PRACTICING WITH WORLD'S BEST PILOTS!!! ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES.....

Being a junior pilot, I was flying with the world ranking pilots. It sounds too energetic. At first glance you feel like being at their place and enjoying the flight. Those deep spirals, wing over, B-stall, etc. which was impossible for me that time. I saw many senior pilots like Mani, Mike, Pascal, Antonio, Dave, etc. whose flying taught me many things in Paragliding.
If you see them flying, you learn many things like weight shifting, deep turns, flying close to the ridge, etc. these are the advantages, but you need to be a good observer for that.
But their flying can also teach you some bad things, if you don’t learn them the right way and right time, they all did that and now they are highly experienced pilots. Well I tried that many times and it was deadly for me as a junior pilot. That day I was trying to go for deep and fast 360s, I don’t know what happened, but my glider went in a spin and I performed a stunt ‘HELICOPTER’ I had a good control on my glider so it recovered, but everyone thought that it was a stunt. And I was called ACRO after that. Paragliding is not an easy game and I understood this later. This event took place accidently but it taught me a lesson.
Please note: ‘Observation is good, but you should use it on the right place’ FLY SAFE!!!

DECEPLINE FLYING ROUTINE....................

To win any battle of your life, you need to frame it. Framing can also be defined as ROUTINE. It counts each and every minute of a day and the schedule of that period.
During holidays, my day starts at 6:00am in the morning, I reach at the table land in Panchgani at 6:45 for ground handling, the between time I dress up and the other ½ an hour goes in travelling. Ground Handling session for 2 hours till 9:00am. Then breakfast in Panchgani market. Later, for flying to Harrison Folly. If I do a top to top flight then I do 2-3 short time flights and if I go for a top to bottom flight then I do 1 flight, but if the weather is good I go back to the sight for another one all way long. After 11am, mostly the wind grows violent which many pilot suggest, not good for me. At that time, I watch the other pilots flying, trying to learn something. Many cross-country pilots attempt for a cross-country at that time, they are Dilip Kotecha from India, Dave from Britain, etc. I wish I could fly with them for a cross-country one day. Doing flying regularly is good, but observing other people flying and learning from them is more important.
After that, I go for my lunch to Wai, and go back at 3:30pm as the wind grows lighter at that time. Flying in the smooth wind is fun, I take long flights at that time and land after the sunset. While flying, one man is always behind me with a stick, he is Andre Savard. He is a very helpful person but strict also. He keeps on shouting for people’s welfare. He helps all the pilots around, though he knows them or not. It is good to have people like Andre, around you.

ONE HAS TO BE AN ATHLETE………………………

Play any game, but it is necessary to have an Athlete physic first. It includes good stamina, strength and flexibility with firm determination. For that you need proper coach and training.
The whole world says the same
But who all follow this!!!
It sounds too energetic to say but is very hard and bugging in practical.
When I started swimming I was quite hefty. I used to do a bit of running and nothing else for fitness. For some days, I was doing good, but after reaching a certain level I understood that I was lacking in fitness. My timing for the swimming events was not changing for a year. Then I realized the importance of physical training. The very next day my father called Mr. Afzal Pathan from Wai for physical training. He trained me for a month. The exercises which he thought me were not taken from the books, these were natural exercises. In these days my fitness level and self instruction theory was increased.
I actually was playing two games together – Swimming & Paragliding. I had to decide which game to play professionally, I chose Paragliding.
My fitness also helped me in Paragliding. I was not having the required strength for this game, therefore I was not able to control my glider on the ground, which is the most important to understand your glider. Many of them asked me to go for ground handing practice but I was not able to keep my glider on my head on the ground. Later I had to increase my work out to become strong. Like Rocky Marciano and other boxers I had to go for some arm workout, for example: digging, hill climbing with weight, pulling water from wells, gym workout, carrying weight on my arms and swimming, etc. This increased my power, stamina, endurance and confidence which all most made my ground handling perfect which was essential. Other pilots also started appreciating my improvement in Paragliding.
I am not 14 years old yet, but I feel somewhat I am better than before. And I am confident that I will be able to compete with other pilots all around the world, in 4-5 years.
Please note : Paragliding is not an easy game. You need to be 100% fit physically and mentally.

