Words + Photos By: Ali Al Hammadi
Since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamt of becoming a fighter pilot. But when I graduated from high school, my eyesight wasn’t as sharp as I wanted it to be, so I decided to study civil engineering instead as the construction industry was booming in 2002.
During that period, I saw a video on YouTube of a guy with an engine and a fan on his back, taking off with a parachute. At that moment, I realised that I could at least achieve a little of my dream and have a taste of flying.
In 2006, I ordered my first set of equipment online and tried to teach myself through YouTube videos, as we didn’t have any instructors at that time. It was a rough road I was going through and full of accidents, thankfully none of them were major.
Right from the beginning, I really started to like the sport. The idea of carrying an aircraft in the boot of your car and taking off from basically anywhere you want is an amazing feat. This is the future and it gives you a chance to see the world from a completely different perspective. Taking off after a short run, experiencing the speed and acceleration at take off, feeling the wind in your face as you ascend climbing to 3,000m, or flying low till your feet scratches the ground – it’s just amazing! Later in 2007, I decided to take an instructor’s course in Empuriabrava in Spain and it was the first time for me to meet with pilots from around the world. After a challenging course, I successfully obtained the license and came back.
Since then, I have tried to attend every event held in Europe and I have built so many friendships from all over the world. The paramotor community is relatively small in comparison to other sports, everybody knows everybody. It’s very useful to have friends and connections as it makes things easier when you travel to other countries to fly. In 2009, I was invited to a competition in South Korea. It was during a yearly balloon festival and everything was paid for, so how could I resist? It was my first competition and I learned so much. Flying under stress makes you learn fast! I achieved 7th place out of 35 pilots. We had a chance to fly in Downtown Daejeon City, around buildings and over the motor ways. It was the craziest thing a paramotor pilot could have dreamt of! I made a video of that trip and it went viral on YouTube.
In 2011, we had a fatality in the UAE as a pilot fell in the water and drowned. It hit me hard as he was a good friend and I was devastated. This is where I realised that the sport was growing fast in the UAE and that safety measures needed to be introduced. So I organised the first Paramotor Safety Seminar. I invited two of the main heads of the sport to speak about various topics related to paramotoring. The response to the seminar was phenomenal and it was attended by around 70 people from all over the GCC countries. Other than the serious safety aspects of the seminar, we also included a fun flying part where the top pilots showed off their skills. The participants were greatly impressed!
Unfortunately, the sport is not yet regulated in the UAE. It is similar to the quad bikes, if you ride it in the city you’ll get arrested, but it is fine to ride it in the desert. Therefore, we tend to fly as far as possible from the cities to avoid any noise, privacy disturbance and commercial airplanes. We are currently working with Emirates Aviation Association and the General Civil Aviation Authority to introduce basic regulations to the sport.
To date, I’ve had two interesting “close call stories” that I can remember. One of which, happened when I was flying in the desert close to Big Red and 50m below me I suddenly saw an F-16 passing at a very high speed. I thought I was dreaming! It was like “Wooaah! I better land now!” The other incident was when I had an engine failure about 30km away from my car, I had to hike back and hope that someone would pick me up. With an approximately 45kg on your back, 45°C heat and 90 per cent humidity, it was not an easy job. After an hour and a half of hiking, thankfully, my friends estimated where I was and they drove to pick me up. Such a mistake taught me to carry a bottle of water and a mobile phone on every single flight!
I can see a huge future for this sport in the UAE. The perfect environment and minimum restrictions makes it one of the best flying places in the world. For training, I recommend a very good friend, who’s a professional licensed instructor and has taught over 120 students. His name is Johan and can be contacted on flysometime@gmail.com.
