HISTORY OF PARAGLIDING
History of Paragliding
A short history of free flight
How a leap off a French mountainside became a coastal adventure near Mumbai.
Paragliding's story spans five decades, three continents and one very Indian twist — a quiet stretch of coast in Alibaug that's now teaching a new generation to fly.
The leap that started it all
In 1978, three French climbers — Jean-Claude Bétemps, André Bohn and Gérard Bosson — ran off the slopes of Mieussy with modified parachutes strapped to their backs. What began as a way to descend mountains faster became the first true paraglider flights, and modern paragliding was born.
"Within two decades, a sport invented to get climbers down a hill faster had turned into a global aviation discipline."
From parachute to precision wing
The 1980s and 90s transformed crude parachute canopies into elliptical, EN-certified wings built from ripstop nylon and Dyneema lines. Add reserve parachutes, back-protection harnesses, varios and GPS trackers, and paragliding became one of the most refined — and safest — adventure sports in the world.
Early paragliders
Modern pargliders
India joins the sky: Bir Billing
India's paragliding story begins in the early 1990s in Himachal Pradesh, where foreign pilots introduced the sport to local enthusiasts. Bir Billing became the country's first major free-flying site, and by the 2000s it was hosting Paragliding World Cup Pre-Events — putting Indian skies on the world map.
Alibaug: the coast finds its wind
In the early 2000s, pilots from Mumbai began exploring the Western Ghats' coastal ridges. Alibaug — with its steady sea breeze and gentle ridgelines around Kankeshwar, Kashid and Revdanda — quickly became one of the most accessible places to learn paragliding near Mumbai, just a ferry ride away.
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