilled enough to fly safely and independently requires hours of practice. The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (USHPA) oversees gliding pilots, awarding ratings based on demonstrated competence. Troy has made his way to a P-3 rating, marking him as an intermediate paraglider. Having earned this ranking since he began seriously paragliding in 2014, Troy hopes to soon level up to P-4, the next step toward his goal of taking his family on tandem flights.

Although they cannot yet ride with him, Troy has made sure his wife and children have experienced paragliding alongside him with licensed instructors. His wife Kendra, a bird aficionado and the owner of Raven Tree wild bird and nature retail shop in Mt. Shasta got a bird’s eye view of Costa Rica on vacation the couple took together. Both Elliot and Fern have flown over stretches of the North State. “I think the kids enjoyed it,” says Troy, “But I don’t want to force them into it. I’m waiting until the interest gets sparked. Elliot and Fern have grown up with paragliding, so it’s almost old-hat for them! I hope they appreciate it. I think they’re lucky!”

Troy usually paraglides once or twice a week, but he keeps a close eye on how much the sport takes him away from his family. “One year I was hitting it pretty hard and I had to scale back,” he says. “I don’t want to stress out my family, even though they are very supportive.”

Upon returning to earth, Troy finds himself rejuvenated, his mind cleared and focused. “It actually makes me a better dad and husband,” he says. “It’s almost like meditation. It’s such a special feeling to experience nature, to fly around with the birds. There’s nothing like it.”

While paragliding might not suit everyone, for Troy getting a bird’s eye view of the world grounds him in what – and who – matters most.