KAVREPALANCHOWK, AUG 21
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation has given permission to Phulchoki Adventure Pvt Ltd to operate commercial paragliding in Phulchoki area of Panauti.
Currently, the technical procedures are being worked out at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal for the operation of paragliding in Phulchoki.
Chabilal Humagain, chair of Phulchoki Adventure Pvt Ltd, said that preparations would be made for commercial flights after the release of operational instructions from CAAN. With approval from the tourism ministry to carry out paragliding flights in Kushadevi area of Panauti, another attraction is likely to be added to adventure sports-tourism in Phulchoki area.
A paragliding test flight was conducted from Gurdumdanda three years ago during a tourism festival. On the occasion, 15 paragliders had conducted test flight for three days.
Take-off, landing, air pressure, and other conditions were reported to be favourable for paragliding in the area.
Humagain said that it will take a month to complete all the procedures of paragliding operations and plans were afoot to start commercial flights from October.
According to him, 10 paragliding companies have been allowed to fly daily from 10:00am to 4:00 pm. It is said that visibility will be up to 6,500 feet at the specified time.
Paragliders will take off from Gurdumdanda and land at Bancharetar in Kushadevi. The road distance from Gurdumdanda to Bancharetar is four kilometres. The take-off point is 2,350 metres above sea level while the landing point is 1,300 metres above sea level.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 22, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
