Amid concern over adverse climatic conditions at Bir Billing in Kangra that had resulted in two paragliders death while 10 others suffered injuries, the Paragliding Pre-World Cup 2018 would see the use of trackers and smoke batons to ensure participants safety.

The decision to use the modern gadgets (for the very first time) was taken after reviewing climatic conditions at Bir Billing, one of the world’s finest aero sports sites as climatic conditions were resulting in mishaps after takeoff.

These devices would help in locating and rescuing paragliders in case of any mishap as the administration had faced tough time in reaching the injured and provide them medical aid on time. “After a meeting with organizers and paragliders, the organizing committee had decided to use trackers and smoke batons to locate the participants in case of any mishap or crash landing,” Vikas Shukla, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Baijnath told The Statesman. Shukla said the accidents occurred due to late monsoon rains in state that was causing high moisture content in air and the flyers weren’t getting thermals (currents of warm air that give buoyancy to higher after taking off ).

“The high moisture content in Dhauladhar mountain ranges resulting in paragliders not getting thermals (for which it is recognized worldwide) and it is causing crash landings by the pilots,” he added. Generally, after taking off from Billing, the paragliders reach above Thamsar Pass and get thermals after which they fly over Big Face (a group of three triangular mountain ranges, then land at Bir.

It is worthwhile to mention here that two pilots, one from Singapore and NRI from Australia were killed after they crash landed, owing climatic disturbances.

The Singapore paraglider was identified as Kok Choonk Na, a former commando while the NRI was identified as Sanjay Kumar Ramdas Devarkonda, a resident of New South Wales in Australia.

Ten other paragliders including three from Russia, Spain and Latvia too had suffered injuries in crash landing but were rescued.

This year, around 170 pilots from 20 countries have registered for the championship and the top ranked paragliders would qualify for the Paragliding World Cup, scheduled to be held in Brazil next year. Organised by HP Tourism department, the championship is recognized by the world air sports federation, Federation Aeronautique Internationale and the Aero Club of India.

The event would begin on 28 October and conclude on 3 November at Bir Billing which is considered one of the world’s best aero sports sites.

Located amidst the Dhauladhar mountain ranges, the take-off site at Billing (2,325 mts) is 14 km away from landing site at Bir which is situated at an altitude of 1,366 mts. Initially, hand-gliding activities were started in Bir- Billing by Israeli pilots in 1984, followed by paragliding activities by French pilots in 1992.

The Paragliding Pre-World Cup from 2002 to 2007 was organized by the HP government after which Paragliding Category-II and national championships were started by the state Youth Services and Sports department.