AEROSPORTS Skydiving with the largest flag Wg Cdr Kamal Singh Oberh of Indian Air Force skydived from a Mi-17 V-5 helicopter flying at First three-way side by side hand 7,000 ft with a 4,211.45 sq ft (391.25 sq m) flag plane parachute formation weighing 52 kg at National Defence Academy, Akashganga skydive team of Indian Air Khadakwasla near Pune, Maharashtra on May 29, Force, led by Wg Cdr Jai Kishan, 2016. He was able to fully deploy the flag at performed a three-way side by side about 4,500 ft and safely land with it. Made of hand plane parachute formation on May indigenously manufactured special nylon fabric, 22, 2015. MWO Kailash and Sgt Sarvan the flag measured 81 ft 3 inches in breadth and were the other members of the 51 ft 10 inches in height. formation. The trio skydived from an altitude of 8,000 ft and first made a three-way vertical canopy formation followed by side by side hand plane formation. First low level parachute acrobatics As part the 50 years of Indo-Pak war victory celebrations, Wg Cdr Jai Kishan and MWO S Singh of Akashganga skydive team of Indian Air Force performed low level parachute acrobatics over India Gate, New Delhi on Sept 19, 2015. They skydived from 8,000 ft and performed acrobatics down to 200 ft, which included a two-way hand plane, dive plane, leg plane and inverted parachute formation. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 adventure_2017.pmd 70 23-03-2017, 09:21 ADVENTURE WR: Longest paramotor expedition The Indian Air Force paramotors team successfully conducted a circumnavigation-of-India paramotor expedition called ‘Pradakshina’, covering 10,041.7 km in 53 days from Feb 3 - March 26, 2016. The total flying hours was 507 hr 30min. Flagged off from Air Force Station, Kalaikunda, West Bengal, the team flew mostly along the periphery of the country before returning to Kalaikunda. It followed a First solo paragliding by clockwise route along the visually challenged eastern coast, western Divyanshu Ganatra (36), who coast, north-western lost his eyesight due to region and the eastern glaucoma at the age of 19, region, covering an average successfully performed a solo 218.3 km per day. The paraglider flight over Kamshet expedition carried the message near Pune, Maharashtra on ‘A salute to the martyrs of the nation’. April 30, 2014. The upto-700- The team consisted of eight pilots – Wg Cdr ft-high flight, undertaken after MPS Solanki (leader), Gp Capt RK Singh, Wg Cdr a four-day intensive training, Ramakant, Sqn Ldr Ankur Yadav, JWO L Madan Reddy, Sgt ML Yadav, Cpl Vishal Kumar and lasted nearly 1 min 30 sec. Cpl Kuldeep Sangwan – and eight supporting staff – WODharmvir, Sgt Ram Meher, Cpl Iqbal Singh, Cpl Sunil Kumar, Cpl Pankaj Kumar, Cpl MK Biswas, LAC Ashish Bisht and NC(E) Sundar Singh. Wg Cdr MPS Solanki recorded the longest single flight of 177.5 km on March 21, 2016. First international paramotoring medalist Appasaheb Bhimraj Dhus (b Dec 26, 1970) of Deolali Pravara, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra became the first Indian to win international medals in paramotor games. He won one silver (category - Pure Economy) and two bronze medals (categories - Team Combined & International Teams) at the Thailand Paramotor Kings Cup Open 2016 held from May 12-15, 2016. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 7 1 adventure_2017.pmd 71 23-03-2017, 09:21 ADVENTURE Most microlight expeditions in shortest span Mountain Eagles, the Army microlight formation flying team based at Army Adventure Nodal Centre (Microlight & PHG), Mhow, MP conducted three microlight expeditions in 13 months from February 2015. The first expedition with seven aircraft covered 1,800 km in 10 flying days from Feb 13-26, 2015. (Route: Mhow - Khargone - Dhule - Nasik - Ahmednagar - Mhow - Ujjain - Bhopal - Dhana and back to Mhow). The second expedition commemorating the golden jubilee of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, was conducted from Sept 5-14, 2015. As part of this, three microlights covered 3,050 km in 10 flying days. (Route: Mhow - Banswara - Mehsana - Bhuj - Deesa - Jodhpur - Bikaner - Suratgarh - Bathinda - Hissar - Jaipur - Kota and back to Mhow). Third expedition celebrating the 15th Reunion of Corps of Signals was conducted from Feb 9-17, 2016. It had six aircraft covering 1,500 km in nine flying days. (Route: Mhow - Ujjain - Bhopal - Dhana - Nowgong - Jabalpur and back to Mhow). The core team including pilots-in-command and ground crew, led by Lt Col Mankanwaljeet Singh Chawla, remained same for all the three expeditions. Highest flight by a civilian ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES Mit C Bhatt (b April 4, 1982) of Vile-Parle (W), Mumbai successfully made the highest and fastest flight in a MiG-29UB fighter jet, touching an altitude of 17,300 m (57,000 ft) and a top speed