First accident I saw……………[Shashi Yadav]

“FLYING BANNED IN PANCHGANI” on that day, only permitted for me. A day before, the PSI of Panchgani Police Station had banned Paragliding due to more Air Traffic on the sites. The same night, I went to Shreemant Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale to meet him. I informed him about the ban in Panchgani. The very next moment he called the PSI and the Collector of the area to allow me to fly solo.
The next morning I went to the Police Station to confirm my permission to fly. Only I was given permission to fly, as soon as I came out of the Police Station, a Tandom Pilot showed me the News Paper titled as “The Youngest Paraglider Pilot not given access to practice flying”.
Later, after having my breakfast, I took my glider and went on the site to fly. I opened my glider and took it on the take off point, on the same time, Shashi-a Tandom Pilot came to help me for my take off as I was not so good at it. I took off and had a top to bottom flight. As soon as I landed I saw one more green glider taking off and as usual I forgot my radio set, I could not confirm who was it. That glider was also approaching to land and I could clearly see that the Pilot was not wearing shoes, he was on his floaters; he was not having a proper harness; and was flying on a really old glider, which I know, was not safe. He was just about to land, but pulled the breaks when he was about 7-8 feet above the ground resulting in a stall. He came down in a great speed and started screaming as he banged on the ground. I knew it was painful. I tried to call someone to help him to get up, but no one was there around to help. Later, a villager with his hoe heard him scream. Luckily he had his mobile with only Rs.4.78 balance. I called my father and told him all the story. He immediately came there and we took him in the nearby hospital, carrying him in a sleeping bag.
After his check up we came to know that his 3rd disc of the back bone was crushed and needed to be operated immediately, but facilities were not available. So he was taken to Pune for treatment.
He had three operations, yet he became paralised for 2 years. That time I assumed the seriousness of this accident.
PLEASE NOTE : USE PROPER EQUIPMENTS AND ALWAYS CARRY A MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION

After setting the record at Pune, we went to Mumbai again.As I wrote before ,I had become a STAR in the school. Everyone appreciated me for the great feat that I had completed ,I was in the same STAR mood for at least a week……then later I started missing my glider and its flights on the high mountains in Pune!!! But this time I wanted a change, so I asked my father to take me to my native place PANCHGANI as I had seen many foreigners flying with their gliders on Harrison Folly-The second best sight in the world for flying & so even I used to feel that at least once I should fly from my native place,so my father agreed to take me to Panchgani ,bunking the schools………hurray!!!
MY FIRST FLIGHT FROM MY NATIVE PLACE………
I reached to Panchgani the very next day. The whole journey I was just thinking- FLYING FROM MY OWN VILLAGE!!! THE PLACE WERE MY ALL ANCISTERS LIVED!!! WOW!!! it was 11:30 pm I slept for some time in the car and woke up when we reached on the sight of take off. As I got out of my car, I saw all foreigners and some tandom pilots flying & there were many people it. I started unpacking my glider, till the time, everyone came around me and asked for my age and my biodata, but when I told them about my record, everyone really got surprised….clicking photos, asking questions and all…but I was having fun!!! Later, I took my glider on the take off point. The sun was burning!!! The conditions were thermic!!! actually , at that time ,I never knew the meaning of “THERMAL” so I never understood the risk in flying in the extreme thermic conditions, all pilots came to warn me about the conditions .But who cares about some things which you don’t know about!!! [but now I know what are thermals and how dangerous they are !!! they can take you above the clouds and in some conditions also directly to the heaven] I just took off and straight to Pasarni [the nearby village] for landing, but I never realized that I was above the HIGH VOLTAGE POWER CABLES.I clearly heard the very low noise of the cables it was such a noise that can’t be expressed in any type of alphabets from A to Z, but it sound quite dangerous . Later, I landed in tail wind. I WAS SAFE!!!
That was one of the most dangerous incidents in my life and later I had a really good story tell everyone.

