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I flew light airplanes into little summer fly-ins of sport pilots around the country..
I asked myself time and again, What do I remember ? What times of real friends
and real adventure and real life w'd I go back to and live over again? ..
I listened to the sport pilots.. "I suspect the things that makes us fly, whatever it is, is the same thing that draws the sailor out to the sea," I heard. "Some people will never und'stand why and we can't explain it to them. If they're willing and have an open heart, we can show them, but ` tell' them we can't." Do you notice that when these people talk about why they fly and the way that they think about airplanes, not one of 'em mentions travel? or saving time? or what a great business tool this machine can be? We get the idea that those are not really so important, and not the central reason that brings men and women to the skies.. They talk, when we get to know them, of friendship and joy and of beauty and love and of living, of really living, firsthand, with the rain and the wind.. Things often given as reasons to fly, aren't reasons at all.. They're nice, of course, but they are only by-products of one real reason.. finding of life itself, and of living of it in the present. |
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-Richard Bach,
in "A Gift of Wings" |
The TRIP
Ozone conducts Paragliding @ NandiHills during weekends..
declared the mail I got from Ozone..
My heart pounded with Xtra Dum..
Called up guyz.. anybuddy comin to FLY ??
Yep, sez Luke and Nandu..
Gung ho about tryin to fly !!
Went to Ozone's office @ KumaraPark West.. gets the booking done..
They charge 750 bucks including Insurance.. for upto 15 minutes of paragliding..
That's special discount offer..
Gotta wait for 2 more weeks.. as the Weekend slots are full..
Else.. need to try on weekdays.. Eh.. ruled out..
3x.. Tickets for Satday..
Though you reserve, no guarantee t'll actually happen..
Y ? cos all depends on the weather !.. informs Naveen@Ozone..
Even if t's sunny, depends on Wind conditions..
OK.. So we wait for The Day..
Luke, unfortunately had to drop out.. Homeward bound..
Tried to hook-in Kiran.. " Nay.. Gotta go for Airshow @ Yelahanka Airforce Base.. Got free pass thru' Hagg Kaushik.. Russian Sukhoi Su-30's.. famed for its unique Cobra Maneuvre and.. Latest & GReatest.. EUROFIGHTER gonna give demo.. "
Most Gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight- how to get from shore to food and back again.. For most gulls, it's not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it's not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly. Screeching and fighting with the flock around piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread.. It's all so pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard-won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him. I c'd be spending all this time learning to fly. There's so much to learn !.
It wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning. The subject was speed, and in a week's practice he learned more about speed than the fastest gull alive. .....
A single wingtip feather, he found, moved a fraction of an inch, gives a smooth sweeping curve at tremendous speed. . He spared no time that day for talk with other gulls, but flew on past sunset. He discovered the loop, the slow roll, the point roll, the inverted spin, the gull bunt, the pinwheel.
When Jonathan joined the Flock on the beach, it was full night.. How much more there is now to living! .. Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there's a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to Fly!
in
"Jonathan Livingston Seagull"
Sso.. we r down to 2.. Me & Nandu..
Off we go in my bike.. @ 7:30am..
Heck.. the TRAFFIC.. all heading to Yelahanka.. Damn.. AIRSHOW..
People gonna WATCH the Monster Fighter Machines Roaring & Sallying overhead..
WE gonna EXPERIENCE flight.. with No Machine power, but Winds..
-Two Routes.. towards same destination.. that of gratifying the Passion to Fly..
-They gonna have vicarious thrills.. We gonna have firsthand xperience !
Kids.. Grannies.. Cycles.. Luxury buses.. all to Yelahanka..
No other way.. bear with it.. crawl in the Dust & Dark Exhausts..
Don't know of any route to bypass Yelahanka and get onto Hyderabad Highway..NH 7..
Finally.. past the maddening crowd for The Show..
Breathe Easy.. VRooOOM.. we coasted.. past Devanahally..
Signboard to left says.. place where Tipu Sultan was born <-- This Way.. (if there's no Bug in my Memory, that's what's written..) it made our heads turn..
But we go straight.. till 'our' signboard arrived..
Off the Highway.. now heading straight towards the base of Nandi Hills seen far away..
