Chennai: Six paragliders jumped out from an aircraft AN 32 prompting a girl to shout “daddy, daddy” in excitement on seeing them perform their stunt. The aircraft took off from Tambaram Air Force Station when they were demonstrating skydiving and paragliding to the Officers Training Academy (OTA) trainee officers and other audiences on Saturday at a dry sprawling Kayar lake sandwiched between hillocks near Kelambakkam.
After seeing her father landing on the ground slowly, Shruti Sinha a six-year-old girl was screaming and encouraging her dad. “It was nice to see daddy coming down. But I am afraid I will never try this,” she said. About 50 gliders demonstrated skydiving. Of these, five were alumni of OTA and the rest 20 from elite parachute brigade of the Indian Army. The remaining 25 were from Akash Ganga Skydiving team of the Indian Air Force led by Commander Vikas Lokesh.
P.R. Singh, the instructor and part of the Akash Ganga team of Indian Air Force, along with two other paragliders after the demonstration (Photo: DC)
Among the 50 sky divers, there was only one from TN. Karthik Kumar is an alumni of OTA Agra. He has been working in the Army for the last two years. “This is a difficult job to do and it is risk oriented. I really feel proud about it. The training is very difficult,” he said.
A paraglider in a tricolour parachute while landing on the ground (Photo: DC)
It was a wonderful sight at the lake ground, when a paraglider dived from the AN 32 flight with his parachute at around 6,000 feet above the ground. Curious spectators observed him coming down at ease and burst into applause, when he landed the ground. Six more gliders, as the aircraft raised its altitude up to 8,000 feet enacted the same act bringing applause.
OTA cadets from Chennai watch the demonstration by skydivers (Photo: DC)
It was indeed a sight worth noticing as they seemed floating on the air. For more than two minutes it seemed they won't come down or there was some kind of technical glitch. The audience remained spell bound to this act. “We have dived from 25,000 feet above the ground. It is always a fantastic experience yet risky, but I love the challenge,” said P.R Singh an instructor from Agra who has been in the acrobatic profession for the last seven years.
