All of our instructors are Instructor Administrators or Advanced Instructors.

Christopher Grantham
Christopher dreamed of flying hang gliders as a youngster but in 2001 discovered paragliding. He quickly left everything else behind and dedicated his life to improving the sport. He currently holds an Instructor Administrator Appointment, the highest rating qualification for an instructor, and a Tandem Instructor rating. His syllabus and school program, developed from experience while teaching around the world, is nationally recognized and used by many other schools. Like many pilots his passion began extending to other airsports and in 2007 he began flying small powered aircraft. Christopher has recently returned to Santa Barbara after years of teaching at the world famous Point of the Mountain in Utah and in 2012 he accepted the Instructor of the Year Award from the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Assoc. Chris has more students still flying after 10 years than any other instructor in the states!

Chad Bastian
Chad began flying in 1993 and has since racked up more airtime than any other pilot in the US. He holds an Instructor Administrator Appointment and a Tandem Instructor rating, making Fly Above All the only school in SoCal with two Instructor Administrators on the team. He began competing nationally in 1997 and in 2001 he represented the US National Paragliding Team in the World Competition in Spain. The US Paragliding National Championships in the Owens Valley were organized by Chad in 2002. He also holds the highest safety award possible from the USHPA (Fifth Diamond- 5,000 consecutive safe flights), now with approximately 12,426 flights. He is also one of the few P-5 Master rated Pilots, the highest paragliding rating available. If you're interested in paramotoring, Chad is your guy. He has been building and teaching paramotoring for many years. Chad holds a commercial pilot rating as well as his numerous accomplishments in paragliding.

Bob Peloquin
Bob has been paragliding since 2002 and he quickly found his other activities were gathering dust. He is exceptionally analytical and has been able to safely guide many students through the trials of their first mountain flights. He holds an Advanced Intructor rating, flies paramotors and trikes, and is the designer of the best paragliding simulator in the US.

Doug Gotthard
Doug joined Fly Above All in 2004 as a Basic Instructor and quickly earned his Advanced Instructor rating. He has instructing in his blood, having come to paragliding from the world of sailing instruction. Doug settles for nothing less than perfection in everything he does and he brings that attitude to paragliding. Doug is an exceptional pilot and has competed around the country. We love that he still flies a beginner/intermediate level glider and consistently outflies pilots on hot-ships!

Irene Revenko
Irene started flying in 1993 in France and came to Fly Above All in 2002 as a Basic Instructor. In 2004 she earned her Advanced Instructor rating. Because of her early experience in the birthplace of paragliding she has a unique perspective on how the sport has progressed and how old teaching styles can be changed to make it safer. In 2001 she was a nationally ranked pilot and finished 3rd in the womens division at the Chelan, Wa Nationals.

Robin Cushman
We met Robin at The Point of The Mountain in 2011 and she quickly became a member of the Fly Above All team. Her official title is Western Regional Coordinator In Charge Of Fun Stuff and chances are she's the one we thank at the end of the day for organizing a stellar day of flying. She is also one of our newest speed flying junkies so if you'd like a little perspective from someone new to it, talk to her!