Precipitous Rocks.. of The Hill zooms in..
We get onto the Hairpin bends.. we are gaining height.. t's a thrill to ride.. steeper road..
Greater View..
Finally.. We're there in an hour and half.. park the bike and move onto the top.. to KSTDC's Hotel Mayura..
"Paragliding.. elli ? .." we queried..
2 guys came over.. by looks, they are from Up North.. one with a Motorola walkie-talkie handset..
They get their gear and we move to the top of a steep slope..
Mehar and Bhagatram Thakur from Manali, Himachal Pradesh.. instructors hired by Ozone..
"Wind's not conducive".. they nod to each other.. looking at the ribbon tied to a stick they stuck into the ground..
Their version of wind sock.. for the exact wind direction..
Also every now and then they scoop some dried grass crumbs and drop it bit by bit..
While engaging in small talk.. their quaint Hindi accent... they talk to each other in Garhwali or some such language..
The Wind has to be away from the hills.. and just strong enuf to give the right amount of lift for a smooth take off..
| Jargon |
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Bubble: A pocket of rising or falling air. Clouds: The main indicator of future weather, and of lift. Typically Cumulus clouds (cauliflower-shaped) will give good lift, while a high band of Stratus (flat layered) or Cirrus (wispy) indicate good future weather. Nimbus (dark) clouds bring rain and the heavy ones -Cumulus Nimbus - are dangerous to fly in. Cloud Base: The height of the clouds above the sea level. The higher the cloud base, the better the conditions. Col: A pass or depression in a mountain range or ridge. Harness: The seat attached to the paraglider. Lift / Sink : A 'lift zone' refers to an area of rising air; sink, to falling air. Post-cold frontal flying conditions: A cold front is the leading edge of advancing mass of cold air; likely to be followed by excellent flying conditions. Scratching : Search for lift close to the ground. Spur : A ridge projecting from a mountain; a source of lift. Take-off : A place from which a paraglider can be launched. Thermal / Thermic current : A rising current or bubble of warm air. --from Outlook Traveller magazine |
The Equipment
They unpack the gear.. helmets.. the Ram-Air Chute.. having wings of soft nylon sheets with air pockets..
Compared to Hangliding, which has a rigid, delta shaped wing..
Other paraphernalia include Harness and strings from the wing..
There's anti-slip coupling from Harness to strings..
Some of the strings are used to control the Chute by pulling at them..
Two bunches of strings are grouped.. one for each hand.. Pull on the side you want to turn.. Paragliders are always moving down and no special effort is required to bring them down to earth.. We stay up when air goes up faster than we come down.. Air rises when it heats up in contact with the ground or in waves..or.. when it hits a ridge and tries to get over the top..
Our Landing will be on the plain field deep below..
One Maruti Gypsy awaits there for pick up after landing..
I can make out where the driver is, after spotting the Gypsy thru my binox..
Bhagatram is in touch with the Gypsy guy.. giving updates.. thru walkie-talkie..
We are gonna fly in tandem with the instructor behind on a separate harness..
The WAIT for Winds
Nandu and Mehar straps on the harness and waits for the winds..
Noon approaches.. now it's easy to get on to the Thermals and soar high..
But for The Launch.. there's not enuf wind.. or it's in other directions..
Wait goes on.. After spreading out the Chute and getting 'all ready'..
Almost got a lift and the Chute started to puff up.. but quickly died out.. Aborted..
This happened once more.. Nandu grows impatient.. I turned to click this leafless Tree on the slope..
A Brahminy Kite soars past close.. probing..whatya-guys-doin--heh-tryin-to-fly looks..
After one more try, they decided to abort the Launch.. and go for Lunch instead..
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After having our fill and some walk around, we again go about looking for winds..
Half an hour more of wait.. and we give up..
They decided to try from the other side of the hill.. Mehar checked the wind there..
We are informed that last weekend, on both days, only two guys could fly.. out of 8..
It's better on the other side..
But the landing point is not in the line of sight..
Have to maneuvre around a steep rock cliff..
That way there's a bit of risk.. but only if there's harsh winds..
All the gears are transported to the other spot..
Nandu's again into it.. fastening the harness..
The chances brightened by 4 pm.. I am armed with Nandu's Olympus SLR camera..
