Tandem Instructor Juan A. Laos founded Advanced Paragliding in 2000. A San Francisco Bay Area native, Juan has been involved in aviation since 1983, when he began lessons in piloting small aircraft. Always interested in other forms of flight, Juan began paragliding in 1994, after he was given a hang gliding gift certificate from a friend. Ironically, Juan was not aware of the sport of paragliding, but the hang gliding school he attended offered instruction in both paragliding and hang gliding. Noting the ease and convenience of paragliding versus hang gliding, Juan opted to learn paragliding. It immediately became his passion and he embraced the sport completely, continuing his paragliding education and becoming an instructor in 1997 and a tandem instructor in 1998. Juan has been instructing non-stop since 1997, and has had thousands of injury free flights, including hundreds of tandem instructional and recreational flights.

Juan loves to teach and has a patient enthusiasm that makes learning to fly an easy and enjoyable experience for all Advanced Paragliding students. "I love flying and I love sharing the sport with others. Watching our students grow and learn to be pilots gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction. I strive to make our instructional programs comfortable, fun, and informative. I am very proud of the fact that none of our students has ever had an accident while under instruction or after they have left our tutelage. I have to admit that I get a bit jealous when I see one of my former students flying better than I do! It also makes me very proud!"

Juan is a USHGA certified Advanced Instructor, Instructor Training Program Administrator, Tandem Instructor and Tandem Administrator. In addition, he has served on the site committee for both Ed Levin and Mission for the local flying sites administered by the Wings of Rogallo paragliding/hang gliding club.

Juan's instructional background includes many years as a California certified teacher, soccer coach, track coach, basketball coach and trainer.