Paragliding in Azerbaijan

Paragliding in Azerbaijan is quite young and even though Azerbaijan has a rich sporting heritage, little was known about the sport of paragliding and air sport,^[1] generally, at the begging of the century. Early in the sports development some ex-parachute jumpers and short term foreign visitors were trying to develop the sport, but with no real success. These days (2015) community consist of about 20 pilots, members of the sporting clubs RockStone,^[2] Gilavar,^[3] Climb Club, CanFly.^[4] Pilots are required to follow Fédération Aéronautique Internationale main safety requirements and ethics.^[5]

History

One of Azerbaijan's first paragliding pilots was Huseyngulu Baghirov, he imported all the necessary equipment into the country, generally Powered paragliding, found an experienced trainer from abroad and had the first real achievements in the air. This was Azerbaijan's first step skyward in paragliding.

Sometime later, an organization called FAIREX^[6] was established to develop mountaineering and air sports in Azerbaijan. This organization, with federation status, was Mr Baghirov’s brainchild.

Back in 2012 in order to widen and establish the sport, FAIREX (az: Azərbaycan Hava və Ekstremal İdman Növləri Federasiyası) called for open training with an experienced instructor from Russia. There was huge interest from the young population in Azerbaijan to participate. Unfortunately, not everyone could make it, but it planted the seed and people fell in love with the sport. Some of these people were from Climbing and Mountaineering Club RockStone.

Within the next several months, very proactive members of RockStone ^[2] organized a community of the people who wanted to fly and under the instruction of a Dutch pilot from Pancho Amelia ^[7] started the first training sessions with several second-hand wings. Development was so fast and proactive, that in July 2013, with FAIREX support, Azerbaijan became the home country to the first International Paragliding Festival in the Caucasus (2013 OPEN AIR PARAGLIDING FESTIVAL).^[8] The participants in the festival, apart from Azerbaijani pilots, were guests from the Netherlands, Georgia, South Africa and Belgium.

Less than one year after the Festival, RockStone club had 25 pilots flying as B class pilots. The Community was growing significantly breaking into the various paragliding disciplines based on the member's individual interests, such as X-country, Acro, Moto, etc.

The break even point of Paragliding in Azerbaijan is considered to be May 31, 2014, which is the day when an advanced group of pilots performed the first ”big boy” flights from Qicky Mountain.

Nikolay Zakobluk, Jamal Kashkay, Firuz Takhirov, Ziya Qasimov, Aleksey Zakobluk

These flights were undertaken by Stephen Charlton, as a trainer, and pilots Alex Zakobluk, Nana Nabiyeva, Firuz Tahirov, Ziya Qasimov, Nuran Abbasov, Jamal Kashkay, Nikolay Zakobluk and Fidan Mammedova. These pilots were the pioneers of high-altitude flight in Azerbaijan on that day, and so the day has been named “Azerbaijan Paragliders Day”.^[9]

Flying Spots

All interesting flying spots are marked and described at ParaglidingEarth ^[10]

References

External links

• "About paragliding in Azerbaijan". mountain.ru. 2016. 
• "Azerbaijani paraglider takes skies for first time in Saudi Arabia". AzerNews. 11 August 2015.