The fun of flying

The silken flight of kites and eagles outside his Cuffe Parade highrise in Bombay had captured his fancy even as a child. On May 16, 2002, 24-year-old Beheram Mistry rode the airways at 3,000 feet in a glider over Poona for seven hours, 35 minutes, breaking the existing record by one hour, 20 minutes, just around 30 minutes short of the national record.

"After about five hours of flying I was beginning to tire out. I was getting cramps and my water ran out. But my instructors at the Pune Gliding Centre (PGC) at Hadapsar and colleagues on the ground urged me on, encouraging me to remain airborne for as long as possible. By the end of the day, the conditions (for flying) were dying down and I was completely exhausted. But it was good fun flying — a great feeling!” describes the glider pilot who had obtained his licence two months earlier after just 32 flying hours.

Not really out to chase records, Mistry says that it was only after he landed that his instructors called for and verified the record books. Attempting to break the national record is a possibility and will be a great learning experience as well, he believes.

While Bombay has no facilities for gliding, the PGC has two instructors, Capt Sailesh Charbhe and Capt Sushil Bajpai and three operational gliders. "The weather conditions were good. It was a long flight and Beheram’s flying was superlative. He has the potential to be among the best of glider pilots or instructors,” Bajpai told Parsiana on the telephone. Mistry remembers flying towards different spots within the permissible radius. "I flew over the Gultekdi market yard from different directions and also went up past the hilltop temple of Kanifnath,” his description to Times News Network correspondent Rahul Chandawarkar was carried in a front page report in the Pune Times of May 21, 2002.

The first rung on the path to achievement was the customary five-hour flight that glider pilots need to complete if they wish to obtain the coveted Silver-C (international gliding certificate). Earlier Mistry had made two attempts to stay airborne for five hours. "I think I failed because I was tense about attaining height,” he told Chandawarkar. On May 16, he decided to concentrate on "enjoying the experience rather than worrying about the results.”

Mistry: gutsy gliding

Admitting that gliding can be "inherently or potentially dangerous,” Mistry is not unduly worried about the risks. "The quality of instruction at the PGC is fantastic,” he declares. "We don’t do stunting (stunts) or take any untoward risks. If you follow the safety procedures you’re safe.”

The Centre allows joy rides for visitors. If the pilot takes up a visitor, the latter pays, Mistry explains. On all other occasions, the pilot has to pay a launch fee of Rs 187 per flight, a nominal sum by international standards, as the Centre is heavily subsidized by the government. Depending on the student’s aptitude, it generally takes between 50-100 flights of a few minutes each to obtain a gliding license, with young people tending to learn faster, he maintains.

After his schooling at Cathedral and John Connon in Bombay, Mistry did his BSc in physics from K. C. College and is now considering the career options available, preferably in the aviation field. For the moment, the plucky youngster spends four days of the week in Poona honing his gliding skills and continuing, with the encouragement of his parents Russi and Zareen, "to glide as long as I can and achieve my personal best.”