PLEASE NOTE: PLEASE DON’T TRY TO FLY WITH ATTITUDE, IT MAY COST YOU, YOUR LIFE,PLEASE KEEP YOUR ATTITUDE ASIDE & ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR SENIOR PILOTS.

28th January,2007-Kaniffnath, Pune (My Paragliding Record)

After 6 months of training I attempted for a record to FLY HIGH and consume time as much as I can, in the air, as the YOUNGEST FEMALE PILOT IN INDIA.

6 MONTHS BEFORE ATTEMPTING FOR THE RECORD

My Coach Mr. Eric never thought that I would be successful in doing at least one flight as I was too small[10years] and light weight to go on a flight. He tried to explain the risk factor in this game but I never wanted to listen to him, he took me on a tandom ride and did some spirals to scare me but I had fun. He later agreed to teach me 'SOLO FLYING ' on an agreement, I and my parents had to sign on a bond in which it was written that if ANY INJURIES OR DEATH takes place then the institution will not be responsible for it. But who cares for that!!! I just wanted to have fun either by "hook or crook". At last I started my training by bunking school for around 2-3 weeks and it was fun because no studies and only flying...........
After the course finished I got a Certificate of P-I and P-II Course with a red mark on it in which it was written "please don't dare to fly alone" as I had gone crazy about this game and flew on a different site without my Coach's permission in Thermic conditions, which now I realize, was wrong.After some days a new Glider was ordered specially for my weight range but yet I had to carry extra weight on it as I usually do.
In my absence, Eric sir watched out for the Youngest Pilot in India but found out that it was a guy whose age was 13 years and was the youngest to fly. He informed us about it and we were surprised to know that I was the Youngest Pilot in India and can set a record. We informed the media about it and fixed the date for record 28th January,2007 the happiest day of my life.

Back to the topic..........

It was 3.00 p.m and the wind was NIL every one was present to see the record; the media, my relatives, my friends and all. But the wind was still NIL, we waited for 2 hours and I was bearing the pressure in the public. But god knows what magic he did and the wind started slowly. I couldn't control my happiness and opened my glider as fast as I could. I took off from the take off point at 5.00 p.m. exactly. As I took off everyone gave me a huge round of a clause and that was my most memorable minute. I soared for around 1 hour and gained the height of 2,500 ft. from the ground and landed safely with a huge smile on my face. After I landed, there were around 20 people surrounding me in which most of them were reporters. I gave many T.V. interviews. That night, we had a huge party in the town.

When I returned to my school after a rest of 2 days, I was a STAR and the most famous personality in the school.

This is a picture of my 1st flight on Dear hill,Pune at 4:30pm of around 3 minutes.Though I did a crash landing I didn't get hurt.It was great fun!!!Actually,I got impressed by this game when I saw my cousin doing some spirals,wing overs,etc.
I collected some details from him about this game & saw for some more details on the internet.Later ,I asked for permission from my parents to play this game,but as usual no one allowed.Then I asked my father for it after some days when he was in a good mood,luckily he agreed.After some days, in my winter vacations I went to Pune for training.It took me around 12 days to do my P1 course and after completing it ,I called my mother to Pune and gave her a surprise doing a flight of around 35 minutes.SHE WAS SHOCKED!!!later my father also liked this game very much!!! My grand-mother later gifted me a new glider[DHV-1,Bolero plus,GIN] but as I was under-weight on my glider I had to face a lot of problems,I added around 14-15kg of weight in my harness,but any ways I am successful in increasing my weight now I am 54kg and also around the weight range of my new glider which I got it as a children's day gift from my father,but yet I have to add some weight when I fly in strong winds.