April 17th – 21st, 2012
One morning I was walking by one of the cliff side restaurants and stopped to say a quick hello to a couple of guys I know. One is Jiwan from Nepal who was a waiter up in Manali at the place I stayed last May and the other was Michael (really Mischa but he tells his English speaking friends to call him Michael), an excellent tandem pilot who hails from the Ukraine. With them was an Indian man in his late thirties who introduced himself as Pradeep.
As I was leaving Pradeep approached me and inquired whether I would be interested in helping him to learn paragliding. He told me that he’d already had a few tandem and solo flights along with a couple of days ground handling with a couple of other guys in Arambol. I explained that first off, I didn’t have a tandem wing and I’m not even fully certified to fly tandems (although I had partially finished a tandem course back in Canada a few years ago). I also noted that I wasn’t an instructor although as part of my tandem qualification I had participated in an instructor’s course. And the third important item for him to be aware of was that my wing was an intermediate level wing, not typically a good one for a student to learn on...kind of like learning to drive in a Porsche... Pradeep seemed unfazed by these factors and asked whether we could work together over the next five days, beginning with ground handling and just see how it goes. I figured why not.
We met the next morning on Sweet Water Beach and after unpacking the wing, Pradeep began some practice on the beach known as “kiting” or “ground handling”. It’s a very important skill to develop as a beginner and to continue practicing throughout one’s flying career. Some say that every hour of ground handling is worth 10 hours of experience in the air and I think I agree.
It was obvious that Pradeep had had some previous practice as he was able to get the wing above his head a few times but couldn’t consistently keep it there. His technique for his reverse launch was different from what I had learned and he told me that he had just kind of figured out a system on his own. Well hats off to you Pradeep for being inventive but it wasn’t the greatest method as it required him to let go and grab the opposite brakes part way through the launch which I’m not a fan of. In strong wind you could find yourself in trouble at the point where you have no hands on the brakes and therefore no control. I walked him through the way that I was taught and realized that he was a quick learner, often only needing to be told something once and it had already sunk in.
Pradeep figuring out what line does what:
"Run to the right...run to the right!"...Pradeep kiting on Sweet Water Beach:
Ukrainian tandem pilot Michael (Mischa) and his girlfriend Lena:
I asked Pradeep a couple of times to kick his legs together if he could hear me on the radio which he did. However I later learned that he couldn’t hear me as the radio had fallen back over his should during takeoff. No wonder he hadn’t fully obeyed my instructions. No matter, he had performed a nice approach and landed safely after a 3 minute flight. I could tell he was a happy camper as he jumped around with glee on the beach down below...I love seeing the joy of flight in new pilots, it’s something special.
On the last day we hiked up to the same launch. It took more launch attempts before he got in the air than the previous day but nonetheless he was soaring again. I decided to talk him through some ridge soaring as there were no other wings in the sky and he seemed to be comfortable in flight. The wind began to pick up a bit and I didn’t think the conditions would still be launchable for him by the time he landed and walked back up so instead he continued to ridge soar under my radio instruction. After 40 minutes of flying I coached him through the approach to land on the beach and he performed it perfectly. I walked down to the beach and he was grinning from ear to ear and gave me a big hug. Well done Pradeep!
Pradeep soaring above Kerim Beach:
Welcome to the world of free flight Pradeep!
One morning I was walking by one of the cliff side restaurants and stopped to say a quick hello to a couple of guys I know. One is Jiwan from Nepal who was a waiter up in Manali at the place I stayed last May and the other was Michael (really Mischa but he tells his English speaking friends to call him Michael), an excellent tandem pilot who hails from the Ukraine. With them was an Indian man in his late thirties who introduced himself as Pradeep.
As I was leaving Pradeep approached me and inquired whether I would be interested in helping him to learn paragliding. He told me that he’d already had a few tandem and solo flights along with a couple of days ground handling with a couple of other guys in Arambol. I explained that first off, I didn’t have a tandem wing and I’m not even fully certified to fly tandems (although I had partially finished a tandem course back in Canada a few years ago). I also noted that I wasn’t an instructor although as part of my tandem qualification I had participated in an instructor’s course. And the third important item for him to be aware of was that my wing was an intermediate level wing, not typically a good one for a student to learn on...kind of like learning to drive in a Porsche... Pradeep seemed unfazed by these factors and asked whether we could work together over the next five days, beginning with ground handling and just see how it goes. I figured why not.
We met the next morning on Sweet Water Beach and after unpacking the wing, Pradeep began some practice on the beach known as “kiting” or “ground handling”. It’s a very important skill to develop as a beginner and to continue practicing throughout one’s flying career. Some say that every hour of ground handling is worth 10 hours of experience in the air and I think I agree.
