Rob Condella

Looks like tiny @con3081 found the pot of gold! 🍀 as I evolve in my taste as a photographer I’ve noticed my preference have swapped. The scenery is the subject and the person in it is for perspective so you can help interpret the scope. I like this approach. Both these photos are of Rob as we flew into uniquely remote locations. In fact, if you go back to the Green Zipper post where I mentioned we almost missed that cool phenomenon, well, this is why. Look at that rainbow. Our eyes were glued to it and the had to chase it. Tiny Paramotor right there in the middle. A wonderful trip with @scoutaviation to guide us into wondrous places around the world. Next month Rob returns to guide us on another Scout adventure through Namibia. Pretty excited for it. It might actually break up my flow of pics from Iceland… maybe 😜. #iceland #paramotor #paragliding #iceland🇮🇸 #thorsmork

A straight down view from a few thousand feet above Vatnajökull. It’s the largest glacier in Iceland, covering about 8 percent of the entire country. From the air, the sheet of ice goes on as far as you can see having an equal balance of beauty and intensity. There’s something humbling about flying over terrain that powerful as your fingertips are starting to go numb. I love flying down low carving along the glacial spines but from higher up you really start to understand what’s happening. The patterns become clearer. The scale sinks in. Those ridges are essentially the scars of converging ice rivers flowing outward from the main ice cap. You can see where compression zones are forming, how deep and chaotic the crevasse fields get, and even pick out areas where katabatic wind is most likely to pour down the glacier’s surface, which is obviously not fun to fly in… Aesthetically, the lines and colors flow in a harmony. Structurally, it’s raw and alive. From above looking down it tells its whole story.

During a quick pit stop on Expedition Flying Noodle, I ran across this GoPro display at the mall in Chiang Mai and had to do a double take. It’s still pretty wild seeing the same camera I’ve carried on all my adventures for over a decade now sitting on shelves around the world with my photo on it. Legit. I think I’ll have a few more photos to add to the collection by the time it leaves Thailand. @gopro

Last year Miro and I packed up the Paramotors in Slovakia and drove north to a new location - Norway 🇳🇴 With a few pins on a map we started driving and flying. In a few months we are heading back to continue adventure revisiting our favorite pins and adding new ones. Like always we will be chasing good weather, flying as much as possible, and hunting for the best views Norway has to offer from a paramotor. Norway is a big country so there’s so much more left to see from the sky. If you are interested in joining us you can get more at wingmanadventures.org and reserve a spot. 📆Two trips: ▫️May 26th to June 3rd ▫️June 6th to June 14th

I’m cool with being the crazy dreamer. 📸 @acroracio

After a little over two months of not being in the sky, it felt really good to finally get back up there. Between traveling and leaving my paramotor and glider stored in Thailand for the next expedition, I ended up spending an awkward amount of time on the ground. I’m not sure if it was the time off or the fact that I’m on a new glider, but the last few flights I did in Florida have been such a good time. I’ve almost got the brake lengths and tip lines dialed to my liking, and I’ve been really impressed with the overall handling of the BGD Icon 18m. Since I’m flying a borrowed paramotor and don’t have a reserve, I’ve been keeping things chill for now. No trashy air, barrel rolls, or SATs just yet. Launches, landings, and overall flight control have all been solid. The glider goes intuitively where you want it to with minimal input. It definitely wants to play, and I’m excited to start dancing with it soon. 📸 @jeffberry_

This past year I started writing down quotes in my Notes app when one caught my attention. One of them stuck with me: “Sometimes you’re chasing a treasure no one else is looking for.” I chased mine across 11 countries, flying my paramotor, spending a lot of time alone moving between places, trying to understand what I was really after. Over time , it is clear it was never about having the most epic flight or getting the perfect shot. It’s everything around it. The people you meet, the quiet moments, the challenges, the uncertainty that never fully goes away. The paramotor just happens to be the way I get to experience it. Another year in and the hunt still feels unfinished. I don’t think this is something you finish. You just keep moving toward it, knowing most people won’t see what you’re chasing. And being okay with that. The pursuit itself is the price and the point. The “End Goal”.

