Paragliding at Pawana

Taking Flight: My First Paragliding Solo at TemplePilots

Just as I was about to give up on finding a good paragliding club in India, a Facebook profile belonging to my friend Brijesh led me to TemplePilots (TP). After a quick chat with him and then the club, I booked my training for the Easter weekend. My dad and a friend from work decided to join me. My dad and I took the Airavath (KSRTC Volvo) bus to Pune on Thursday night, arriving Friday morning. From there, we caught a bus to Pune Junction railway station, then a local train for a 34 km journey to Talegaon. Our reporting time was 12:30 PM.

We reached Talegaon and took an auto to "Lake Paradise," TP's HQ, arriving at 12:45 PM. After a brief introduction, lunch, and a comprehensive briefing on paragliding, course structure, and the day's activities by Avi (our Chief Flying Instructor), we headed to the paragliding site at Pawana. The site boasts a stunning view of a scenic lake, with hills outlining the entire panorama.

The first day, starting at 4:00 PM and lasting until 6:45 PM, was all about getting to know the glider: equipment handling, ground handling, inflation, deflation, and control. It was physically demanding and very tiring, but the hard work was beautifully rewarded with a breathtaking sunset view across the lake, the shimmering light on the water truly heavenly. After a debrief session, we returned to Lake Paradise. (I'm omitting the details of actually using the glider – it was all hands-on practical exercises!). We arrived back after celebrating Ganpath's birthday at Hotel Rangoli. Kaka cooked us a wonderful hot dinner, and after some chit-chat, I finally drifted off to sleep.

Day 2 began at 11:30 AM with a theory session where Parshu explained the technicalities of flying, paraglider behavior, and aerodynamics. As usual, we left for the flying site at 2:30 PM. The second day focused on hops and landings: achieving good inflation, a smooth take-off, steering the paraglider in the air, and a gentle landing. After one attempt, I got a good hang of it. TJ cleared five of us for our very first solo flight. We went up to the launch site, geared up (harness, canopy, pre-flight checks), and I was ready to FLY! Avi briefed the flight, and radio checks were completed. Avi was to instruct me midway on the radio, after which TJ would take over.

I had a smooth take-off with good inflation, and I WAS FLYING! The flight itself was very smooth. I somehow forgot to sit into the harness initially. After TJ's instruction to sit back, I tried, but it was a little too tight to fit in (Avi had pointed this out during take-off, but I hadn't loosened it enough). Nevertheless, I had a great landing thanks to TJ's clear instructions. That was my first solo flight, lasting 1 minute and 34 seconds, with a take-off time of 5:55 PM. My dad wasn't cleared to fly on Day 2 but was scheduled for Day 3.

The next day, at 11:30 AM, we faced the "dreaded" exam—which turned out to be easy and fair. After exams and lunch, we left for the flying site at 2:30 PM, reaching there by 3:45 PM. Unfortunately, the winds were gusty, around 25 kmph, which was too strong for us trainees to fly. We waited and waited for the wind to calm down, but nature had other plans. Rain poured down, and it was a complete washout. My dad and I had already booked our tickets back to Bangalore, so we couldn't stay another day. We're already planning another trip soon. Anyway, we reached home at 2:00 PM on April 25, 2011.