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. As of 2015, the community consisted 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]

Paragliding in Azerbaijan
Stephen Charlton and Ziya Qasimov soaring over the hills.
Highest governing bodyFédération Aéronautique Internationale
First playedRockStone club
Registered playersAzerbaijan
Characteristics
ContactNo
Mixed genderYes, separate competitions
TypeIndividual sport, Air sport, Paragliding
VenueOutdoor
Presence
OlympicNever included. Was nominated as discipline in the Islamic Solidarity Games
Part of a series on
Azerbaijanis
Culture
Traditional areas of settlement
Diaspora
Religion
Language
Persecution
  • Azerbaijan Portal

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]

References
  1. "Home". airsport.az. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  2. "Rockstone". rockstone.az. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  3. "Gilavar - Air & Extreme Sports Club". gilavar.club. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  4. "Learn to Fly - Azerbaijan Paragliding". paraplan.az. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  5. "FAI portal". fai.org. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  6. "Azərbaycan Hava və Ekstremal İdman növləri Federasiyası". fairex.az. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  7. "PanchoAmelia Homepage PanchoAmelia". panchoamelia.nl. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. AzerNews. "First air sports festival held in Azerbaijan". AzerNews. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  9. "home". skywingsmag.com. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.