Meet your instructor
You learn from Shawn — a real instructor, not a franchise.
Shawn Elder · USPPA-certified, tandem-rated paramotor instructor
I'm Shawn Elder, and I own and instruct at Paramotor Flyers. The first time I left the ground under a paramotor, I was hooked — there's nothing else like drifting low over Oklahoma in the calm morning air, just you, a wing, and a small motor on your back.
What kept me in it wasn't the adrenaline — it was how approachable flight suddenly became. No runway, no pilot's license, no airplane. Just good training and respect for the conditions. I became a USPPA-certified instructor and earned my tandem rating so I could share that feeling the right way: safely, patiently, one person at a time.
I built this school around a simple promise — you learn from me, not a franchise or a rotating staff. I fly these skies just about every day the weather lets me, and I teach the way I'd want my own family taught: ground-first, no rushing, and never leaving the field until you're genuinely ready.
Credentials & experience
Trained, rated, and in the air almost every day.
USPPA-Certified Instructor
Certified to instruct through the United States Powered Paragliding Association, the sport's recognized U.S. body.
Tandem-Rated
Rated to fly tandem instructional and experience flights — two people, one wing, fully guided.
Flies (almost) daily
An active, current pilot who's in the air whenever the Oklahoma weather allows — not a seasonal hobbyist.
Family-run & local
A small, accountable Durant, Oklahoma school — you deal with the owner directly, every time.
A family-run school
The whole family trusts these skies.
It's a family-run school — my wife Tiffany and my daughter Haley fly too. When your own family trusts the sky, you teach it a little differently.
Tiffany and Haley help run the school, but make no mistake — Shawn is the instructor you book and the one you'll fly with. That's the point of a small, family-run operation: it's personal, it's accountable, and the person teaching you has his own family in the air.
The field
A friendly, real place to learn.
We fly from a private 3-acre training field at Durant Regional Airport — wide-open Oklahoma grass and a pilot's lounge for ground school. A friendly, real place to learn.We're at Durant Regional Airport in south-central Oklahoma, near Lake Texoma — wide-open grass, calm morning air, and about 90 minutes north of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Come fly with Shawn.
First-timers are always welcome. Book a flight, or call and talk it through with Shawn directly.
Ready to learn? See training & pricing →