Every year seems to slip by faster than the last, no matter how much I do or don’t do. 2025 was no different. I packed in a lot, but most days came with this low hum in the background, like I was behind on everything. Always another task, another thing I should have handled better or sooner. For a while, that sat heavy with me. But maybe I was not behind at all. Maybe I was just ahead on life, which a normal checklist couldn’t capture… Over the past two months, I slowed things way down on purpose. No flying. Slowly traveling. More time with family and friends. Long moments to reflect on the year that passed and think clearly about the one ahead. I started mapping out my ideal 2026 in detail and I’m sure it will change 100 more times before the year is over. The plan is ambitious, maybe even a little uncomfortable, but if I complete half of it, I will call that a win. Thank you to my family, friends, and sponsors for everything you gave me this past year. Your support has kept “gas in the tank” more than you know. New places, long days, early mornings, and a lot of uncomfortably-exciting moments to come. It will be a good time or a good story. Either way, it will be good.

Canyon runs are the best. And I failed to accurately show how big these walls really are. Massive. Nonetheless, flying our paramotors low and seeing the walls go thousands of feet up above you is a real adrenaline kicker. Plenty of room for activities too. Got my buddy @con3081 cruising down. It happened to be our last flight of this trip and we clocked in at over 3hrs. More photos from this trip to come. The greens and rivers… I can’t get enough. The third (double photo) is my favorite in how you can get a better idea for the scope. Like many other recent posts, there isn’t much grace in respects to landing options if the motor went down. But press on we must because we can’t say no to a great adventure in Iceland. If you fly, join @scoutaviation for a great flying adventure in the world’s best places. #paramotor #vittorazimotors #iceland #planetearth #natgeotravelpic

Before I ever traveled, I made myself a promise: I would visit Thailand before I turned 30. I ended up breaking that promise… but even if I’m a few years late, I finally did it! Thailand is the first Asian country I’ve ever visited, and I have to say it’s every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be. The food, the people, the lifestyle… all truly incredible. I have fallen in love. Sometimes you just need a little push to go after what you want. One day, while @travis_trips and I were talking on the phone, something clicked. I bought a ticket on the spot, packed up my paramotor, and headed out to scout for my new expedition, “Flying Noodle 2026”. This upcoming year is shaping up to be a busy one. I’m excited and nervous for the goals I have… I spent 30 days in Thailand, but honestly, more than half of that time I was fighting off and on sickness. Whenever I wasn’t sick, the wind decided not to cooperate. Between the weather and the time lost recovering, I got far less scouting and flying done than I’d hoped. Luckily, on one of the final days, everything lined up and I managed to get a paragliding flight in on an island just off the coast. I have made the decision to leave my gear behind in Thailand. Partly out of practicality, partly as a promise to myself. Now I have to return. The goal is to spend two full months exploring and flying as much of Thailand as possible, moving from north to south, chasing good weather and good vibes.

Wingman Adventures calendar for 2026! Which paramotor adventure are you signing up for? #scoutaviation #paramotor #paramotoradventures

This year, I decided to quickly hop over to Dubai from Egypt to do some flying. I thought the process would be simple, but just a few days before arriving I found out it wouldn’t be so easy. Recent GCAA changes now require visiting pilots to have an aviation medical exam and police clearance before being allowed to fly. The process was a bit involved and costly, but luckily I had some local help that made everything much smoother. Honestly, I was close to canceling the whole trip when i learned this information, but since I already had my flight and hotel booked, I decided to go for it and I’m happy I did. I ended up getting in four two-hour flights with nearly perfect conditions, which let me explore a good amount of the surrounding desert. The flying was amazing, and I discovered that Dubai has a strong, very cool community of pilots. Getting to fly with them was easily the highlight of my time there and made all the effort worth it once again.