Karma Flights

Tandem Paragliding for a Cause - Introducing KarmaFlights.org

Matt Cone

This past winter I had the great fortune to take a 2 month sabbatical from work. The time was right to get away, do some soul searching and of course some great flying. I spent 2 weeks in Valle and then 5 weeks in Pokhara Nepal. While in both locations, I took the time to experience the local culture. Most of my past flying trips have been pretty agro with the flying and light on the local experience. I was determined to make that different this time.

Prior to my trip, I become involved with The CloudBase Foundation, a great group of pilots that raise money throughout the year to help children in communities where we fly. During this trip, I was keen on finding a way to link CloudBase with a cause.  In Pokhara, I was fortunate to be introduced to the organization Quality of Life Nepal.  (QOLN) This non-profit provides support for a number of villages surrounding Sarangkot, the primary flying site in Nepal.   QOLN’s “Click-Click” program particularly caught my attention. This is a rare program that provides education for disabled children that are severely underserved in the region.  Their facility is about 100 yards from the primary launch site. Paraglider pilots literally fly above the school all day and waive to the kids below.

So with a specific cause identified and an organization to provide the structure, a group of us here in Seattle (Chris Amonson, Gilead Almosnino, John Kraske, Stefan Mitrovich, Steve Pieniak and others) came together to provide a structure for raising money to help these kids. This summer, we will be providing tandem flights through our website KarmaFlights.org.  All money raised will be via donation and provided directly to fund the staff efforts of the “Click-Click” disabled children program. Please consider passing on this information to friends who are interested in helping out.

If you would like to learn more about the project, please visit the website: www.karmaflights.org