How NOT to fly paragliders

Video sent to me by Avinash. Very scary operations in Manali (HP). The video is in German, but the message is very clear. The pilot and passenger do not wear appropriate foot wear, they have no helmets and their paragliding gear is worn out beyond repair. This practice would be totally banned in countries were there is a paragliding regulation in place. I feel it is important to expose this kind of practice, because at the end of the day the people who are most at risk at the innocent tourist who believe they get a fair deal. In the long run this kind of practise can only hurt the sport and it is us, the paragliding community that will bear the consequences. So much more the reason to take responsible actions and self-regulate our beloved sport.

You can see the video here

For short term foreign travel insurance....

..... I've been using IMG Global for my recent trips - it is available for us Indians through travelinsuranceindia.com. The policy to go for is Patriot America with Extreme Sports rider to cover Paragliding and it includes everything from emergency medical evacuation to the expenses for getting ones bodily remains or ashes back home, if it gets to that.

Well, as to the question of whether these guys are reliable, I tried calling their call center, had a couple of mail exchanges and these were professional enough. They have a list of cashless hospitals too (the ones in Indian cities looked good, so I assume that the ones abroad will be to the same standards).

Third party liability cover is not available through these folks though.

Yelagiri JK Take off videos

A couple of Videos shot by friends at take off.




A lovely frontal collapse in thermic conditions as Rajesh fails to stabilise his glider after take off resulting in a nasty surprise for him.

Next batch announced

We are planning a 2nd batch for beginners during the last w.e. of March, 26, 27, 28 and 29th. For more information please contact Robin from GetOffUrAss.com (+919980785225). We are also starting an advanced course for those who have completed the beginners batch#1 or #2. The advance course will start in mid-April.

A Sunday in Yelagiri

Some of us went out to Yelagiri last Sunday as the winds were predicted from the SSE, ideal for the Jayakrishnan take off. It was a wonderful day, hot and with a lovely set of smooth thermals kicking in at regular intervals. Rajesh had a short flight to start with and then I managed a respectable 45 mins as I caught several thermals that sent me some 500 m above take off over the Yelagiri plateau. I eventually landed back on the plateau in order to grab some lunch and get a good nap under a tree. The afternoon saw pleanty of restitution winds sweeping in and I had a lovely little flight down to the landing field in order to reception Akshay on his first solo flight. Akshay has enrolled on the advance course and has really got to grips with the paraliding. We need to work on his landing aproach, but overall he was happy with his first flight.

Here is a short video of the photos that were shot on that day



more photos on our picasa page

For those aspiring to do a cross country flight in Yelagiri, I would say the conditions are just ripe and will probably stay optimum for another couple of weeks. This is my first real season there and the thermals were very clean and large enough to catch. A couple of years back I did a 60K flight in Nandi around this time of the year, but Nandi degrades in early to mid April as large thunder clouds develop in the mid afternoon. Yelagiri I think will stay dry as it moves into April, but I do expect the increase in heat to render the air hotter and more homogeneous, thus making the thermal very choppy and small. I hope to get a little more flying experience later in April.

More photos cont...

Ramesh landing at the bottom of chotta hill

More photos from the first batch of Basic course

Climbing up to the chotta hill

Resting under the Big Banyan

Big Banyan chill out at we wait for the winds to die down

Ground handling session at the Big Banyan

Basic Course: batch 1, Jan/Feb 09

Ground Handling at Hoskote

Ground Handling at Hoskote

Chotta Hill take off

take off from chotta hill

Read up Vijay's account of his completion of the Basic Course

Completion of First Paragliding course at Bangalore

PG Massala is happy to announce that it has completed the first paragliding course conducted at Bangalore in collaboration with BMCindia.com and GetOffUrAss.com. The course saw the participation of 8 students, Akshay, Ramesh, Vijay, Anand, Barath, Krishna, Abha and Kanishk. It was a successful Basic course with everyone managing at least 1 flight from the chota hill, with the most ardent participants achieving 3 solo flights. Some videos will be posted later on.

After completion of each course, PG Massala inspects each gliders for any wear and tear, this means inspecting the sailcoth as well as each lines to make sure no damage has occured. If any are found, these are repaired in the Sailloft facility of Raj Hamsa Ultralights Pvt Ltd, the only company in Bangalore with such facilities. The gliders are then cleaned and packed properly awaiting the next batch. This inspections ensures the longevity of the gliders as well as safety for the next students.

