SPREAD YOUR WINGS

Avi Malik and Anita Deshpande
FOUNDERS, TEMPLE PILOTS
What were the challenges you faced while setting up Temple Pilots?
Anita Deshpande: Our dream was to make paragliding affordable and accessible to every Indian who dreamt of flying. We wanted to get people outdoors and help them enjoy discovering themselves. Our business continued to fail for five years, and we made no money. We overcame challenges [in a] very old-school way; we just kept going! The journey was so thrilling, adventurous, and romantic that it taught us along the way to be positive, tenacious, insanely creative, trust the flow of life, have fun all along, and enjoy the process.
How does one become a licensed instructor/pilot at Temple Pilots?
Avi Malik: There is a step-by-step methodology and structure in the APPI Education & Rating System that allows both leisure and professional pilots and instructors to become internationally qualified. For leisure pilots, there are five levels—from APPI 01 Discover to APPI 05 Advance Pilot. There’s a theory syllabus for each level that includes subjects like Mechanics of Flight, Weather, Piloting, Equipment, and Air Law. The practical tasks advance with each level. There is an online exam, verbal exam, and practical field test for each level for a pilot to earn their rating and flying license.
What steps do you follow to make a first-time flyer feel comfortable?
Esta historia es de la edición September 2023 de Travel+Leisure India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 2023 de Travel+Leisure India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar

Hearts Aglow
The names Tahiti and Bora-Bora may telegraph romance, but on a cruise around French Polynesia, Naomi Tomky and her daughters discover these islands also make for the ultimate playground.

Let There Be Challenge
Ordinary does not make the cut with travellers anymore. Sports, thrilling activities, and pushing their limits are the new fitness and travelling goals, discovers Garima Verma

Vineyards to Valleys
Far from the beaten path, Kavitakanan Chandra discovers a different Europe in Luxembourg

Heights of Hajar
Strapped to steel cables high above Oman’s Al Hajar range, on a cliff’s edge at 2,000 metres, Garima Verma learns what it means to hold on, and when to let go

In Deep Water
In her third surf season in Kodi Bengre, along Karnataka's Udupi coast, Shivangi Vaswani watches the Indian shoreline come alive with a new generation of wave-chasing travellers

GET YOUR GAME ON
Shalbha Sarda follows how polo is galloping its way into the realm of luxury travel beyond being just the exclusive pastime of royals

COLOMBO'S CROWN JEWEL
A jewel on Sri Lanka's oceanfront, ITC Ratnadipa in Colombo, invites guests to immerse themselves in architecture, art, and culture on this emerald island.

STEEL & SPEED
From the neon dazzle of Vegas to the glamour of Monaco, Anita Rao Kashi explores Formula 1's most iconic city circuits—where speed meets culture, history and unforgettable escapes

Where Warriors Rise
Through the All Blacks Experience in Auckland, Nainaa R Rajpaal uncovers the rituals, reverence, and raw emotion behind New Zealand's most iconic team

Word To The Wise
From long-term investments in restorative tourism to building ecosystems of support, Ranjit Barthakur's work is instrumental in more ways than one. He tells Samreen Tungekar how a complete value chain around sport and tourism can emerge with the right efforts