Paragliding Banter

Kelly announces MASTERING PARAGLIDING 2. Listen in to hear more about what he covers in the new book.

This is part 1 of my chat with Kelly Farina - Author of the widely popular book - Mastering Paragliding. For more gems from the master himself, listen in.

Flying Fast and Furious

Debu started his flying way too early in Himachal at age 14. And then on has blazed a trail in our sport....listen in to know his story and advise on flying

BIO - Since 2004 I’m working 3 or 4 month per year as ski and paragliding instructor and the rest of the year as pro rider.

As instructor I organize paragliding camp around the world and ski coaching in the french alps.

As pro-athlete, I work for my partners on advertising picture, movies and consulting. I’m also in the French team and compete on every important competition and event.

Last year I was happy and proud to became World Champion.

Joanna has been flying for over 20 years and has won many races. She holds the record for female open distance of 400 kms. In this podcast we have an easy chat about flying in the French Alps, valley winds, preparation for flying, thermalling techniques, landing and much more. You will find many gems of information as Joanna explains her thoughts and techniques. Listen in.

A computer engineer by profession and an excellent pilot with several 100+ kms flights and a X-YPR contestant, Alok or Loki as he is known to his fellow pilots talks about his quick growth in this sport. Shares his thoughts about thermaling, flying in Bir and back mountains, facing fear and adapting to the flight at 6000 mtrs. This and more in this candid chat. Listen in.

4 Commercial Captians flying Boeing and Airbus aircrafts who are also Paragliding Pilots in coversation about the similarities and differences in both these forms of flying. While the flying principles remain the same we get an insight into what these commercial pilots who are trained in many more areas of flying like navigation, weather and powered flying principles feel and experience during pure free PG flying. Do they have some learning, unlearning or adapting processes from commercial flying experience to make PG better safer, easier? Listen in....

Russel is the team pilot at Ozone based in France. Started work at Ozone in 2004. He really doesnt need any introduction and is a welknown name in the sport. He has a wealth of information and knowledge that any pilot would be happy to absorb it all. He flies almost everyday as a test pilot and helps develop those amazing wings like the Rush, Delta, Alpina, Mantra, Zeno and Enzo to name a few. He has won several awards and has podium finishes to his credit. He is a delight to talk to and a fabulous guy. This podcast chat with him will give pilots a lot to learn and think about. Listen in.

Eugene is an engineer by profession and a Paraglider. He has recently conceptualised, designed and manufactured a convertible harness with many clever bits added. We talk about his ideas and the product it self. Visit his page Instream_harness on Instagram to see the design.

Jigish has made BIR his home and has been flying there for over 10 years amassing over 1000 hours of flying in total. He has flown a 200 km triangle 5 times and only pilot to have done a 100 km flat triangle south of the range. He is a helpful pilot and guide. Most of the pilot community regularly consult him for information on various things from which lines to take to weather to vol biv. Please see PARAGUIDE.IN for more information.

Gurpreet Dhindsa has been flying since 1993 and has been an integral part of the Indian Paraglding community. He operates his PG school and cafe from Bir, India. Rohit and I chat with him about his teaching style, his theory concepts and what makes Bir flying different from other areas. Listen in

A medical critical care doctor and a PHD in relation of Altitude, cold and cognition for the Paraglding pilot - Dr Matt Wilkes and I have a chat about Hypoxia during flying, first aid kit and all about his study on reserves. This has been a wonderful chat filled with tremendous value for the pilot community. It was a pleasure to talk to Matt who is a super fun guy. Have a listen and enjoy the banter.

Tanaji Takve or TJ as he is called is an accomplished Acro and a XC Pilot. Although he is sides a bit more on the acro bit. He also runs a Paragliding School and has been flying for over 22 years starting at a very early age while he was in school in the 8th grade. Listen in to find out about his take on why Acro is fun and how everyone actually does a bit of Acro regularly. Also his views on maintaining high safety threshold. In the end a bonus on an important skill.

Vistasp ( aka Viz ) talks about Thermaling and shares his knowledge on all that goes into reading the terrain, trigger points, shape and strength of thermals and all the preparations that goes to fly high and far.

Fear is good to have but can also be debilitating. When fear causes your flying to get affected, its time to deal with it. In this episode we chat about our own personal experiences of developing fear that caused us to fly below our experience and capacity. To a point we didnt enjoy it anymore. To the point when we dealt with it and overcame it to begin our growth as pilots again. Listen in. Will appreciate your comments and feedback.

The guru of SIV and XC flying shares some in depth knowledge on why SIV makes flying safer and builds confidence, building community support, flying smarter and safer. Listen in to hear Jocky share invaluable knowledge and wisdom. It was a pleasure talking with him. Hope you enjoy it too.

We talk about what getting ready for flying means for us. And why it is important to really be ready way before you reach the take off.

Vishal speaks about graduating from the school and into the sky. His knowledge of thermals and how he learnt the subtle art. How knowledge is to be acquired from all around you.

Avi talks about SIV record and why SIV is an important training and experience to have under every pilots belt.

We talk about difference between wings and when to move to a higher rates wing and other stories.

Today we talk about difference between an open harness and a pod harness. Rohit Kawale joins me in a discussion on the right time to move to a pod harness. We also discuss various aspects of harness geometry to psychological influence to move to a pod harness.

I talk about Full stall, back fly and recovery. I also share my experience of fear about stalls and how I recovered from it.

A welcome message for the first episode and I talk about how to do deep spiral or nose down spiral dive.