of Mach 1.7 (2,080 kmph) over Sokol Airbase in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia on April 2, 2015. While flying to the ‘Edge of Space’ (stratosphere) at supersonic speeds and undergoing suborbital flight simulation and aerobatic manoeuvres, he endured varying gravitational loads ranging from +5.5G during aerobatic manoeuvres to +7G during vertical take-off. The aerobatic manoeuvres also included spiral descent, orbit, 80 degree bank, reverse turn, loops, roll, low pass etc. During the WR: Highest bungy jump by the oldest 40-minute flight, controlled by Russian test pilot At 67 years, Bal Raj Kapoor (b Oct 16, 1948) of Col Yuri Polyakov of Sokol Airbase, Mit was also Model Town, Delhi performed a bungy jump given a chance to control the flight for a minute! from the 233 m-high Macau Tower, regarded the world’s highest such platform, in Hong Kong, China on June 26, 2015. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 7 2 adventure_2017.pmd 72 23-03-2017, 09:21 ADVENTURE TREKKING/ SAFARI Most women from a single team on Mt Everest As part of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Girls Everest Expedition 2016, conducted in March-May 2016, 11 women mountaineers from India First flying fox by visually summited Mt Everest (8,848 m) in two attempts challenged woman on May 21 and 22 respectively. The successful Visually challenged (100%) Neha women included Maj Deepika Rathore VSM, Nalin Pawaskar (b May 21, 1969) of cadet instructor Dolyne Kharbhih and nine cadets Bandra, Mumbai performed 800 ft Rigzen Dolker, Tashi Laskit, Pooja Mehra, long flying fox (zip line valley crossing) Lalrintluangi, Sulaxchana Tamang, Stanzin Laskit, activity at Dukes’s Nose, Lonavala Kumari Nutan, Tsering Angmo and Trishala Gurung. (3,500 ft), Maharashtra on Jan 26, The two groups led by Col Gaurav Karki (Team 2014. She completed the task in Leader) and Lt Col Vishal Ahlawat (Deputy Leader) 6 min. The event was organised by had a total 19 members from both Army and NCC. Hi-Tech Adventures, Mumbai. The expedition also set the record of putting the largest contingent of women (11) from a single First tyrolean traverse by country on top of Mt Everest. visually challenged woman Visually challenged (100%) Adventure awards to ITBP Neha Nalin Pawaskar (b May Mountaineer Padma Shri Harbhajan Singh, an 21, 1969) of Bandra, Mumbai Inspector General with the Indo-Tibetan Border successfully attempted 1,200 ft Police (ITBP), who was conferred the Tenzing tyrolean traverse at Konkankada Norgay National Adventure Award (2015) for (4,500 ft), Harishchandragadh, Lifetime Achievement at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Maharashtra in 8 min 30 sec Delhi on August 29, 2016, was the 12th Himveer on Jan 24, 2016. She of the para-military force to receive the honour. accomplished it as part of a He has participated in three successful expeditions three-day event organised by to Mt Everest and has led 16 national and Hi-Tech Adventures, Mumbai. international mountaineering expeditions. LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS 2017 7 3 adventure_2017.pmd 73 23-03-2017, 09:21 ADVENTURE Youngest girl on highest peaks Since 2014, Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru from Hyderabad is on a mission to conquer the highest peaks of the seven continents. Her unique achievements as of June 30, 2016 are listed here. She started with Mt Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) in Africa on Oct 2, 2014, becoming also the youngest Asian girl at 12 years to summit it. On July 31, 2015, she became the youngest girl in the world to climb Mt Elbrus (5,642 m) in Europe. Her next target was Mt Kosciuszko (2,228 m) in Australia, which she achieved on Dec 11, 2015 at the age of 14. She was also the world’s youngest girl to complete the 10 highest peaks in Australia. She climbed the highest Everest summit with Everest marathon peak in North America, Mt Denali (6,190m) in The Indian Army Everest Expedition 2016, 2016. In the African and Australian missions, she flagged off on March 29, 2016, successfully put along with her father had also become the first 14 personnel on top of Mt Everest in May 2016. father-daughter duo to accomplish the task. The first team led by Lt Col Ranveer Singh Jamwal and comprising Sub Rinzin Dorjai, Hav Hazari Lal, Hav K Siva Kumar, Nk Ankur Rawat, Nk Dorjay Gyalson and Nk CB Thapa reached the summit on May 19, 2016. The second team led by Maj Mirza Zahid Baig along with Nb Sub Unnikannan APV, Hav Arjun Kumar Thapa, Hav Min Bahadur Tamang, Nk Min Bahadur Rana, Nk Pratap Singh and Rfn Umesh Rai made it to the summit on the next day. Remarkably, the expedition was undertaken after the 2015 Nepal earthquake had damaged the traditional routes. The mission was accomplished under the leadership of Lt Col Ranveer Singh Jamwal.