Hyderabad Pilot Flies Indian Flag Over Pyramids
Sukumar Das was sitting at an international aero sports plenary in Switzerland earlier this year when he realised how unusual his presence there was
HYDERABAD: Sukumar Das was sitting at an international aero sports plenary in Switzerland earlier this year when he realised how unusual his presence there was. Delegates from countries with long‑established flying cultures were discussing regulations, competitions and tourism economies built around air sports, but he kept thinking about how little of that world existed in India when he began flying.
“Before this, India did not even have representation in many of these international discussions for paramotors and microlights,” said Sukumar Das, Hyderabad‑based aero sports pilot and founder of Vertical World, who has represented India at international competitions and meetings connected to powered paragliding and microlight aviation.
He spoke about carrying Indian Flags over the pyramids in Egypt and the Atlantic coastline in Brazil, building his own equipment in Hyderabad because imported kits were unaffordable, and trying to convince state governments that aero sports could create tourism jobs and training centres in India.
Das grew up in Hyderabad and moved into adventure sports through biking and mountaineering before entering aviation. He travelled across India on motorcycles, completed mountaineering courses and later learnt paragliding at Khandala near Mumbai. Practice sessions followed in Bir Billing of Himachal Pradesh and other flying sites before he shifted towards paramotoring, a form of powered paragliding where a pilot flies using a motor attached to the back.
“Paramotor can take off from almost anywhere because there is thrust from the motor,” he said. “That changed everything for me.” He described those years as a period when almost nobody in India understood the sport. Equipment was difficult to import, permissions were harder to obtain and funding barely existed. “People thought this is a sport where the person will definitely die.”
Das said Indian pilots often travelled abroad with cheaper engines and self‑built equipment while European teams arrived with advanced machines and sponsorship backing. Further, money remained a constraint and Das funded much of his aviation career through rope access work, building maintenance and event operations in Hyderabad.
He began working on high‑rise structures during the expansion of Cyber Towers and the city’s information technology corridor. “If somebody’s hand slipped, that person would die,” he said while speaking about workers being lowered from rooftops using crude rope systems. Das later developed locking systems that allowed workers to descend independently. He referred to the setup as “Spider‑Man work” and connected it to his mountaineering background.
Flying gradually entered tourism festivals and environmental campaigns. Das organised aerial displays during programmes connected to Bathukamma, Telangana Formation Day and tourism events in Karnataka, Odisha and Visakhapatnam. Another programme involved dropping seed balls from the air during plantation drives. However, the flights that mattered most to him happened outside India.
Das spoke at length about Brazil and Egypt, describing flying near Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro as something close to a pilgrimage site for paramotor pilots. “Christ the Redeemer, Rio and the pyramids are like pilgrimage places for paramotor pilots,” he said. “When permission came, I did not want to miss the chance.”
The Brazil flight almost went wrong before take‑off. Das said mist increased the weight of his equipment while changing wind conditions near the coast made launch attempts difficult. He eventually removed parts of his emergency safety gear because the aircraft was too heavy. Das completed the flight, but turbulence near the mountain created repeated wing collapses during descent. “When I finished that flight I cried loudly,” he said. “Nobody knows that but I completely broke down. It was such a big deal for me and to represent India while at it.”
Similar was his experience of flying over the pyramids and the Nile with the Indian flag. “Very few people get permission to fly there,” he said.
In India, Das said several state governments have approached him to study locations for flying activities and prepare feasibility reports connected to tourism and training centres. “States are asking what can be done there,” he said. “They want to know whether international competitions can happen and whether employment can come through aero sports.”
He argued that India treated aero sports mainly as spectacles while countries in Europe use them to support tourism, training and manufacturing. Das wants similar systems in India. He spoke about building aero sports hubs where people can train in paramotoring, hot air ballooning, microlights and drone operations in one location. “Two months of proper training can make somebody employable anywhere in the world,” Das said.
He repeatedly mentioned the Aero Club of India, the sports aviation body founded in 1921, and contrasted it with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s aviation regulator. “Aero Club of India is doing great support for aero sports,” he said. “Many state governments still do not even have awareness.” He also described plans for flying police patrol units using paramotors for festival security, forest surveillance, coastal monitoring and disaster management. “Drone coming is one thing. Flying police coming is another thing,” he said.
Das spoke about future aero sports arenas where children, office workers and tourists could learn to fly in the same way people learn swimming.