Ten Men Flying under Giant Paraglider

A friend of mine recently sent me this video of ten mad French men taking off under a giant paraglider.... 9 men jump off in flight and sky dive. It is interesting to watch the solo landing of the pilot at the end of the flight. The wing is so large that he is barely making any head way and looking at the previous landings of the parachute jumps, it looks like there is very little wind!

Nandhi Hills Flying Permission

Dear All,

on 24th Jan, 2009 me and Arvind visited Horticulture dept at Lalbagh and DC office at Chikaballapur. Both the officers were not available to put our case and subsequently we have got the contact nos of these officers.

Horticulture dept head : Mr Vasnath Kumar - Director Ph: 26571925 (Direct) & 26579231 extn 202

Mr Anvar Pasha - DC

PA to DC Mr Salim 9880926617 & 08156 262001

Today me & Narendra met Mr Vasanth Kumar and he speaks typical government language and he says we need to take permission from all concerned depatments for flying!!! We asked him to give permission from his side then he says let him speak to Special Officer who stays at Nandhi hills to know the complete case & whether it comes under his jurisdiction to give any permissions. As of him they have control over 90 acres of land which is within boundery of Nandhi hills. Other part comes under forest and as per him, we may have to take permission from DC. We have to contact Mr Vasanth Kumar next week to know the developments.

In the mean time we have to visit DC's office this Friday to know whether there is any official order restricting paragliding at Nandhi hills. If DC clears from his side, there should not be much problems in speaking to horticulture department.

Let's hope for the best.

Regards

Venu

Crosswinds Massala

Nandi Take Off in Cross Winds from Dipankar Roy on Vimeo.


There is nothing more amusing as an after-thought than the memory of a near perfect crosswind take off. At the same place and the same time a week earlier I was all over the place trying to orient a glider that was determined to come up sideways. Of course it helps to learn from mistakes. Vrata pointed out on the previous occasion that I was tugging the brakes even before the glider came over head. So, this time I was determined to make it right. On the hill and in strong winds the wing will react fast to brakes so braking has to be at a minimum and subtle. I pulled the risers and let the wing come up on its own - its better to wait till the glider is overhead because at that point its not as wild as while its in the arc while coming up (Note to myself: the way I pulled the risers was not correct, I was tugging it towards myself when I should have stepped back a bit and pulled it upwards, will fix it next time). You will notice in the video that just after I turned around, for a brief moment, I was trying to bend forward and keep my arms behind. However, I was airborne in a split second so I had to correct my position accordingly.

The view from the ridge above has a calming effect. The rush you feel at the take off slowly dilutes and the mind now concentrates on two things - Left Brake and Right Brake. It takes a while to get into a rhythm with the beats and the turns and keeping track of other pilots. Then, you look around and start to enjoy the view. Once in a while you watch a bird fly by under you and you realize what a wonderful sport this is. Just so that I am in their good books, I thanked the hill and a bird that was soaring with me before I left the ridge and headed for the landing field.

I left the ridge a few minutes too late not realizing that it may take a while to lose height over the landing zone. It took me a good 8-10 minutes of figure of 8's and a few 360's to get down. The lights were just about switched off for the day when I touched down. I packed my glider in complete darkness, well, maybe my teeth were shining because I was grinning from ear to ear after the wonderful flight.

Alison's first flight at Chota Hill

Alison's First Flight from Dipankar Roy on Vimeo.

After days of perfecting her kiting skills Alison makes her first flight on Jan 18th from the Training Hill (Chota Hill) at Nandi under the supervision of Vrata. Welcome to the Free Flying Fraternity.

varkala (still elusive)

