The skies above the shoreline will be filled with colorful flying machines as Freedom Flight Center in Panama City Beach hosts "the world's largest beachfront powered paraglider event" at Edgewater Beach Resort. Beach Blast 2012 will gather pilots from around the world May 7-13 for "Flying in Paradise," the theme of the event. Beachgoers will see them drifting between the condos, racing high above the sand, and running obstacles and training missions over the water. The public is invited to use Beach Access points 40 and 41 to visit the launch and landing zone and vendors area on the shore behind the resort.

Flights will depend on the weather, but organizers expect the powered paragliders to be in the air all day each day of the event. Participating pilots will have daily briefings and flying clinics to train on maneuvers. They will fly over the water to an altitude of 2,000-3,000 feet, stop their motors and perform maneuvers under radio instruction. After completing maneuvers, they will either re-start their motors or glide back to the landing zone (LZ) for debriefing.

At 1 p.m. each day, participants will hold the "Holy Moly" acrobatics/ribbon/precision air show, featuring talented paragliders performing aerobatics, as well as jumping from planes and helicopters. At 7 a.m. Tuesday, powered paragliders will race to "the end of the beach." From 7 a.m. to noon on Wednesday are the "Extreme Pylon Racing" qualifying rounds, with the finals Saturday.

Safety rules for Beach Blast call for pilots to carry a reserve parachute and a flotation device, and they forbid flying over people on the beach or flying over the resort pool decks.

Another competition will be a "Kiting Challenge" in which pros and novices will compete side-by-side in an elimination format consisting of stationary kiting and an obstacle course. The week's events conclude with a banquet May 12.

See a photo gallery of the 2011 fly-in<<

>>View video of a powered paraglider at PCB<<