Aerial adventurer Subash Thapa is happiest when he soars into the sky like a bird, which comes as no surprise, considering that he’s one of the world’s most talented acrobatic paragliding pilots.

Subash began his journey with wings at the age of 16, inspired by watching paragliders fly in his beautiful village of Sarangkot, Pokhara.

After his first tandem flight, he was hooked. “It was an incredible experience. I realised that I can pursue this activity continuously, and I was going to have a good time,” Subash says.

Earlier, he focused on competing in cross-country paragliding events. A few years into flying, he decided to take up acrobatic paragliding, an advanced discipline involving performance of various tricks with a paraglider.

Together with his colleagues, they set up Nepal Acro Team (NAT), a team dedicated to organising paragliding shows and developing aerial acrobatics.

At 20, he participated in his first paragliding World Cup. Despite many challenges, Subash strived to improve his performance. His dedication led to success, in competition, he became the first Acro pilot from Asia to master the most challenging paragliding manoeuvre, Infinity Tumbling.

Subash’s personality is intriguing, inside all about equanimous and well-balanced, yet on the outside passionate and driven.

“If you’re not pushing boundaries, are you truly living life to the fullest?” asks Subash Thapa. Always seeking new challenges, he discovered skydiving and soon began training to become a skydiving instructor. In 2018, he was certified to instruct individuals for tandem skydiving, helping them to attain their goals.

Subash has an insatiable hunger for daring adventures, and it’s precisely these experiences that fuel him today.

In November 2022, Subash skydived over the Gulf of Thailand hovering 13,000 feet above, carrying the flag of Nepal. Subash recalls: “It was a great feeling, and jumping out of planes representing Nepal’s flag for the first time in the world of skydiving is something that makes me proud to this day.”