Paragliding is a thrilling experience that has become increasingly popular in India over the past few years. Unfortunately, the rise in paragliding activity has also been accompanied by an increase in paragliding accidents, with Himachal Pradesh emerging as the leader in this regard. In this blog post, we’ll explore 8 reasons why paragliding accidents in India have been on the rise.
People come to Himachal Pradesh to enjoy adventure activities like - paragliding, water sports, and bike riding. But there are many cases where people lost their lives. Like the recent paragliding death on Dec 25, 2022, at Kullu Manali.
After all these years of paragliding accident cases and based on a news report of the past years. We have written this blog and given all 8 reasons why Himachal Pradesh is the leading state in paragliding accidents and death.
8 reasons for a paragliding accident are:
1. Equipment failure
Paragliding equipment fails during paragliding in India in the regular cases coming up from Himachal Pradesh where a passenger has fallen from the sky while enjoying a paragliding joyride after his Harness failure. The incident happened at Dhobi in Kullu district on 25/12/2022 Christmas Day.
What is an equipment failure in paragliding?
Harness failure in paragliding means - the safety lock is open during flight. (cause of using a very old harness)
it is not properly locked.(cause by not checking properly or just being hurry to fly)
In this, both cases pilot/passenger will freefall during the flight.
Here are some of the other news stories of equipment failure during paragliding in India:
1. Himachal Pradesh: One person dies in the Bir-Billing area of Kangra district after falling from a paraglider.
Untrained & unprofessional paragliding pilots
Untrained and unprofessional pilots are also the major factor in Paragliding accidents in Himachal Pradesh. Due to the lack of basic knowledge, proper training, and piloting skills.
This can be proved by many cases that have happened to people who have been involved in paragliding accidents in Himachal Pradesh. Here are some of the news.
The belt and harness came loose minutes after takeoff and Sandeep fell from about 150 feet on the roof of a house near Bir and died on the spot. Read the news in detail.
Pilots who are not trained properly and do not have the required experience should be banned from flying commercial paragliders in India.
All licensed paragliding pilots are not well trained
All licensed Paragliding Pilots are not well trained in Himachal Pradesh and this is also a major concern some of them also have submitted fake certificates. There have been several accidents involving paragliders in the state, and many of them have been fatal.
Most of the pilots operating in Himachal Pradesh do not have the proper training or experience to fly in the mountainous terrain safely. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
For example - Here is the news report of The Times of India -
Flying without proper equipment
Paragliders are very unforgiving to pilots who fly without the proper equipment. All pilots must have the right equipment before they take off.
As you can see in the video above the paragliding pilot is not wearing a safety helmet. While he was doing an acrobatic stunt in the air with his passenger on a paraglider, and carabiner got broken and they started to freefall.
Unfortunately, he didn't have an emergency parachute (use in case of any emergency during the flight) to throw and save himself and a passenger. This incident happened at Kalimpong the paragliding site in 2018.
Flying during bad weather
Yes, bad weather conditions and a lack of experience can lead to accidents in paragliding. Flying in strong winds is not recommended. The most important thing is to avoid flying with the wind.
Another paragliding accident news by India today this accident also happened in Dhobi, Kullu due to flying in bad weather conditions, and a lack of weather knowledge.
Compromising on safety to provide joyride at cheap rates
Paragliding equipment is costly (Rs. 5 - 6 lacks to buy complete paragliding equipment which has only 200 to 400 safety hours) and a good professional tandem pilot will also charge good money. Maintaining proper paragliding equipment and a good pilot in India is expensive.
Dew to high competition in the paragliding business and a lot of vendors who don't have all the necessary paragliding equipment and well-trained pilots and attract more customers and make good money.
True! Good pilots don’t need to provide cheap rides since they are good pilots. However, this is not true for beginners and for flyers who want to save money. For 10-20 minutes of flight, a normally reasonable price is 3000/-.
A cheap vendor/company will charge 1500-2000 for the same. This means that the cheap paragliding companies/vendors are not even going to spend on good equipment, provide experienced pilots, and will not spend time or money on safety standards.
Not following any paragliding rules & safety standards
Most paragliding companies do not follow proper rules and safety standards, they are in business just to earn money. Because they are not taking any risks with their life.
Pilots and passengers are taking risks and they also have to fill up a bone paper(clearly written in case of any death or accidents company & their members are not responsible).
Pilots are using drugs before flying with tourists
paragliding is a very extreme sport where the pilot needs to be very active and study during the flight and it needs lots of concentration. But in India, some pilots are flying after taking drugs like brown sugar (Chitta), tablets, Ganga, Charas, etc.
In preparing for take-off in a sport as extreme as paragliding, the pilot must remain wide awake, fully alert, and highly active. But it seems that in India most pilots are flying high on drugs.
Of course, no one is advocating using drugs to fly a multi-seater aircraft. However, the fact that pilots in India are high-flying on drugs, should be a cause of concern for authorities.
Why some paragliding companies are allowing or hiring this kind of pilot?
Because they will work at cheap rates which is one way profitable for the companies.
Conclusion
Paragliding is a sport that is not only exciting but dangerous as well. However, since it involves flying in the air, all the companies, pilots, and passengers must know all the safety rules, and conduct themselves to avoid accidents.
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