Twenty-five kilometres out of Jammu, on the road that climbs towards Surinsar, a hillside called Aithem is about to host something the city has never staged: a national paragliding competition. The 1st National Paragliding Accuracy Cup runs from October 24 to 26, and pilot registration opens tomorrow, October 1, and is free.
Announcing the event on Tuesday, Joint Director Tourism Jammu Aijaz Qaiser said the cup would be "one of the biggest paragliding accuracy events in the country". It is being organised by the Directorate of Tourism, Jammu, together with local adventure-sports and paragliding associations, and was envisaged, on the directions of Commissioner Secretary Tourism Ashish Chander Verma, as a national-level event, the first of its kind in Jammu.
- Dates: October 24–26, 2026
- Venue: Aithem, on the Jammu–Surinsar road, about 20–25 km from the city
- Registration: October 1–15, free of cost
- Events: spot-landing (accuracy) and duration flying
- Prize money: around ₹7 lakh, according to the Tourism Department, with separate prizes for J&K pilots
What exactly is an "accuracy cup"?
Most people picture paragliding as a joyride: a tandem flight with an instructor, a few minutes over the valley, a video for Instagram. Competition flying is a different sport. The Aithem cup has two disciplines.
The headline event is spot landing, which the department describes as landing accurately in a designated area. In accuracy paragliding, pilots launch from the hill, fly down and try to put their foot as close as possible to the centre of a small target on the ground. It rewards reading the wind and controlling the wing in the last few seconds far more than raw courage. The second event is duration flying, where the aim is simply to stay in the air as long as possible by finding rising air and working it.
Both events suit a site like Aithem. It sits in the Shivalik foothills above the plains, and the flying there looks out over the river valleys that run down towards the city.
Who can enter?
This is a competition for trained pilots, not a public flying day. The Tourism Department's release, carried by PTI, says registration is open to P4-certified pilots only. The P-ratings are the ladder of paragliding certification, and P4 marks a pilot who can fly independently at a reasonable level of skill.
Speaking at the press conference, Qaiser also said entrants would need to produce their pilot certificate and a health certificate, and ETV Bharat reported him describing an age window of 15 to 40. That age range did not appear in the PTI version of the release, so if it matters to you, confirm it on the registration form before you plan around it.
Organisers have invited pilots from across India and from abroad. For J&K pilots there is a deliberate extra: a separate local prize category. Qaiser said local pilots who win in the main event will get that prize and there will be separate prizes for local paragliders as well, "so that their talent is also recognised."
Can I watch?
The department is pitching the cup as much for spectators as for pilots. Qaiser said the event is meant to showcase the Surinsar belt "as an emerging hub for adventure and outdoor activities" and give visitors "a glimpse of Jammu's rich and diverse landscape." Spectator arrangements, timings for each day and any transport from the city have not been announced yet. Accuracy flying is at its best to watch near the landing target, so once the schedule is out, that is where to head.
Why Aithem, and why now?
Aithem was not on anyone's adventure map two years ago. In October 2025 Jammu Tourism ran its first-ever paragliding course at Aithem View Point, from October 8 to 13, in which 20 local paragliders were trained with instructors from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS), Manali, according to Daily Excelsior. After those trials, Qaiser said, Aithem has been officially notified as a designated paragliding area for Jammu.
That matters beyond one weekend. Until now a young pilot from Jammu wanting to get certified has had to travel out of the UT, to Himachal or Arunachal, according to Daily Excelsior's report on last year's course. A designated site 25 km from the city, with the department talking about building a competition calendar around it, is the first real sign of a local pathway. It sits alongside Sanasar, where commercial tandem and training flights have been running for years (our guide to flying at Sanasar is here).
The wider bet is on Jammu as a destination in its own right rather than a stop on the way to somewhere else. The department said it wants to position Jammu "as a destination for adventure sports and experiential tourism," and that Director Tourism Jammu Vikas Gupta had already held planning meetings with the Paragliding Association J&K on safety, participation and logistics.
If you want to fly, not just watch
If you are not yet a pilot, this cup is not your entry point, but it is worth following. The route into the sport runs through the P-ratings: a P1 or P2 course teaches ground handling and first solo flights, and hours plus further training take you up the ladder. Sanasar already hosts flying; Aithem's first course last year shows the department is willing to bring accredited instructors to Jammu. Watch the Tourism Department's announcements after the cup for any follow-up courses.
For those already flying: registration runs October 1–15. The department's launch material carried a QR code to register; if you cannot find the form, contact the Directorate of Tourism, Jammu.
What we don't know yet
- The exact prize breakdown. ETV Bharat quoted the department as saying "the prize is around Rs 7 lakh for the winner," while other reports describe it as the overall prize money. The split between events and the local category has not been published.
- Daily timings, spectator access and parking.
- Whether the 15–40 age range quoted at the press conference is a hard rule.
We'll update this piece when the schedule is released.
Sources: PTI via ThePrint; ETV Bharat; Daily Excelsior; Daily Excelsior on the 2025 Aithem course.
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