First Ghanaian paraglider steals show at Kwahu Easter
Paragliding on the Odweanoma Mountains at Abetifi, as part of activities marking the Easter festivities, chalked up another first when a Ghanaian paraglider, Jonathan Agyen Quaye, did a solo demonstration flight that was greeted with applause from onlookers.
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He was airborne at 11:52 a.m. and at exactly noon, he had landed smoothly at the Nkawkaw Sports Stadium, the designated landing area which can be viewed from the top of the mountain.
Although the crowd cheered on 34-year-old Quaye, who was the eighth paraglider to go airborne on the first day of the festival this year, the Ghanaian pilot told the Daily Graphic later that because it was his first flight in Ghana, he was a bit scared at the beginning.
“I initially had some butterflies in my stomach because it was a new terrain altogether. But once I took off, everything disappeared,” he said.
Training
Born at Mamprobi in Accra, Mr Quaye, who had a childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot, had his training at Pune in India in 2015 to qualify him to become a paraglider.
Starting off as a passenger in 2005 during the first paragliding festival at Atibie-Kwahu, Mr Quaye said after a couple of months, his interest was whipped up and he gleaned for more information on the sport and had conversations with some pilots. He finally had his break and an opportunity to receive training.
“I decided to go into the sport because I have the passion for it and I love the outdoors. I learnt the sport on my own.
“It started in 2005 when they started the festival and I came for the first passenger flight. My interest started building up and I got to learn more and more and more. So last year when they came, we had a little ground-running where they taught me the basics. It sparked everything,” he added.
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According to Mr Quaye, paragliding is technical and learning how to paraglide depends on one’s stability and strength. He says that at the initial stage it is dependent on 90 per cent physical fitness and later on 90 per cent mental fitness.
“If you are not physically fit in the beginning, it means you will not be able to go through the basics,” he stated.
Mr Quaye said to become a paraglider, one did not have to be afraid of heights, must have a passion for the sport, pay attention to detail and be able to treat the wind with care ‘as if it were a woman’ so that one could be carried well.
He urged more Ghanaians to learn how to paraglide so that the sport would become a regular feature and not the annual event that it is currently.
According to Mr Quaye, it takes about one to two months to learn the basics, depending on how favourable the weather is.
Prayer answered
The chiefs on the Kwahu Ridge had before this year’s paragliding festival prayed the government and Ghanaian authorities in charge of the festival to ensure that Ghana had its own paragliding pilots to cut down on cost and also sustain the 11-year-old paragliding festival atop the Odweanoma Mountain at Atibie-Kwahu.
Mr Quaye’s flight, therefore, seemed like an answer to the prayer and also the impetus to draw more Ghanaians into becoming paragliders.
Educational background
Mr Quaye holds a Master’s in Business Administration (International Finance and Controlling). He attended Accra Academy from 1998 to 2000, after which he proceeded to the Methodist University College from 2002 to 2006.
Currently, he works with a private organisation called Self-Search, which is into career planning and development.
Future plans, tribute
He told the Daily Graphic that he was not allowed to fly passengers because “I need more training and experience and I have to make 200 hours flying time before I become qualified to do so. So far, I have done 10 hours.”
Mr Quaye, who used eight minutes to fly from the Odweanoma Mountain to the landing site at the Nkawkaw Stadium, paid glowing tribute to the Chief Executive Officer of Self-Search, Mrs Joyce Sika-Twum, for her continuous encouragement, which has brought him so far.
Writers’ emails: george.folley@graphic.com.gh / edmund.asante@graphic.com.gh
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