I was kinda bored yesterday, thought of trying out the new Sup Air reversible harness and so I made my way to Jugra after fetching the kids and lunch. In Jugra, Ikhwan and Orked were there with their new students, a few guys from Utusan Malaysia that were completing their paragliding introduction training.
The wind was steady but quite strong, a little gusty at times but nevertheless it was good for flying. Ikhwan launched first, taking one of his student and later followed by me. But when I took off, the wind suddenly slowed down and I couldn’t get the lift that I wanted, I swerved left to catch the lift but was too far from the ridge and I made a u-turn towards west and by the time I reached the end of the ridge, I could feel the sink. Then I did the unthinkable, probably the stupidest mistake ever – I turned towards the take-off zone, trying to catch the lift from the slope. I was not at the right altitude for that, and by the time I realized that it was too late and the tip of tree foliages were starting to graze my harness… and soon after, I flew straight into the tree tops.
I was hanging by the tree after it all stopped, wasn’t hurt other than my pride. I could hear Orked laughing out loud through the radio and chatters of the guys at the take-off zone trying to get to me. The next 2 hours were spent trying to collect the glider from the tree top, cutting branches and I was on the tree all the time with a machete. 2 guys from Ikhwan’s group came for help and I was very thankful for that, else it would take me way much longer to do all that by myself.
After all is done, I cleaned up the mess and leaves that were stuck in the lines and luckily the glider was okay, without any scratch at all. I made another attempt and flew for the second time before calling it a day.
At the end of the day, one of the girl in Ikhwan’s group landed on top of the mangrove tree next to the landing zone. We had to rescue her glider by cutting the tree, survived the mosquito attacks and for them it was an experience to be shared in laughter. It was quite a good fun for me, the guys were all excited throughout the day even when they had to rescue me in the bushes, help rescuing the other pilot from the mangrove swamp and another 2 guys I heard that they ran into the bushes during take-off, while I was busy getting out of my tree.
I hope this will be my only experience, shall never repeat the same mistake again :-)
Andrew Pearce said it well in my Facebook status – “Take not thine altitude in vain, for verily, the ground shall arise and smite thee”