He'll carry my point-and-shoot.. I'll take his take-off.. and he'll take my Landing..
And once he lands, he'll wait for my landing and we'll all come back to the hill top together in Gypsy..
This time.. Yess.. he did get a smooth lift-off.. I clicked merrily..
--The Flight
And now.. my turn.. I'm already in my gears.. Thakur and Me.. waited for 15 mins..
My spirits had already taken flight.. Soaring with the Wings of Imagination..
It's a lovely day for sailing aloft..
I peer into the valley below.. Behind, the Sun gets milder..
Light breeze.. whispering in your ears..
I'm all attention.. The moment wind comes.. we need to run a few steps for smooth Launch..
I felt the strings tug at my body..
"COME...".. the Winds whispered.... "U CAN FLY !!!!!"..
I could make just 2 strides,.. I was up, UP, and AWAY.. oooOOOHH... Blissss... Euphoria..
It took time for the feelings to really sink in..
And then.. the never-before feeling of lightness..
Strange feeling when like an Eagle, you look vertically down.. between your dangling legs you literally get a bird's-eye view of the valley..
Landing point still not in sight.. it's on the other side..
We soared close to the Hill.. I looked to the right.. AWE-STRUCK !..
I gaped at the intimidating view.. ne'er got to see a precipitous Cliff up close.. from such a vantage point..
Known as "Tipu's Drop", a 600 meter high cliff, where, according to legend, once condemned prisoners were pushed to Death..
"CAN WE GO HIGHER ?", I queried.... "Not much currents.. phir bhee dekhte hein.." sez Thakur..
He manoeuvred around the Cliff.. and veered away from the Hill..
He showed me the landing spot.. I wanted to fly for an hour.. over the Horizon.. but now it's just 10 mins.. hmm reality knocks..
Nandu's waving.. next to the Gypsy parked on the field..
Preparing for Landing.. The Descent.. smoothly the direction changed 90°... slowed.. Kool Landing..
For Nandu & Mehar, Wind played spoilsport at the very last minute.. Wind suddenly changed direction.. dragged the Chute when about to land..
Bit of crash-landing experience for Nandu.. got dragged on the ground for 10 meters..
But just the elbow got skinned.. some blood oozed.. but he was on a High.. sez "The Helmet saved !.. it rubbed off on the Ground.., But OK.."
Well.. they call it Adventure Sport.. and he's gonna remember this as one..
We pack the Chutes, hop into the Gypsy and back to the Top..
We reached near the take-off point again.. Thakur extends his visiting card..
They have their own Himalayan adventure sports club @ Manali..
Skiing is his forte.. and close to heart.. "we are at it since childhood.." informs Mehar.
We thanked and parted with promises of contacting them if we land in Manali..
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It's almost 6 O'clock.. I went over for a dekko at our take-off point..
I relived The Moments looking at the valley and the Crimson Sun..
Ah.. The Joy.. The 'High'.. The Lightness.. The Lift.. The Cliff..
The Hill.. The Valley..
The Height.. The FLIGHT !!!
"How High, Do I Wanna Go in LIFE ?"... I pondered..
"From Altitude, Literally Comes Perspective"
- Richard Bach
in
Out of My Mind.
| Info ... from Outlook Traveller magazine |
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Getting Started:
Paragliding is an easy one among airsports. No other airplane can be carried with such an ease.. -all u do, in effect , is walk up a hill, pull an airplane out of a bag, attach yourself to its wing, and run into the wind. Its canopy inflates and carries u off into the sky. A paraglider refers to the canopy as well as the person using the glider. The paraglider(canopy) is manipulated by pulling bunch of strings-one in each hand. Pull on the side you want to turn, and you turn.. Paragliders are always moving down and no special effort is required to bring them down to earth.. It's staying up that you'll pray for.. This can be done when air goes up faster than we come down.. Air rises when it hits a ridge and tries to get over the top or when it heats up in contact with the ground or in waves.. As one begins to understand different kinds of air, one need not come down but can go up instead.. Paragliders have used rising air to go 3 miles up and 300km away.. !
Where to Paraglide:
A selective list of where u can learn, or just go for a joy ride.
--> Around Bangalore:
Season:
General Note:
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