At 11, Mizo boy is youngest paraglider in the country

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, March 18

An 11-year-old boy from Mizoram has become the country’s youngest paraglider after flying solo at Bir Billing.

Samuel scripted the history after he took off from the world-famous paragliding site yesterday and landed safely at Chogan, the landing site.

His achievement becomes all the more significant as none from Samuel’s family has ever flown a paraglider. Presently, he is learning paragliding in the Kangra Valley under the guidance of the Bir-Billing Paragliding Association.

Samuel’s record-breaking flight lasted over 20

minutes. His mother was the first to receive him at the landing site.

As soon as he came out of the paraglider, hundreds of residents, including Indian and foreign flyers, welcomed Samuel.

Talking to the media at Billing, Bir-Billing Paragliding Association president Anurag Sharma said in the history of Bir Billing, Samuel was the youngest pilot to take off from Billing and flew amidst Dhauladhar hills for 20 minutes.

“This event added a new chapter in paragliding and credit goes to our skilled pilots who were teaching paragliding to this child,” he added.