Arizona Powerchutes

Had to write a review to counter the one before me after a great experience we had with Randy at Arizona power-​chutes.
Took my padre with me as a early Christmas present. We used to fly 2-​seater planes when I was young and I thought he would get a kick out of this.
First off Randy, who runs the show is top notch and an excellent person to deal with. He was extremely informative and did his best to explain the process of setting up the machine, why he is doing the things he is doing pre-​flight and generally putting everyone’s fears to rest about the process. He even laughed at the «we all gonna die» jokes that my family was throwing at him the entire time, even though I’m sure he gets it from just about anyone he takes up for their first time.
The flight was fun and enjoyable to anyone who likes a little adventure in their life. I would equate it to a more exciting para-​gliding trip. Randy took us zooming through the washes in the area seeing local wild life and allowing us to see the desert for a completely new vantage point, just as the sun was setting. It was exhilarating, relaxing and beautiful. Definitely something I would recommend to anyone.
to address the prior comments:
Both my dad and I are about 5’11″ I’m pretty fit and my dad won’t deny he has a bit of a spare tire that comes with age. Neither of us found the chair that uncomfortable for the 30 minute flight. You basically have to sit with your legs spread out wide as Randy’s chair is directly in front of you. Think of it as being in the middle seat in the back of a compact car that has the hump in the middle, so you have to put one leg on each side. It’s not something you would want to deal with on a constant basis but it shouldn’t detract you from pursuing this if its something you’ve always wanted to do.
I also have a huge noggin and didn’t find any issue with the headset’s or microphone. The engine is loud and the headsets cover your entire ears to one, drown out the engine noise behind you (which they work great at) and allow you to hear Randy as he talks to you mid flight. My dad didn’t have any issues with it either.
I know its trivial but I was glad to see Randy clean the headsets and mics between each use.
Neither of us had any feelings of Nausea or any sickness after the flight.
To sum it all up, the flight was fun, Randy is great and I would recommend his services to anyone who wants to give this a go!

i took a flight with instructor randy long in march after purchasing a groupon in decemeber. this must be a pretty popular activity, because i had to book an appointment about four weeks in advance.
so this is a unique experience, but i wouldn’t say it’s worth the money. i spent $ 125, and i felt really sick afterward, as did my friend who also took a flight. maybe it was just me, but i think two things influenced this:
(1) the headphones i had to wear were really small and incredibly uncomfortable. they pinched my brain for the duration of the 30-​minute flight. (but it’s possible that’s just because i have a huge head.)
(2) the seat you have to sit in is akin to a medieval torture device. let me qualify this by saying that i’m not a small person. (i’m 5’9″ and weigh about 250 pounds. the weight limit for this activity is 300 pounds, but i can only imagine how uncomfortable this would be for someone bigger than i am.) i even have fairly small legs for a fat person, but i still got pinched by the instructor’s seat every time he would lean back to maneuver the contraption.
also, he usually books more than a couple of people at a time. and you have to wait for everyone to finish before you can leave. so plan to be out there at least three hours. most of the time you’re just standing in the middle of the desert watching everyone else fly around.
the instructor was nice enough. very knowledgeable about the area we were touring. but i just wasn’t feeling it because i wanted to get down.
in short. it was too expensive and too uncomfortable for me to recommend it highly. and it’s not fun for fat people with large heads. ha.