Manali institute to impart training in safety to out-of-state paragliders

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Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, April 8

After running a successful SIV course for tandem paragliding pilots of the state in the Pong wetland area of lower Kangra, the AB Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute, Manali, is all set to open windows for pilots of other states to enable them to hone their flying skills during unstable situations in flight.

This was stated by institute director Avinash Negi during his visit to the Pong Wetlands to review the ongoing SIV training of 150 tandem paragliding pilots of the state yesterday.

The institute has hired two experts to impart SIV training to the pilots. This training is mandatory for the renewal of licenses of commercial fliers.

The four-day training, which started in the last week of March, is set to continue till the end of this month.

Talking to The Tribune, the director said the institute had planned the first phase of the special SIV course in the Pong wetland area as a big water body was required for the safe landing of pilots after crashing their paragliders.

“Since the Pong wetland area has no high altitude conducive to paragliding, the institute recently purchased a paraglider winch at a cost of Rs 65 lakh, which facilitates a pilot to fly up to 1.5 km in the air,” he said.

The aim of the SIV course was to hone the flying skills of the fliers and teach trainees to recognise adverse situations and safely open parachutes for safe landings, he added.

Negi said the mountaineering institute had requisite infrastructure for providing SIV training to the fliers, and had planned to conduct a SIV course at Gobindsagar Lake in Bilaspur after the monsoons (September onwards) this year. “This training course is being conducted for the first time in the government sector in the state. An SIV-trained tandem paraglider can minimise paragliding mishaps to zero level,” he said.