Commercialisation takes heavy toll on Bir’s paragliding history
BIR: For 20 years, either in autumn or spring, Steve Purdie would fly down with his friends from London to Bir, a paragliding destination near Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. Purdie ran a paragliding school in Sussex, but saw Bir as the world’s best paragliding destination. The topography, and the “gentle” weather – conducive for paragliding – drew him year after year.
They would make the most of their 17-day trips. “We try flying every single day here; some flights are 100km long,” Purdie said.
This season, however, Purdie and his friends spent their first fortnight in Bir trying to gauge if they could fly at all – thanks to a temporary ban on paragliding in much of the state due to accidents. Eventually, they gave up and salvaged their trip by visiting Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh, a poorer cousin to Bir.
“Whenever there’s a paragliding accident in Bir, there’s a blanket ban. I don’t remember a year without disruption,” said Purdie, 52. The ban, clamped in Bir on March 10 and Kullu-manali on February 3, was finally lifted earlier this week on Tuesday. For Purdie and his fellow travellers, however, it was too late. “We are never returning to India,” said Purdie, 52.
A series of fatal paragliding-related accidents – four deaths in Bir alone since November – culminated in a temporary ban. In Bir, the trigger for the ban was the two deaths in March. Experts say unchecked commercialisation has taken a toll on safety and sustainability standards over the years, resulting in the deaths of at least 12 fliers over the past five years in Bir, Dharamshala, Mandi and Manali. Many accidents didn’t even get reported, they add.
“Paragliding accidents here are very common. Authorities are usually alerted only about deaths, not broken limbs. But paragliding can be a very safe sport and the onus for safety lies with pilots,” said Roshan Thakur, the state’s first paraglider who flew Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the late 1990s.
’World’s best paragliding destination’
Surrounded on three sides by the Dhauladhar mountain range, the meadows of Bir valley are ideal for flying. “This is one of the best flying conditions in the world. The wind angle is ideal, and there are no hills to obstruct the flying,” said Avinash Negi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS) director and chairman of technical committee of adventure sports in Himachal.
Paragliding in Bir began in the mid1990s when flying enthusiasts discovered its suitability. Soon, adventure sport enthusiasts started thronging the two paragliding sites in Bir, not only between September and November, when the weather is ideal, but also the rest of the year, except two months of the monsoon.
Today, paragliding is one of the anchors of the ₹12,000 crore tourism economy of Himachal. There are more than 1,000 licensed pilots in the state and a third are in Bir. In addition, there are helpers, operators, training schools and taxi drivers who are directly associated with paragliding. In peak season, over 2,000 flights take off daily in Bir alone, said a paragliding operator who didn’t want to be named.
“A host of allied activities, from taxi services to hotels, revolves around paragliding,” said Vinay Dhiman, Kangra district’s tourism development officer.
The business has four main cogs: The pilot who manoeuvres the flight, helpers who assist in take-offs, the operator who owns the equipment and runs the business and the training school or individual who certify pilots.
Tourists started flocking to Bir for paragliding in mid-1990s, drawn by its topography and wind specifics. From a few flying enthusiasts in 1994-95, the business has grown to 306 pilots and two dozen operators in 2022. Hotels have mushroomed, as have business establishments, trainers, guides and certification schools. Paragliding became big business. A flight costs between ₹1,200-₹3,000; pilots make up to a third of it; and a 21-day certification course to become a pilot costs around ₹80,000. A paragliding operator, with 20 pilots under him, can make over ₹1 lakh a day in peak flying season.
Shiv Pal, a 45-year-old pilot from Manali’s Burwa, a village populated with adventure sportsmen, took a three-year course two decades ago. He has made over 5,000 commercial flights, but doesn’t remember being in an accident. “Today, the basic, intermediate and advanced courses are completed in 21 days. There is a hurry to make quick money without gathering necessary experience,” said Pal.
The state’s aero-sports rules of 2004 mandated five years of experience, but norms were often flouted, said Kamal Kumar, a commercial flier who has represented India in international competitions. “Over 300 hours of flying time is needed for a pilot to carry passengers. This should include flying five separate stretches of 35km in a month. Worst case, 100 hours of flying time is non-negotiable,” said Thakur.
But this rarely happens, say paragliding association leaders. “Men with just 10 hours of flying time are flying tourists. They are bound to make mistakes. Deaths will occasionally occur,” said Surender Pal, president of Manali Paragliders’ Association.
Raman Gharsanghi, joint director of ABVIMAS, said such negligence was causing deaths and leaving flyers paralysed. “When that happens, licences get cancelled,” says Gharsanghi.
In the absence of any state-run paragliding schools, experience letters to aspiring pilots are issued by private institutes. And licensed
pilots were using inexperienced men to fly on their behalf and make money.
Many young men saw it as an opportunity to earn quickly.