It was obvious that Pradeep had had some previous practice as he was able to get the wing above his head a few times but couldn’t consistently keep it there. His technique for his reverse launch was different from what I had learned and he told me that he had just kind of figured out a system on his own. Well hats off to you Pradeep for being inventive but it wasn’t the greatest method as it required him to let go and grab the opposite brakes part way through the launch which I’m not a fan of. In strong wind you could find yourself in trouble at the point where you have no hands on the brakes and therefore no control. I walked him through the way that I was taught and realized that he was a quick learner, often only needing to be told something once and it had already sunk in.
Pradeep figuring out what line does what:
I later learned that he is from Mysore and he is a contractor who primarily takes staff from IT companies, often from Bangalore, on outdoor team building exercises such as rock climbing or rappelling. No wonder he was picking up things quickly and also very safety conscious.
At the end of the second day, with about 6-7 hours of ground handling under his belt, there was a notable difference in his skill and after some discussion we agreed that he could try a small flight from a rocky bare patch on the hill just above some beach restaurants. The flight would be short and the landing simple. All he would have to do is fly out over the restaurants, turn slightly right and he would have a long, open beach to land on. My one concern was that the launch was a bit steep and so his reactions on takeoff would have to be quick. Pradeep seemed unfazed by this so we set up the wing and he got prepared.
“Ok, ready.” Pradeep stated as he began to pull the wing up. The paraglider shot up quickly and before Pradeep could turn around he was lifted off the ground still facing back towards the hill...oh shit! He seemed to have his fingers stuck between the crossed risers as he flew off twenty feet over the restaurants. Oh no...what have I done?!? I felt like a mother duck who had just pushed my duckling out of the nest but he wasn’t quite ready for it yet. I yelled out instructions to Pradeep as he worked on getting himself turned around. By the time he was facing forward he had uncontrollably and inadvertently turned too far right and was now over the small fresh water lake (hence the beach’s name). The lake is only 2-3 feet deep so I wasn’t too concerned but all the gear was going to be soaked.
He started to fly forward towards the beach side edge of the lake which is separated from the ocean by a long stretch of sand. There were some young coconut trees interspersed in the sand by the lake but more alarming was the small power line that ran over to the one beach restaurant in the middle of the lake. I knew there was probably no threat of electrocution due to the feeble electrical system here but knocking the line off of its poles was not going to make us any friends.
Amazingly he landed on the shore and the wing fell forward over some of the small trees instead of back into the water! By the time I rushed down to him with adrenaline still coursing through my veins he had extracted the wing from the trees and had walked out to a sun bed and still had a smile on his face. It seemed as though I was more shaken up by the flight than he was. We sat down and debriefed what had happened and I realized that really I, as the instructor, had made the crucial bad decision of allowing him to take off from that steep spot. In the end, no harm, no foul. As Pradeep reiterated, from that height there wasn’t any chance of any major injury which was true...but had he crashed through a restaurant’s roof or taken out the electrical line it wouldn’t have been cool. Afterwards, we spoke with Michael, the Ukrainian tandem pilot, and he offered some good advice and also was receptive to us borrowing his radios so that we could have Pradeep fly off from the top of the cliff where the takeoff is flat and much bigger, more suitable for a beginner and the radios would allow me to talk Pradeep through the landing phase.
Ukrainian tandem pilot Michael (Mischa) and his girlfriend Lena:
The following day we returned to kiting and there was a large improvement from yesterday’s practice. Unfortunately the wind was too strong for him to fly later in the afternoon but the following day, after an hour of ground handling we hiked up the main ridge to the takeoffs that face Kerim Beach to the north. While we were setting up on the west launch Michael arrived with some tandem customers. We allowed him to go first and then Pradeep attempted unsuccessfully to launch a few times but eventually he was in the sky with the instructions to turn to the right, follow the ridge but stay out in front of it. Meanwhile I quickly sprinted 50 meters to a spot where I would visually be able to talk him through the landing.
On the last day we hiked up to the same launch. It took more launch attempts before he got in the air than the previous day but nonetheless he was soaring again. I decided to talk him through some ridge soaring as there were no other wings in the sky and he seemed to be comfortable in flight. The wind began to pick up a bit and I didn’t think the conditions would still be launchable for him by the time he landed and walked back up so instead he continued to ridge soar under my radio instruction. After 40 minutes of flying I coached him through the approach to land on the beach and he performed it perfectly. I walked down to the beach and he was grinning from ear to ear and gave me a big hug. Well done Pradeep!
Pradeep soaring above Kerim Beach:
Pradeep high above the ridge...loving his ride:
The wind picked up in the afternoon but he was happy to try some more “extreme” kiting and I have to say I was very impressed with how much his skills had improved in five days. I couldn’t have asked for a better first student.
One happy student:
Welcome to the world of free flight Pradeep!
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