Paragliding Mantra · Kamshet
Why Paragliding Mantra
29+ years, 20,000+ flights, India's only 5-star APPI school — and a community that turned a ride into a way of life.
Book / Enquire Now29+ years, 20,000+ flights — the numbers behind the name
Paragliding Mantra isn't a recent startup riding the adventure-tourism wave — it's one of India's longest-running paragliding operations. 29+ years in the sport, 20,000+ tandem flights flown, and a flying record at Kamshet that spans more seasons than most operators have existed. TJ began flying in 1997; the school itself was formally founded in 2013 — 13+ years of institutional operation on top of the founder's flying career.
That longevity matters more than it might look from the outside. Paragliding is a sport where knowledge accumulates — sites get learned, pilots get seasoned, and equipment systems get refined over years, not seasons. Nearly three decades of continuous operation is a track record you can't fake.
The founder lineage runs deep too: the school grew from the flying career of Tanaji (TJ), a name that figures in Indian paragliding's own history — and the team's approach to training and safety carries that seriousness into every tandem slot and every course batch.
280+ flying days per year at Kamshet isn't a marketing claim — it's what happens when the same team runs the same corridor for decades and knows every wind direction it takes. It's also why our weather calls are worth trusting: this team has seen every version of this sky.
Beyond the headline numbers: thousands of students trained through P1–P4, pilots who started as tandem passengers and now fly commercially, and alumni flying internationally on APPI cards issued through our training. The numbers compound into a reputation.
India's only 5-star rated APPI international school
APPI — the Association of Paragliding Pilots and Instructors — is the international rating body for the sport. Paragliding Mantra is the only 5-star rated APPI international paragliding school in India. That rating isn't self-awarded; it's a classification based on the school's training standards, facilities and instructor certifications.
What that means practically: the tandem pilot flying you is rated to an international standard, the student doing their P1 next to you is being trained to an international syllabus, and the whole operation is accountable to a body bigger than itself.
It also means your APPI rating, if you take a course, travels — APPI certifications are recognized internationally, unlike informal site-specific certificates. If you ever fly at Bir Billing, in Nepal, or abroad in Europe, an APPI card is the credential that gets recognized.
Every instructor on the team is also certified as an EFR and First Aid responder — because a flying school is only as good as its preparation for the day something goes wrong, not just the days everything goes right.
We also run the full APPI course ladder on-site — Discover through Advanced, plus specialist tracks like SIV, thermalling, XC, tandem ratings and assistant instructor programs. Schools that only run beginner courses can't train you past the basics; this one takes you as far as the sport goes.
Kamshet — the site we chose, and why it matters to you
The school is based at Kamshet for reasons that benefit every guest: 280+ flyable days a year means fewer cancelled bookings, grassy forgiving launches mean safer first flights, and the Pawna Lake basin gives tandem passengers the best view in Western India while they're airborne.
Location is also a logistics advantage — 45 minutes from Pune, 2.5 hours from Mumbai, railway station in the village. A school based at a harder-to-reach site can offer the same flight with twice the friction; Kamshet's accessibility is part of the product.
And because we operate from a fixed base rather than chasing sites seasonally, the facilities exist: a clubhouse, proper briefing areas, equipment storage, and the kind of operation that can host a 50-person corporate group or a Handifly program without improvising.
More than a tandem stand — a full flying ecosystem
Most operators in the belt are tandem businesses. Paragliding Mantra is the whole ecosystem: joyrides for first-timers, P1–P4 courses for students, APPI certification for pilots who want the international credential, SIV and acro training for advanced flyers, XC clinics for pilots ready to go cross-country.
That range matters to a first-time passenger as much as to a student — because it means the operation you're flying with has standards at every level, not just a one-product sales pitch. A tandem stand can hide a lot; a full school can't.
It's also why the school attracts students from across India and abroad: someone doing a P1 in Kamshet today can stay in the same ecosystem through P4, APPI ratings, SIV, thermalling and XC — the whole path from 'I want to try it' to 'I'm a rated pilot' exists in one place.
And it's why tandem passengers keep coming back: the flight that was meant to be a one-time bucket-list thing has a next step attached to it, and that next step is the same team, same site, same standards.
The community, the clubhouse, and flying for everyone
There's a reason 'community' shows up in our reviews as often as 'safety'. The Kamshet base is a clubhouse culture — students, tandem guests, visiting pilots, regulars — a place where the flying conversation keeps going after the last landing.
We fly people most operators won't: kids from age 3 on tandem, seniors in their seventies, and through the Handifly program, people with disabilities who most of the industry has quietly decided can't fly. Accessible flying isn't a marketing line here — it's a program with dedicated equipment and rated pilots.
Reviews across Google and Justdial tell the same story in different words: punctual slots, clear briefings, pilots who explain rather than just fly, and guests who land already planning the next visit. A 4.8★ combined rating across hundreds of reviews is the version of this page that strangers wrote.
And when the season ends or the wind doesn't cooperate, the community still exists — events, club meets, the gallery of seasons past. Paragliding Mantra is the thing people join, not just the thing they bought once.
The review trail backs all of it: 4.8★ across 569+ Google and Justdial reviews — the version of this page that thousands of guests wrote themselves.
→ Why fly with us→ What sets us apart→ Meet the team→ About TJ→ Book a flight
Frequently Asked Questions
4.8★ combined rating across 569+ reviews.
Practical guides from our Kamshet team
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