Para Gliding in Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh is a striking feature of the place and conceivably has a bright future with its fast growing popularity and continuous promotion.

History of Para Gliding in Bilaspur District
The history of Paragliding in Bilaspur dates back to 1994, until when there was only one paragliding or hang gliding pilot in Himachal Pradesh, Roshan Lal Thakur from Manali, who had imbibed the skill of flying from foreign pilots, often visiting Manali as tourist. Meanwhile, R. P. Gautam who had come on retirement from Central Reserve Police Force as Commandant, visualised the vast potential in paragliding from Bandla mountain. To give impetus to this vision, he got in contact with Shakti Singh Chandel, the then Director Tourism and Civil Aviation, to extend all possible help in promoting paragliding not only in Bilaspur, but also in the whole of Himachal. The Director Tourism, who himself belonged to Bilaspur, took keen interest in approving Bandla top as take off site and gave financial assistance to run paragliding courses for the district under the Himachal Aero Adventure Institute there, which under the expert guidance of Mr. Bruce Mills from New Zealand and Mr. Alexi Garisimov from Russia, got the pilots trained. Thus, Bilaspur was brought on the World Map in Paragliding.

Para Gliding Facts of Bilaspur District
The paragliding facet of Bilaspur District that distinguishes it from other flying sites is it gives almost eight hours of flying time as against 3-4 hours maximum at Billing and Manali sites in Himachal. Moreover, its landing grounds at Luhnu on the banks of Gobindsagar Lake are vast and safe. From training point of view, Bilaspur can be considered the best in whole of Asia. Courses in paragliding are run here by the Himachal Aero Adventure Institute in Bandla Dhar. It is laid down in the training manual that training in instability manoeuvres during advance pilot course, i.e., dynamic stall, deep stall, spiral drive, spin recovery, asymmetric tuck, front tuck and deployment of reserve parachute, should be carried out over a broad base of water for valid reasons. For this, there is hardly any place where there is a huge water base just beside the landing site. Bilaspur with its unique location offers twice the conventional flying time and also has the rare and distinctive privilege of having a combination of aerial sports in one stretch.

There are generally two kinds of flights; the short flights, where the flier guest is taken 100-150 metres up the slope along with the pilot in a two-seater paraglider and high flying, which is approximately 20-30 minutes flight on a two-seater paraglider, ideally for experienced pilots.

Bilaspur District being one of the prime zones of Para Gliding in the country fulfils the long childhood cherished dream of flying and soaring high up in the endless skies and experiencing the exhilarating and larger than life feeling creeping in, while in the air for that much duration. Paragliding, the fastest growing type of foot-launched flying, is growing in popularity and as a must engage aerial adventure sport. This blend of sky diving and hang gliding can be experienced in wholesome here by any adventure enthusiast who is thrilled by and thrives hovering in the skies on life"s edge, with proper relevant training, understanding the reaches and limitations of flying wings to gain control, mastering the beginner"s skill and consequently yearning to expand the horizon by flying higher and further.

Paragliding is being constantly promoted and popularised as an aerial adventure sport in Himachal by its government and tourism department. Training programmes on paragliding are organised in the state, with professional instructors with the tourist"s utmost safety and convenience. One can see the skies of Bir and Billing in the Kangra valley, the Solang valley near Manali and Bandla in Bilaspur overcast with colourful butterflies, the paragliders, gliding over the majestic hills and unexplored valleys of Himachal. Bilaspur in particular, will turn into a major paragliding site in the near future.