Flying as Birds, PARAMOTORING

Year and Month	April, 2016
Number of Days	One
Crew	Four
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Motor Bicycles
Activities	Paramotoring, Photography
Weather	Clear and Hot
Route	Colombo -> Bentota via Galle Road
Tips, Notes and Special remark	This is a high cost effective activity in Sri Lanka and mainly targeting tourists 95% of Sri Lankans don’t know whether this is operating in Sri Lanka or not Be at the place early morning This sky ride is 100% safety For individual or group tours please contact Malith on 0773 090 278 or Akila 0773 857 123 Full story will be available on Sunday Lankadeepa in future Cost per person is USD 50 for 12-15 minutes
Related Resources	Trip reports : Paramotoring
Author	MSRF
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Flying as Birds, PARAMOTORING

Sri Lanka is a country which has different type of tourism related activities in all around the island. Especially the beach is also different to the areas such as Hikkaduwa, Bentota, Arugambay, Trincomalee and Kalpitiya. There are different kind of water sports and activities for tourists. Today our journey is about a flying activity called “Paramotoring”, it is kind of an experience to feel as a bird in the sky.

We came to Bentota beach by 9am and met the facilitator on time. They have the only license for use Paramotoring as commercial. Mr Suren was introduced this activity to Sri Lanka in February 2013 and now there are 4 permanent professional pilots in paramotors. The item called Para motor is actually a Powered Para Gliding (PPG). It is having a normal mini air craft engine called Rotex 503. All the pilots are the retired soldiers of parachute section in Sri Lanka Air Force and Commando regiment. They are very talented and experienced people such as they lived with parachute with more than 10-15 years.

Wind is the most important factor to Paramotoring such as the wind level, wind speed is directly affecting to the sky ride. This sky ride is about 10-20 minutes. There are so many foreigners coming to feel this experience such as we were waited for 2-3 hours since there were more than 15 foreigners who came to this activity. Before every flight every passenger should get their weight by the weight machine with them. Because the seat will be adjust according to the weight of the passenger. The maximum passenger weight is 115Kg and the PPG is with 65Kg weigh.

I took the chance to feel this amazing and thrill full adventure. I wore the life jacket and the helmet and sat down at the front chair of the PPG. The guide will be sat on my back chair and he will control the parachute and all operating equipment. This is not a fly like we are at an airplane or helicopter. This is 100% open fly above the sea level of approx. 100ft. When I sat down on the chair they checked all my gadgets and the readiness of the PPG. Then we started our flight from the sea level, slowly we went to a higher level such as more than 1000ft. We could see the people as small dots and all the luxury hotels, the Galle road, railway line and the giant Bentota River. The beach is so beautiful and the sea is having many colors like blue, green, dark blue etc.

We had a 5km sky ride to southern side and then I saw the giant Buddha statue of Aluthgama temple and the rest of the area is fully covered with huge trees and many of coconut trees. Also I saw some mountain from my eastern side and they might be situated near Ratnapura district. On a clear day we could see the World Trade Center and the port city of Colombo.

They should take in writing approval for daily fly plans from the Air Force headquarters at Katukurunda. This is really an amazing activity, as human I suggest that every people should feel this experience. Once they landing the PPG they use coastal line and coming down to the ground slowly. This landing system is totally equal as normal air craft landings. Finally we had a great opportunity to fly in the sky and it is the real experience of a bird.

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