Before the ban, inexperienced pilots were paid ₹500-₹750 per flight, which lasted two-four minutes in Manali, and 15 in Bir. Experienced ones made ₹800-₹1,000, said pilots in Manali and Bir. “There were pilots taking eightnine flights a day,” said Prakash Chand Thakur, who represented India in paragliding world cups and won global competitions.
Paragliding operators, some of whom had up to 20 pilots under them, went all out. Many offered flights for ₹1,200-₹1,500 when the usual charge was ₹3,000, betting on volumes to make profits.
To cram in more flights, caution and protocols were flouted. If a full cycle of flying – from taking off to landing, and driving back to the hilltop to prepare for next round – took 90 minutes, pilots were asked to finish it in an hour. “They saved time by compromising on preparation, briefing tourists and safe driving. There was maara-maari to earn the maximum,” said Ghasanghi.
Many pilots worked under pressure to pay loans for paragliders, which cost ₹3 lakh. Weather warnings were ignored. “Often, they flew even in the rain and the dark and beyond the stipulated flying hours. They ignored the wind direction, air speed, and such signs,” said Thakur. Then, there were pilots making deals with clients mid-flight to perform stunts. So, harnesses would be left untied or helmets not strapped in.
Negligence, accidents
On December 22, a 12-year-old boy died after a jeep ferrying tourists to the take-off site in Bir collided with a two-wheeler. The Himachal Pradesh high court took suo motu cognisance and ordered an inspection of all sports activities in Himachal. “Different districts carried out different inspections. In Manali, all adventure sports were temporarily banned as many operators didn’t have valid licenses,” said Negi.
But Bir locals didn’t see that boy’s death as a consequence of the paragliding rush.
Negligence continued. On November 21, a pilot didn’t correctly fasten the harness on a tourist. Mid-flight, the belt and harness came loose and the client, Sandeep Chaudhary, fell 150 metres on a house in Bir and died on the spot while the pilot was left watching from the air.
The turning point came on March 8. That day, paragliding began after 4pm, after the departure of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur from a nearby location. “The flying window was open for 45 minutes, but some 200 pilots queued up,” said Kamal Kumar.
Vikas Kapoor – a merchant navy employee who took up commercial paragliding to earn better – prepared to take off with a Ghaziabad tourist Akash Aggarwal. Besides Kapoor was his childhood friend and pilot, Rakesh Thakur, doubling as a helper. “Rakesh was to fly with another tourist soon after, and his harness was strapped to his body. But he decided to serve as a helper for my flight,” said Kapoor. As luck would have it, in the melee, a clip from Rakesh’s harness got entangled in Kapoor’s paraglider.
Kapoor remembers hearing Rakesh shout within moments of the trio being air-borne. “Rakesh urged me to let go of him,” Kapoor said. He made a desperate attempt to lend his right arm for support while using his left hand to attempt a return.
Within seconds, the trio was rolling down a hill. Rakesh and Aggarwal died while an injured and guilt-ridden Kapoor remains bed-ridden. A police case of causing death by negligence, a government enquiry and a complete ban followed.
“That accident was the result of pure negligence and the desperation of pilots and operators to make the most of situations,” said Nipun Jindal, deputy commissioner of Kangra district. As the DC, Jindal is the chairman of the regulatory committee on aerosports in the district. He accepted the shortcomings in paragliding regulation. “There is no form of supervision by the state at the take-off sites. Many times, flights are taking place in borderline weather (unsuitable weather). Flying equipment are not at their best,” said Jindal.
Following the accidents, the state has rebooted the entire paragliding regulation system. The state’s technical committee is inspecting all equipment. “Of the 150 equipment we have inspected so far, a dozen were found unusable,” Negi said midway through an inspection.
Local associations, consisting of pilots and experts, are helping the government weed out pilots holding suspicious licences or those with insufficient experience. Those who survive will record their flying hours in a digital logbook. “Now, in winters, a pilot can fly only four flights a day. In summer, it will be six. A numbering system will give every pilot a flying chance in a disciplined manner. The price will be fixed to prevent wrong practices,” said Manu Bedi, a technical committee member.
Jindal said there will be designated helpers at every site, home guards at the take-off and landing sites, and ambulances to handle emergencies even as the landing site is declared a no parking zone.
Weather updates will be strictly relayed and adhered to and random dope tests will be carried out on pilots. A government-run paragliding school is coming up in Bir. Equipment will be checked every six months. Take-off sites will be re-examined, said officials.
Some stakeholders are pushing to turn the rules into an act. “That will ensure that these bans are not random. Once things are in place, there will be scope for firms to offer insurance to the pilots and tourists,” said Sudhir Sharma, a former state minister who is the president of Bir Paragliding Association (BPA).
Officials are willing to go slow in fully reopening the site to tourists, even if it means losing foreign enthusiasts like Purdie. “It is a choice between recreation and human lives,” said Jindal.