The Himalayan Odyssey Team
| |
|
PILOTS
|
 |
|
Brad Sander
34 years old from the USA, Brad started flying in 2003 and in the same year visited the Himalayas of Nepal. Learning to fly in these mountains and progressing through to flying bigger and bigger routes in India and Pakistan he has quickly made a name for himself by flying higher than anyone in Pakistan (7752meters) and further than anyone in Asia (249km). Sharing his love of flight by working in Nepal as a tandem parahawking pilot he has learned about the native vultures in these areas and become concerned about the threats to them. For Brad this project is a natural progression of his love of flight and wanting to share his experiences with others.
Brad Sander's Blog at Blogspot
Brad Sander's Team Ozone Blog
Parahawking
Vulture Rescue
|
 |
|
Antoine Laurens
Perhaps influenced by his father who built and flew small aero planes, antoine moved to Millau to start to paraglide in 1992, he was eighteen. Three years later he had obtained his free flight instructor diploma and worked for the towns biggest paragliding school 9 months per year teaching, tandem flying and training. His first trip to India in 2000 allowed him the pleasure of flying in the north and south of the vast country, the Himalayas particularly grasped his soul. 5000mtrs plus peaks to play in and explore provided Antoine a new playground to achieve lots; Acro, Bivouac, cross country, flying films etc…
Meanwhile in Millau he founded Airzone Parapente, an organization specializing in tandem flying during the summer months, and guiding courses in India, (Himalayas and Western Ghats, Maharashtra) in winter months. In 2007 he co-organised Millau’s first aeronautical event, “Millau Festival” and in 2008 “The Natural Games” on a Pre PWC paragliding event.
His passion for flying is inspiring and natural, Antoine has the ability to encourage and motivate others and himself, qualities necessary for this forthcoming mission.
Airzone Parapente
CompRteam Blog |
 |
|
Mike Laengle
Born in 1977 and raised in the Western Alps of Austria, it is no surprise that Mike found unison under the wing. A natural pilot, and always up for a challenge, Mike agrees that paragliding has provided him many great opportunities to travel and meet others who share the same passion for life.
His preferred mountain range is The Great Himalayas’s in India and Nepal, and so, has spent the last 9 years discovering and exploring them and other areas of the Asian continent. In 2006 along with his brother Mani, (and fellow pilot) they traveled overland to India, dropping in to check out various sites to fly in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.
By gaining his licence to tandem fly in 2004, it opened doors for work in Austria and last year in 2008, South Africa.
Competitions are not really his thing, his spirit is with free flying, cross country, acrobacy and bivouac flying. Nature is important to him and to be in connection with mind, body and spirit too. He attempts to follow a yogic lifestyle and feels this helps the union, like in flight.
Mike lives his live and flies with vigour, enthusiasm and with fun. His presence and energies are perfect for this expedition, they are genuine and a pleasure to fly with. |
 |
|
PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR
Lynn Jones
Trained as a gymnasium and outdoor sports instructor, life changed for Lynn after being selected to represent the UK for a UNESCO expedition to Antarctica in 1997. On completion, Lynn felt strongly the importance to share this life changing experience, she found sponsorship and devised a tour of public speaking engagements across the country, talking in schools, universities and businesses, the three month project lasted one year. At the same time, following a TV interview, she was offered a job on a children’s weekly show presenting the sports section, this developed to national Television until she side-stepped the business to find herself on the Zambezi River, Africa, where we spent one year exploring some of the unforgettable continent. The job call came from India in 2001, an adventure company based in Delhi hired Lynn to co-ordinate a Hot Air balloon project in Goa, where she tried paragliding. From then, though not a pilot herself, Lynn has flown in tandem in many sites worldwide, crossing terrain high and wild.
Her lifestyle is very committed to the practice of Yoga, since 98, and in 2002 she obtained her teachers diploma enabling her to share with others what she believes is the simple path to a content spirit.
In summer she works in Millau ,France at the Airzone paraglide base, and in winter, India organising paragliding/yoga trips. Lynn has joined the team to co-ordinate the guys!