been to varkala for a third time since 2008, this time at least a got around to opening my wing the second day (which apparently is a far cry from the last two times when it wasnt even flyable). this time around, as soon as i reached varkala the second day at 12.30 in the afternoon i saw yaseen (?) (a french guy) take off in his second attempt (with a pretty unique style) and that was followed by ohelion (another French guy). well whats interesting about their take off was that both were (technically) doing a reverse launch, but had turned around and were running forward such a way that the risers were assymetrical, but were managing to do a forward/sideways fast run, brake, as well as control the risers to get the wing out of the rotor zone due to the sharp edge cliff, once the wing is out of the dead zone, then it is ok and the take off becomes somewhat normal and all that is left is crossing over a meter high fence around the cliff, at the takeoff (which wasnt much of a worry). gave it 4 shots (to get the wing up above my head), the fist time, run was too weak to even pick the wing up from the ground, progressing to around 60 degress by the time i reached the railings in my 4th takeoff attempt but by which time the two of them landed, i was bloody sweating with all the reverse runs, spreading the wings, maybe more than the sea lets go to the sun, and it was time for lunch (12.30 in the afternoon not far from the equator). and then the conditions were too weak to give it another shot. waited till evening, then left for trivandrum after getting some tips from ohel on the takeoff technique (who it turns out has been flying for 10 years, around 2000+ hrs, and has been camping at varkala since october). the next day, was in no mood to risk driving 120 kms without a semi-assured flight and had to be back by evening for a party which meant me sticking around trivandrum.

been to the beach at trivandrum the next day evening with an intention to kite, but the main beach shanghumugham turned out to be crowded and went for a relatively secluded spot near a fishing village to the north, but it was no fun trying to keep the wing up in light winds in narrow beach, with fishing boats as obstacles and a bunch of of rowdy kids for company. aborted the kiting, and went recce-ing for other decent places to kite - unfortunately it turns out that its the same story all the way to the north till thumba, which would mean that a shanghumugham beach would after all be the best bet to kite, unless i can get to find another beach to the south towards kovalam (my next trivandrum trip, maybe).

so, looks like I have yet to do some waiting for Varkala which is pretty sad considering thats the closest flying site to Trivandrum. but the good side of it is that i got enough time to practice a 'varkala launch'. till then, its massala at nandi.

A New Paragliding School in Bangalore

As of this coming w.e. we have a new paragliding school in Bangalore. The PG Massala Club, in collaboration with Bangalore Mountaineering Club (bmcindia.org) and Getoff Ur Ass the Adventure Store (getoffurass.com) , will be conducting courses Nandi Hills and Hoskote with 4 brand new gliders. All those interested should link up with:

bmcindia.org/paragliding

two course are offered, the initiation course and the mountain flying course. Once you have successfully graduated from both, you will be able to keep progressing by flying in a safe environment with the senior members of the PG Massala Club.

hope to catch you in the skies of Nandi!

PG Massala is to become an actuall paragliding club

Arabind, Rajesh, Vrata, Hari, Venu, Avinash and Alison be forming the new PG Massala club. I hope to be able to get some more post on this on a more regular basis. For the time being check out our photos on:

picasaweb.google.com/flying.india


A Sunset Flight at Nandi Hills from Hari Nair on Vimeo.

New year flying at nandi

caught my first thermals of 2006 in the col between the two hills at nandi. Light thermals that kicked in only around 3 in the afternoon. My first morning flight was top to bottom. Took off from the north east take off which had cross winds. They were easterly winds that were wrapping around and providing a lot of downdrafts.
My second flight inthe afternoon i took off from the south east launch and although my takeoff left little to desire I manage to recover a slip and take off clean. Went towards my right and started searching for thermals on the bowl between the two hills. That is where in the morning I had found something. There was a light thermal that just about kept me even. My old wing, weighed down by my reserve and instruments, didn't give me much to hope for. So after a few circles I headed further south towards the second hill... but I lost too much and eventually I had to turn towards the landing and end there for the day. Still it was a good start. i am looking forward to February when the temperatures will be a little higher. I still aim for a decent x-country flights westwards before summer hits us.

2006 Jamboree Bangalore

attended the jamboree over the last 2 days. Lots of interest in flying all sorts of machines with generous numbers interested in paragliding. let us see if any actually take the time to come and watch us fly, let alone continue onto a course. There is definitely a much need website to diffuse more information about the general state of flying as a sport in India.

First flight in india

Hello I am starting this blog in order to let loose my findings and experience flying in India. I am going to be in Bangalore for work and got in touch with the local paragliding club. They are flying on a regular basis in Nandi Hill, 60km north of the city. Here are a few pics of my first flight towards the end of the monsoon. This was back in october.


this is Naren, one of the fouding members of the club taking off



a final word of thanks to co-founder pilot Vinay who gracefully lent me his carabiners as i had left mine home. As i had not flown for a while and had removed all extra weight from my paraglider when i flew into bangalore from paris, in haste i had forgottten to put them back on. So many thanks Vinay!