Paragliding is an exhilarating sport that needs ample of space and height for the glider to thrust himself into the air and leave himself at the mercy of the winds. Chitral offers an ideal location for paragliding lovers. Its silent mountains and massive covers of lush green grass gives an ideal landing for the paragliders. Tourists have been attracted to Chitral for paragliding and are a popular resort.
The tourists introduced this sport among the locals. American Brad Sander is a frequent visitor and an expert pilot in the Hindukush region who has broken several records. On his second trip to Pakistan, for example, he set the distance record for paragliding on the Asian continent, flying 224km from Booni to Karimabad.
The sport is becoming more popular among the locals. Training clubs such as, the Booni Paragliding Club are training locals for this sport. As with free-style polo, Chitral also has free-style paragliding, which helps promote tourism and sports in the region. People from Gilgit-Baltistan are also showing interest in learning the sport from Chitral, according to the president of the Hindukush Association for Paragliding. Paragliding is an expensive sport given that a second-hand glider costs about Rs120, 000 and a brand new one about Rs300, 000. Many of the locals are taking off without even the basic equipment such as altimeters and GPS.
The current terrorist activities have discouraged the foreigners from visiting this area due to security concerns. The experts state that they get to learn a lot from the foreigners, but now they rely on books for training and other stuff.