Paragliding suspended amidst Nepali corruption scandal
A paragliding tragedy is linked to a bribery scandal within the Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation
On October 16, 2022, Nepali Army soldier Nisim Thapa was competing in the 9th National Games, representing the Tribhuvan Army Club. Five minutes into the flight, his canopy collapsed and he fell from 325 feet - the upper limit of the Paragliding Dead Man’s Curve. Rather than toss his reserve, he chose to attempt to recover his canopy. It was a mistake.
"We saw his paraglider shrink in the air and go on auto-rotating mode before falling on the ground directly. He tried to recover in the air but the distance was too short and he failed to control the paraglider," said Thapa's coach. With severe injuries, Thapa was taken to Metro City Hospital, where he died as doctors struggled to save him.
By my incomplete, verifiable count, it was global paragliding fatality #2,164.
The next day, October 19, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) put a halt to all paragliding activity across the entire country.
"I came to know that the National Sports Council had not taken permission for paragliding for the Ninth National Games," announced the president of the Nepal Olympic committee Jeevan Ram Shrestha, who is also the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (CIAA). "As it happens to be a sensitive issue related to aviation, I have instructed CAAN authorities to stop the event."
Shrestha spoke under the shadow of an embarrassing corruption scandal in his own ministry that had resulted in the arrest of a CIAA Under-Secretary on August 2 by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. They discovered that Under-Secretary Pramod Nepal had taken a bribe of approximately US$4,500 for the issuance of a paragliding license to an undisclosed party. An additional US$12,500 from the probable shakedown of a local aviation company was found in the government vehicle he used. The Tribhuvan University gold medalist in economics was charged on September 18 with multiple counts under the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2002 and now faces up to two-and-a half years in prison.
The next day, September 19, celebrated Nepali mountain climber Nirmal Purja Nimsdai crashed his paraglider into rocks while attempting to launch from his base camp on Manaslu (26,781'), the eighth highest mountain in the world. Suffering from back pain, he was airlifted to Kathmandu by a Simrik Air helicopter. Perhaps by coincidence, Nimsdai had recently obtained a permit from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to conduct a feasibility study on paragliding from the 26,781-foot peak this season for his company, Elite Expedition.
Perhaps, again by coincidence, on August 21 the CIAA granted permission to Phulchoki Adventure to operate commercial joyriding from Phulchoki (9062’), the highest road-head in Kathmandu Valley, 20 kilometers southeast of Kathmandu. Phulchoki Adventure told the Nepali press that they expected to be able to start commercial flights in October. Unfortunately for them, plans to expand paragliding in Nepal have now been placed under government suspension until all corruption connections and safety issues have been dealt with.
Good luck with that…
This pre-publication post is adapted from
Ghosts of Wind And Cloud by Rick Masters, Volume 10: The Silken Jungle, p. 298.
Photo credits:
1) Arrest of CIAA Under-Secretary Pramod Nepal (crop), Online Khabar, <https://english.onlinekhabar.com/gold-medalist-bureaucrat-arrest-bribe.html>
2) Manaslu at Sunrise (crop) by Ben Tubby, CC BY 2.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
From your most concise report on a topic only covered by a very, very, few...Until now. This is BIG.
"Army soldier Nisim Thapa was competing in the 9th National Games, representing the Tribhuvan Army Club."
"By my incomplete, verifiable count, it was global paragliding fatality #2,164."
"The next day, October 19, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) put a halt to all paragliding activity across the entire country".
===============================================================
HANG GLIDERS too?
I say,
"What it must be like, to just hike at that crunching HIGH altitude,
lumbering all the equipment and "safety parachutes".
much less, launching into the air...and missing,
and then who tells the parents"?
Paratroopers to paragliders to Paratroopers, oh my.
Hang Gliders in this country should subscribe and write,
and let USHPA go on their own,
and "Happily Paraglide Away".