|
|
|
GUEST PILOTS
Dilip Kotecha
His instinct to love nature and wildlife was somewhat challenging born into the the busy city of Pune, India, however, Dilip did his best. When he found an injured bird, he nursed it daily supervising the recovery until it was ready to fly 3 weeks later. Standing at the top of the hill watching it fly away Dilip knew he also wished to take off. In 1995 aged 27yrs, he completed a short course in paragliding, then a new activity in India. The general safety and knowledge was very basic and in fact dangerous, though this did not deter his dream of flying and flew as regular as possible at popular sites nearby to home in Panchganni and Kamshet. These opportunities developed his skills and founded friendships with other pilots which enabled trips to Europe in 1999 where he flew in new, different and challenging sites. In 2000 he made his first Pre PWC competition in The Himalayas, Bir, and continues too to date. In 2007 he was involved in the organisation of the event also. Since 2004 he has represented India in International PWC competitions and in 2009 Dilip obtained the First Indian Victory Serial Class in Pre PWC on Foreign soil, in Serbia. He holds the unofficial distance record of 114.5 km kms record and 1st in world altitude gain on the global flight database of Leonardo.com 5167 mtrs (both in Western Ghats)
Genuine motivation and passion to develop creates a great energy that is an attribute to paragliding, especially in India where there is, and has been obstacles to inhibit it’s growth. Dilip has much to offer a team, as well as a being a successful business man with family responsibilities, he is also a dedicated, adventurous Pilot willing to explore, push the limits and go beyond ....
Sanjay PendurkarSanjay Pendurkar (pendu) has been an adventure enthusiast for almost 25 years. He has participated in various Himalayan mountaineering expeditions and rock climbing expeditions in the Western Ghats.
While continuing his mountaineering activities in the Himalayas, Sanjay was introduced to Paragliding. He got completely hooked on to this new sport and ever since has been actively promoting paragliding and flying all over India. He has the credit of exploring flying sites like Pavna Lake, Shinde Hill and Ratnagiri Bhate Beach.
In the last twelve years as a Paragliding Instructor and now head of a paragliding school called Indus Paragliding, he has trained over 1000 students from all walks of life and from various parts of the World.
He has been visiting Bir-Billing in Himachal Pradesh for paragliding trips since 2000.
As a Competition Pilot he has upgraded his skills to fly with some of the best in the world of Paragliding. His participation includes various international competitions including the FAI [Category-II] Pre-PWC in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008.
Eric Reed
Eric's background is in cross country racing -- he's been competing for the US paragliding team since 2001.
After decades of flying dreams Eric saw paragliding in a video and knew instantly he'd learn to fly like that. He completed his training flights in 1997 in the smooth coastal air near his home in San Francisco, and his interests and appetite for the sport quickly grew to include cross-country and racing. He won his first national level comp two years later and became US champion in 2003. Last year Eric held fist place through the first four tasks of the World Championships in Valle De Bravo Mexico, the same site from which he'd done his first cross country flights and broken his first site record.
Eric's first experience with bivy flying was with the 2009 Across Himalaya project. "An amazing introduction," Eric wrote. "It opened my eyes." It's also when he and Brad met. The two have flown together over 40% of this expedition's intended route.
Oriol Fernandez
32yrs old fireman from Barcelona, Spain.
Since childhood an adventurer who enjoyed climbing and mountaineering with his family and friends.
At 18yrs he learned to paraglide at Castejon de Sos, and since then has developed his skills both in Spain and worldwide. He met Brad in 2008 whilst flying in Nepal, and again in Pakistan autumn 08 and spring 09.
Oriol flies tandem, para-motor and is involved in competitive paragliding too.
His warm, friendly, professional spirit is welcomed by the team.
|
| |
|
MEDIA SUPPORT
FILM CREW
Rafique Ahmed Shaikh and Aditya Sharma
Presently Rafique is animation director and Aditya manages pre/post production and art direction based in Pune, India. They are two of the founding members of the company created two years ago, which was initially a small affair. Now, two years on, they employ more than 150 artists who offer a highly creative services for in-house and external film production demands.
Rakesh Morchhale
At 6yrs old mesmerised by a parachute toy flying around on
Girgaon Chowpaty, of then Bombay, he discovered a passionate urge to
fly which later led him to learn paragliding in exchange for few months of
office assistant work when short of money for the training.
Now at 32, Rakesh is an intermediate level paragliding pilot & adventure
enthusiast with a film making background with a varied professional
experience as production designer for Bollywood feature films
'Johnny Gaddaar', 'Dasvidaniya' & as Art Director for 'Quick Gun Murugun'
he has worked as associate director, production designer, art director, special effects designer'
on many TV Advertising films & Music videos.
WEB
Manoj Roy
A gizmo freak and technology lover since his early days, Manoj has also been an avid fan of aviation. He continues his passion for the flying machines by flying (and crashing :))) planes through his virtual cockpit on his PC Flight Simulator and chasing thermals and vultures in his paraglider. Manoj also heads a web and future media company called Taurean Venture. Apart from making hundreds of web sites for clients in India and The World, he has been instrumental in setting up various paragliding web sites in India including the only Paragliding Forum for Indian paragliding pilots. He is proudly providing support to the expedition as a web professional.
|
|
|
