Geo – Paragliding Feb 2010

The first batch of Geo Pilots started off on their paragliding course on the 19th of February from Mumbai. We had twelve adventurous souls including our Chairman who put their hearts, bodies and minds into completing the course. Day one started out with introductions students with trainers and instructors at Rangoli restaurant, Kamshet. After being briefed about the course, going through the training booklet, signing off on the Templepilots indemnity our boys were ready to fly.

We went off to a new site at Kara about 60km from Pune, a flat plateau. We had three vehicles, of which one managed to do off-roading very well – Scorpio belonging to Sanjay Sarkar – the two hired vehicles a Tata Safari and Chevrolet Tavera played safe and did not venture to do the steep climb to the training site. Our boys got off and walked in the afternoon sun for their first feel of a paraglider.

A lot of the trainees had stated that they had done a lot of adventure sports but those were all connected to the ground. There were a lot of apprehensions on flying as their feet would not be touching the ground. Tom (a Brit doctor who is now part of the Templepilots team) made us do warm up exercises specific to handling paragliders. After the warm up exercise he made us close our eyes and join our hands in a “namaste”, then rub our hands together while telling ourselves that we are going to fly and that we would be connected to earth through our energy field and there was nothing to fear. After a minute or so he told us to take our hands apart and feel the energy between the palms of our hand. I could actually feel my hands pulsating back and forth – it actually felt like there was a heart beating between my palms. This was truly fascinating – you guys should try it out sometime – as what you actually feel is your “aura”!

The first task was being introduced to the various parts of a paraglider, how to connect to the harness and how to handle the glider. Once that was done, our trainee pilots moved over to ground handling of the glider. This is real physical activity, as you have to run and get the glider over your head and keep it there on the run. The trouble is wind speed and direction affect glider balance and so does the hand position at take off. So we had a bunch of trainees, a majority of whom were not physically active before joining the course, suddenly forced into rigorous physical activity. By the end of the day everybody was pooped and ready to drop dead for the night. After de-briefing on the activities during the day and being briefed about the activities for the next day, we all left for our hotel in Lonavala. All trainee pilots were asked to fill in their log sheets and read certain sections of the training manual.

The second day began at 11am with a round of theory and the instructors going through the log sheets. The practical training schedule for the day included take off, hop and landing. The training site was at Shelar, a beautiful site for paragliders. We reached first at around 2pm followed by other flying groups. Shelar site is a good one kilometer hike through grasslands, this trek warmed up all our trainee pilots. After the instructions on what was expected of the trainee pilots, Tom made us do warm up exercises and then the prayer asking us to stay connected to earth while we fly. This was a day full of incidents as everybody was expected to run and lift the glider and take off on a gentle slope and then land. This is the most difficult part of the course, as ground handling in varying wind conditions is tough, not only on the trainees as also on the instructors, as the instructors to have to run along with the pilots and encourage them and shout out instructions. We saw a lot of our trainees falling on their face, buttocks and sides before finally getting their act together. The incident which is however etched in memory happened with one of our senior executives. He ran with his glider up, though he was bent forward and low to the ground, as his glider tilted to the left, Avi (the chief flight instructor) yelled “pull the right brake, pull the right brake), but in that fraction of a second, I don’t think Sanjay heard the shout, and as he was already tilting left he pulled the left brake and released the right brake to zero, as a result of which his glider gathered momentum and became a para sail dragging him about 150 feet in less than five seconds in a quarter circle. He zipped, bumped, hit a ditch, whirled and landed on his back after the glider had lost complete momentum. I was already running towards him and reached him just seconds after he stopped, followed by Kamlesh our HR and Tom the team doc. Sanjay had lost a lot of skin on his left hand - which took the brunt of the drag, bruises on his right hand and a dazed look on his face. Tom checked to see if he had any broken bones, then checked whether he was in shock, when he saw all was well, he cleaned up his wound. In the meanwhile I had immediately on reaching Sanjay disconnected the glider from the harness, mushroomed it and kept it aside, then helped Sanjay get out of the harness. A true sport, once Sanjay realized all was well, he walked back and said he will continue with the hops. After some time his back got sore and he could not do the hops, but his walking up the slope to tell the rest of his mates that “all ij wail” (3 Idiots ishtyle) really helped boost the rest of the guys who were in a panicky frame of mind after seeing the incident in fast forward mode! 3 cheers to Sanjay for being a true sport and an inspiration to the rest of the gang!

Everybody was cleared for their first flight by the end of the day, with almost everybody getting their take offs and landings perfected. Day three were the written exams which everyone cleared – a couple with some pushes from the instructors! On Sunday, we went to Pawana Lake, a beautiful and breath-taking site for the first flight. Sanjay went on a tandem flight with Tom, and was truly kicked about his flight, he is definitely going back to complete the course. I was asked to do the demo flight, with Parsha telling me in my ears that it would look bad if I landed on my bum! I did the demo flight and thankfully did not land on my bum! After me, everyone flew and landed perfectly! So the fear of flying alone was gone once and for all from everyone’s mind. Four of us who had landed first left for the hill after packing the gliders for our second flight. I sat on the roof of the Tavera as the vehicle was full with gliders and flyers! The second flight was an independent flight with no radio assistance from the instructors – I landed away from the runway into some bushes with my left foot getting stuck in a creeper thus bringing me to my knees – my first knee landing in ten flights! Post the flights we packed all the gliders and proceeded back to Rangoli for de-briefing and for getting the certificates on completion of the P1 paragliding course.

Well guys hope to see all of you again for the P2 course – hope to see you soaring again free as a bird with nary a care and thought – high up there just you and the wind in your ears!

A big thank you to all the flying instructors, Avi, Anita, Tom, TJ, Parsha, Ganpat and their assistants - a joy to train with guys with a great attitude and a spirit of fun while maintaining the decorum and seriousness which such training requires. A truly great group to train and fly with. Three cheers to all you guys!