I was justhaving my nimbu paani at Rangoli when I saw Chetan, a P2 pilot with us aking anap at the next table. After waking him up I realised he had come to see if hecould get some ground handling done…since he has had a big gap between his p1and p2 he is trying to practise on ground as much as he can, a very good planfor sure. Remember Temple Pilots Instructors mentioning that your GroundHandling Log(Hours) should be same as your flying Hrs Log. Chetan is a graphic designer with rediff.
In a coupleof minutes the rest of our group burst into Rangoli…all smiles, as they had hada great time flying at Tower hill early morning. Their theory session was doneand everyone was fully into the ‘flyingtalk’. We were joined by Svetlana who had come for her P1, and is a friend ofour very good friends and club pilots - ‘Deepali and Vivek’. It was great tomeet her, she was yet getting over her jet lag. We quickly bundled up intovehicles and tried to car pool as much as possible so that less vehiclestravelled to the site. Chetan (who was in our vehicle) started complainingabout how difficult he was finding remembering his salsa steps, a class he hadjust joined up. That is when Svetlana told us that she is actually a Salsadance teacher in the UK!It was fun to see Chetan’s expression after she told us that…I was almottempted to ask her to give him a few tips at the flying site…
After wereached the parking, everyone took their gliders and for the first time in myentire outdoor life I walked to the Shelar site through the fields with Pavniunder her umbrella which she had offered to take me under J Ifound myself chuckling at how funny I seemed to myself…
But thesewalks to and from the site are always full of the most amazing conversations…Ilearn that it was her sister Nishita’s birthday - she had accompanied us andwas also a national level fencing champion. Avinash was quick to mention thathe was into fencing too…
Then theyboth had a slightly complicated conversation about what kind of fencing theyare into…the rest of us decided to sing ‘happy birthday’ instead J
We restedunder a huge tree at the site to wait for the winds…there were variousconversations…about reserve chutes, ghosts with axes, Avinash trying to explainto P2 students about big ears, P2 students looking amused…stealing glances atthe limp windsock,
Gopalentertaining us with songs from his mobile, Rustom mercilessly pullingeveryone’s legs, Arun getting up with a glider to do kiting everytime the windpicked up, and everytime he walked to the field the winds died down. Finallyeveryone decided to hold on to him and not let him get up at all…
Khush withhis witty one liners as he propped himself by a tree, Pavni (an Indianclassical dancer) chatting with Svetlana (the Salsa teacher)…Nishita giving usall chocolates, and me giving all the kids (who sell chips and drinks) at the landing a big long boring lectureabout littering the place and not allowing their patrons to throw rubbish intheir fields. One child promptly got up picked up the heap I had collected andthrew it in a pit nearby, claiming now that you cant see the rubbish it’s abetter situation…so I had to begin the moral lecture all over again J
Finally thewinds kicked in at 6pm. The P2 pilots ran up the hill and the P1 began theirhops on the slopes. Between taking videos for the pilots, helping P1’s anddiscussing flights with p2’s as they landed, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Arungot great height and really flew well, I remembered how avi had told me when wefirst saw Arun that he would make a fine pilot, and he was so right!
Pavni hadan unassisted take-off and a super flight, though she decided to land on herbutt. Caroline had a short flight but she looked and felt very confident. Sheactually did hands off flying and weight shift turns without any nervousness.Kudos to her!
Manoj isalso a very sincere flyer, and has always had great landings, though this timehe had problem killing his glider. Khush appears more sure and more happy witheach flight, and one can see from his weight shift turns that he is becomingvery comfortable flying, he had a great landing that I caught on camera, hisfirst words to me after landing were ‘ I am having so much fun!’ amen to that.
Gopal had 2flights and when he told me ‘I don’t mind how long or short my flights are, aslong as I am learning new things’ I knew he had the right attitude for learningthe sport well.
Amit seemedvery pleased with his take-off and landing, which he was having problems within his p1, so now he was feeling confident about starting soaring.
Rustom andAvinash were having a blast and both were having so much fun at theirhops…Svetlana looked tired and smiling ear to ear after getting her inflationsright and according to Ganpat did a better job than her senior P1’s J
We allstumbled our way back to the parking with torches in the dark after having along debrief at the landing…which was full of serious observations anddiscussion by Pankaj, Ganpat and TJ and each pilot. At the end of it was veryclear that this group had the right attitude and we were all very sure that theday went great!
Aftertiredly happy good byes, we got into our vehicles only to meet again at Rangolifor Chaas and chai and a quick group pic. After wishing them the best for thenext day I left with happiness in my heart that only flying and friends can getJ
I amlooking forward to flying with all these fabulous guys, share the sky with asalsa teacher, a classical dancer, a fencing champion, a designer and what haveyou. I am dreaming flying tours, distant lands, new cultures n cuisines, andflying with friends in the big blue sky is truly paradise.
Be the first to rate this post
- Currently 0/5 Stars.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5