On Dec 7, 10:59*am, Papa3 wrote:
On Dec 7, 12:53*pm, Papa3 wrote:



On Dec 7, 1:08*am, wrote:

Anyone here know if there is any soaring activity in the United Arab
Emirates or Dubai? *A local friend thinks I should go over there and
start a soaring school. *He's a real nice guy but I take his ideas
with a grain of salt. *That said, he does know a lot of folks there
and thinks they would not only dig soaring but be able to afford it as
well. *I'm only slightly less skeptical of this idea than of the
perpetual motion zeppelin glider thing.

Matt Michael

My firm has folks working in UAE all the time. *I know a bunch of them
tracked down a sky-diving operation and had an absolute blast. * Their
sense was/is that there's a LOT of disposable income looking for a
place to be spent, and action/adventure-themed stuff is certainly
hot. * So, if you were in the mode of doing say a rides business,
maybe incorporating aerobatics, I bet it could be profitable. * *Don't
know much about "soaring" and how that would work given the
conditions, airspace, etc.

This is the operation my guys went with: *http://www.uaqaeroclub.com/

P3

I should have mentioned that India is certainly a place to
consider. * *I've spent hours watching kites and eagles outside my
office window in Bangalore (I typically spend several weeks there each
year), * and the soaring conditions can be spectacular. * 8,000 -
10,000 foot cloud bases and amazing cloud streets are not at all
uncommon. * *There were two problems when I looked into this in the


India is a fantastic place to view raptures.

In the 70's-

I remember riding on a bus, and looking out of the window, while
Delhi was in the middle of the monsoon with some flooding, seeing a
hawk gliding along a row of first floor balconies suddenly dip for a
few seconds, coming up with a big rat. I have never seen such a high
concentration of raptures in such a major metropolitan area.

Looking up in thermals sometimes there were groups of different types
of hawks and vultures, each at their own flight level. I remember
thinking the separation might be due to their different wing types
and loadings.

past: *1) *Enough disposable income (no longer an issue, as the middle/
upper class has grown tremendously in the last 5 years) and 2)
airspace. * *I suspect the latter issue is probably the bigger one. *I
did do one ride in a Blanik L-23 as well as several Microlight flights
there about 6 years ago, and the problem was that the military owned
almost all of the airspace, at least near the major population
centers. * * It was painful to be climbing at 9kts and having to pop
the boards at 3,000 AGL because we were going to bust airspace. * * I
suspect things may be changing, and it might be a viable business to
do rides outside of one of the major cities like Bombay, Bangalore,
etc.

I'm sure some folks lurking on this group would have more current
info.