I am not the one who often looks back but it gives me a great joy to reminisce about the flying season that is just flying by us.It is indeed a great privilege & a blessing to be flying and an even greater privilege & a blessing to be teaching flying.
Spending time in nature with the best of people, reaching out for the skies, exploring & discovering the best in us, together.
BaliBliss2018 was our superstar event with over 30 Club Pilots enjoying their flying by the seaside cliffs & a pristine coastline. A great place to go international with your flying, build up some good airtime along with sharpening your contouring, top landings & flying in traffic skills.
We are super pleased with the kind of experiences & memories Club Pilots make in Bali & the fact that this is one flying vacation where pilots enjoy getting friends & family along who have an equally great time.
18th ASIAN GAMES, Puncak, Indonesia, 2018 – I was happy to be part of the historic entry of Paragliding as an Olympic event at the Asian Games. Thanks to ASFA, INASGOC & OCA (Olympic Committee of Asia) I got to contribute as an International Technical Official (ITO) & the Safety Director for the Event.
The 2018 Season opened with a huge sky party in the Bir, Himalayas. We are overwhelmed with the response to Discover Himalayas & Thermalling/XC Courses. We were excited with first timers getting introduced to Himalayan Flying & those tasting their first Himalayan thermals & going on their first cross country flights. There were Club Pilots on their first Thermalling/XC Course doing over 25kms cross country flights.
PWC FAI Cat2 & India Open 2018, Bir/Billing, Himachal – Quite a few of our Club Pilots are now showing up at the comp scene. Congratulations to all Club Pilots Vistasp Kharas, Alok Mihani, Rohit Kawalay & Badri. Sachin too is keen on the comp front and has had some interesting outings. He was 4th in the Overall Sports Class & 7th in the Indian Open. He would effectively be on top in the Indian Sports Class were there one.
The biggest Blockbuster this Season was Templepilots conducting 3 Back to Back SIV/Acro Courses with 11 Days of High Octane, High Adrenaline Non-Stop Action, 218 Flights, 112 Full Stalls, 52 Spiral Dives, 18 Spins, 24 SAT’s, 22 Helico’s & 9 Reserve Deployments among other SIV Manoeuvres. I hope you have enjoyed watching the thrilling teaser made by Neenad on our youtube channel.
The Flying Season in Kamshet began mid October with all the excitement that a new flying season brings. Tall green grass with wild flowers on the mountains from the monsoons, Instructors with their new Josh & T-Shirts, Club Pilots raring to open their wings after a huge gap & new students with dreams to fly high in the sky.
At base we really enjoyed winter flying with amazing training & soaring sessions at the Girlfriend site. We are happy to see how APPI 10 & 20 Day Courses are getting more & more popular. Although paragliding is getting hugely popular worldwide, we are happy it’s slowly moving from a bucket list activity to a lifestyle sport that it truly is in our country as well.
Panchgani in Jan2019 saw Thermalling/XC Courses & many a Club Pilots enjoyed learning the black art of Thermalling & thoroughly enjoyed going on their first cross country flights, flying over the ever so stunning Sahyadris & landing by the Dhoom lakeside.
Every tour brings with it its own charm, of the place, the people and the food. Our pilots especially enjoy bonding over flying stories and the fun and banter makes for a truly enriching experience and every lasting memories.
Awards & Achievements –
1. It was a huge honour for Anita & me both to be considered worthy of this Award called LEGACIES – The Changemakers. We were the youngest & the most unknown among some very iconic & distinguished Guests. It was awe inspiring to know of the amazing work being done in our country. It was so motivating to meet these people whose work brings remarkable changes in our society. The Event was held in Pune in Jan 2019.
2. The MSME (Ministry of State for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) awarded Anita with the ‘Enterprising Women of the Year -2018’ for Path-Breaking Women Entrepreneurs, in Mumbai on Feb 25, 2019. This was the Ministry’s First Conclave on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs.
Panchgani Open, Pre PWC & Indian Nationals, 2019 – Very proud of our Senior Club Pilot Vistasp Kharas who has been successfully organising world class events in India. Having successfully organised three Events, this was his fourth outing, however, due to the total ignorance of the government bodies about the sport the comp had to be cancelled because of an accident. Only one Task was completed wherein Sachin managed to hit the podium for the very first time in his life, in the Indian Open.
Sands of Arabia Tour – It was a magic trick tour out of a hat. Thanks to UAE EAF(Emirates Aersport Federation) that invited me to organise an Accuracy Championship at Sharjah as a Chief Judge that I got introduced to this marvellous flying site ofAl Fayah in the desert. Thanks to Local Pilots Salem & Hany & also TP Club Pilots that the Sands of Arabia Tour happened & we got an extremely unique experience of camping in the desert & flying the dunes.
Mentor Program – We were very happy to introduce the Mentor Program for the benefit of all Club Pilots. We realised the need of a personal coach in an intense sport like paragliding & that each Club Pilot needed a one point contact for all flying needs. It was very well received and we’re hoping to serve your flying needs better through an initiative like this.
APPI Tandem Pro Course & Tandem License Evaluation Workshop – The Official Announcement was made on APPI Website about the APPI Tandem Pro Course & The Pro Tandem Evaluation Workshop, that was to conducted by Templepilots. This Tandem Pro Course was conducted in the Month of May2019 by APPI Master Instructor Avi Malik & APPI Assistant Instructor Sachin Pathare. 8 Tandem Pilots participated in the Course. 4 Senior Club Pilots Jaydev Page, Sajid Khan, Vistasp Kharas & Rohit Kawalay got Evaluation done for their NCTP (Non Commercial Tandem Pilot) Licenses. Congratulations to all of them. We are proud to be offering Official APPI Professional Course for Tandem Pilots & from next Season onwards will be offering Pro APPI Courses for Instructors worldwide.
The Summer Season brings on Pavana flying and the mesmerising flying with otherworldly sunsets by the lakeside are TP trademark now. We’ve had students coming from around the world, of all age groups, most diverse of backgrounds, most diverse of occupations, most varied of characters & personalities, most varied of passions & interests but they all come with one common dream & wish – to fly !
We intimately get to know them all to be the new age seekers of freedom, evolved souls happy to explore their limitless potential, open to life’s adventures & welcoming of new friends in their lives, longing to spread their wings across newer horizons, willing to take risks to penetrate deeper truths of life, much too willing to open their hearts to others, enriching our lives in ways unknown to us & joining us in making the living of our lives a celebration, a blessing & a joy !
We look forward to having a beautiful time with you with BaliBliss2019 in August 2019 & look forward also to taking you on a Himalayan High with our ‘Discover Himalayas’, ‘Thermalling/XC’ & ‘SIV/Acro Course’ Programs in October 2019 as we have already published the dates for these outings.
What yet fascinates me most in nature & what I don’t think I can ever get it is to see the sublime magic of a bird in flight.
The creative intelligence behind that, the artwork of the symmetry of the wings, the being of the sky, the interconnectedness of all things, the marvel of flight..
I am always in awe…and for this i find that me with my team, we are always inspired and grateful to be a part of this magic.
