Key takeaways
- The maximum weight for this tandem flight is 100 kg (220 lbs), applied the same way to every passenger without exception.
- A tandem wing is certified for a weight range, so being unusually light matters to the pilot almost as much as being heavy.
- Children under 14 and pregnant women are not taken on this flight, whatever their weight happens to be.
- The only physical task is a few running steps off the wooden ramp, shorter than at a slope launch because the ground simply stops.
Why a Tandem Wing Has a Weight Limit at All
A tandem paraglider wing is certified to fly with a combined weight, pilot and passenger together, that sits inside a set range. That is a fact about the equipment rather than a judgement about the person strapped into the harness. Go too far over that range and the wing does not generate the lift it is built for. Go too far under it and the same problem appears from the other direction, because the canopy is shaped to load against a certain amount of weight, not against none at all.
That is the entire reason the limit exists. It has nothing to do with how someone looks or how fit they are, and everything to do with a wing that only performs the way it is designed to within its certified range. A pilot flying above Pedra Bonita has to stay inside that range on every single flight, with every passenger who books.
The Limit at Pedra Bonita Is 100 kg (220 lbs)
Sandro Cardoso's flights from the Pedra Bonita ramp are not offered to anyone over 100 kg (220 lbs). That is the figure the operator works to, and it applies the same way to every booking, regardless of height or build. There is no case-by-case judgement made at the ramp itself.
It's worth checking this before you book rather than finding out on the day. A flight turned away at the club because a passenger is over the limit wastes the morning for everyone in the car, the pilot included, and it is far easier to check the number now than to discover it at Sao Conrado. Confirming your weight with the operator when you book, rather than after the drive up to the ramp, is the simplest way to avoid that outcome.
The wooden ramp at Pedra Bonita, built out from the hillside above Sao Conrado.
Children Under 14 and Pregnant Women Do Not Fly
Two groups are excluded outright, whatever they weigh. Children under 14 are not taken tandem from Pedra Bonita, and the flight is not offered to pregnant women. Neither rule bends for an especially tall thirteen-year-old or a particularly early pregnancy, both are treated as a flat line rather than a judgement call made on the day.
Nothing about the flight itself, the run off the ramp or the wing overhead, changes for these two groups. The rule applies ahead of the day, at the point of booking, so it is worth working out whether it applies to your party before anyone arrives at the Clube Sao Conrado de Voo Livre.
The One Physical Thing You Actually Do
Once the safety briefing is done and the wing is laid out, a passenger has exactly one job: run a few steps forward off the ramp with the pilot strapped in close behind. The pilot controls the wing and does the flying from the moment the canopy fills, and the passenger's part is over almost as soon as it starts.
Because the launch is a ramp rather than a hillside, that run is shorter than at most paragliding sites. A slope launch asks for a proper run downhill until the ground falls away beneath your feet. A ramp is already built out from the hillside, so the ground simply stops, and the distance to the edge is a handful of steps rather than a real sprint.
That difference matters more than general fitness does. Someone who could not manage a long run on an incline can usually manage a short one on level decking, which is part of why this launch style suits a wider range of passengers than a slope launch would.
100 kg
The maximum weight for a passenger on this flight, applied the same way to everyone who books it.
An Old Injury or a Specific Condition
There is no fitness test attached to this flight, no separate height rule and no published list of medical conditions that rule a passenger out on their own. What actually gets asked of your body is a few steps of forward movement on a flat ramp, a different question entirely from whether you can run downhill or climb a steep flight of stairs.
If you have a bad knee, a bad back, or any other condition that makes you unsure whether a short run is realistic, the honest move is to raise it with the operator when you book rather than guess. That is ordinary practical advice for a flight involving any physical movement at all, not a special caveat for this one.
Who This Flight Actually Suits
Put the pieces together and this flight sets three firm lines: nobody over 100 kg (220 lbs), nobody under 14, and no pregnant women. Past those three, the only thing being asked of anyone's body is a short run off a wooden ramp above Sao Conrado, with a pilot doing the flying from the moment the wing fills.
Pedra Bonita sits above the beach, reached by road through the Tijuca forest, and the flight ends where it began, back at the club below, having landed on the sand at Sao Conrado. None of that geography asks anything extra of a passenger. The ramp, the weight limit and the two exclusions are the whole of what decides whether this booking suits you.
