2025 Ozone Woodrat Fly-In for Female, Trans, and Non-Binary Pilots

2025 Woodrat Fly In for Female, Trans, and Non-Binary Pilots

Sponsored by Ozone!

May 15-18th, 2025

Welcome female, trans, and non-binary pilots of all levels and abilities! We are excited to host you in the beautiful Applegate Valley in prime season for a weekend of flying, learning, mentorship, and community building. This event is for paragliders and hang gliders, and we will have mentors who specialize in both disciplines, and vehicles that can accommodate both wing types.

The focus of this event will be to spend the weekend flying, learning from, and growing our awesome community of female pilots. Our goal is to create an accepting and encouraging space where women, trans, and non-binary pilots feel empowered to ask questions, push themselves, and unlock the amazing gifts that free flight has to offer! We also plan on sending it should the weather permit of course!

This event is a very selfish endeavor - as I've traveled around the world to fly, some of my most memorable flights have been with my fellow lady pilots (or Lady Birds as I like to say). I've learned that it takes a concerted effort to grow female participation in the sport through mentorship and support as women progress and build their paragliding skill sets. Communities with more equal gender representation are often more supportive, safer, and generally more fun to spend time with!

Woodrat and the Applegate Valley are special places to fly and accessible/fun for all levels. The site is beautiful this time of year and while bigger XCs are available, even beginners can do safer and smaller triangles. You can look forward to a wide variety of mountains, ridges and valleys that keep it interesting and engaging. The weather is less blistering hot in May than in mid summer, and there is potential to fly in almost all directions. The big, multidirectional launch is at 3,800 ft, and most days you’re getting to at least 5,000 ft, with potential for 8-10k ft. There is a big primary LZ that can be active mid-day, but for those times there are a number of alternate LZs with predictable valley flows. Last but certainly not least, look forward to a beautiful river to swim in, local wine tasting, local breweries, and trails for hiking or MTB!

A huge thank you to our sponsors: Ozone Paragliders, The Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, and the United States Hang gliding and Paragliding Association!

What's included in your ticket?

We are capping this event at 40 pilots to make sure that we can pull off a great event with solid logistics. Your ticket will get you access to our private Telegram group chat for the weekend, a spot at our group camp site at Cantrell Buckley Campground, coordinated rides to launch each day, coordinated retrieve and pilot tracking, daily site and weather briefings, daily mentorship sessions with top US and Woodrat pilots, some sort of event swag, and entry to the party Saturday night!

Tickets DO NOT include your RVHPA Membership which is required for all pilots looking to fly in the Rogue/Applegate Valley. We will be requiring proof of membership at check in. You can do so ahead of time at https://rvhpa.org/membership/.

Required Gear

You will only be allowed to participate in this event if you have the following personal gear: Rated wing, harness, reserve parachute, radio, GPS tracking device with active service (like a Garmin Inreach), helmet, shoes, cell phone.

Tentative Event Schedule

Thursday (5/15) evening 7 pm:

*Check In at group campsite

*Required welcome, weather, and safety meeting at group campsite.

Friday (5/16)

*8 am: Friday weather briefing for the day, quick overview of forecast for the weekend and flying site options. Go fly!

*Mid-morning: XC flying at best possible sites! (Woodrat Mid or Top Launch)

*Friday afternoon: Glassoff!

Saturday (5/17)

*8 am Saturday morning mentorship session: Weather briefing for the day, suggested flying options for the day.

*Mid-morning: XC flying at best possible sites! (Woodrat Mid or Top Launch)

*Evening/Glassoff flying

*Saturday night fundraising and social event at Ravens Landing with RVHPA Club: Food/beer, raffle, guest speaker or music, socialize with the wider RVHPA community!

Sunday (5/19)

*Sunday morning briefing and mentor sessions! Go flying!

* Event Wrap Up Meeting. Shout out to any flights of note or personal bests/moments from the day before, weather briefing for the day, suggested flying options for the day

*Mid-morning: Go flying at best possible site! (Woodrat Mid or Top Launch)

*Evening/afternoon flying

We need volunteers!

This event is made possible only through the support of our volunteers. If you are able to help out this weekend (even just for one day), please register with the volunteer ticket and select which days/tasks you're able to help with. We'll need rides to launch, retrieve, launch support, and photography/videography. Volunteers will get access to the Friday night party and a HUGE thank you from all of the Lady Birds. Please do not register as a volunteer if you are planning on flying during the event.

FAQs

What if the weather isn't flyable? Woodrat has a wide variety of flying sites, at least one of which is usually flyable any given day of the year. Worst case scenario? We'll go hiking, mountain biking, swimming, or maybe even do some wine tasting.

Where should I stay or camp? Your ticket includes a spot at the Group Campsite that we’ve reserved at Cantrall Buckley Campground. We also recommend Raven's Landing for camping or rooms and is a great hangout for pilots. You can also look into an Airbnb (near Ruch, OR).

Can my husband/boyfriend/SO come too? Of course, although event participation is for female, female-identifying, trans, and non-binary identifying pilots only. Encourage your guys to register as a volunteer!

What airport do I fly into? The best airport is Medford Airport (MFR). You can rent a car at the airport easily. Once you register you’ll be added to a Telegram group for the event where you can coordinate/share a rental.