When did flying from the top of Babadag down to Ölüdeniz beach begin?
    First flights started in 80's by some French pilots, and some German pilots came also, and in early 90's the professional tandem flights started.


    Who is the author of the idea to hold Air Festival in this area a why just in October?
    It is me Kadri Tuglu, and the reason I choose October is to make the season as long and as high as possible, also October is the time when cold weather and snow starts in the high mountains of Europe.






    It was the third Air Festival in order. How many visitors took part in various years?
    In the first one it was aroun 100, in 2001 in the 2nd it was around 140 and in the 3rd one it was 207 competitors and lots of free fliers from all over the world.


    Are there any problems to transport so many pilots up to take off across National Park everyday?
    It is not easy to transport all these people at the same time but we are very well organized and manage it quite profesionally, and I arrange the trucks according to the capacity.






    Just imagine the number of visitors twice more next year. Will the small town Ölüdeniz be able to accommodate so many pilots?
    Ölüdeniz is able to accomodate at least 5 times more of the amount but I don't want to have much more fliers. I think I will stop the applications around 300, otherwise it will be out of control, in terms of security, and all other senses.

Who is the main organizer of festival?
    Cloud 9-Cafe which is the meeting point of all the paragliders in the world, broadcasting, event organization is the main organizer and the main sponsor of the festival since the beginning, anyway it was my idea and it is my organization, but every year we have some other sponsors and sub-sponsors. For example this year our best helper in every step was SKY Paragliders. They helped us from the drills of the acro competion to the brochures, from the take-off asistance to providing the radios and so on. I would like to thank to them very much, and also I would like you to mention this in the news.




    What type of activity can Ölüdeniz offer to non-flying girlfriends of pilots or their families except swimming or sunburning on a beach?
    There are lots of other activities like, scuba diving, rafting, jeep safari, trekking, sight-seeing tours, bicycle tours, tandem flights, micro-light flights, historical places near-by, and the open market every Tuesday, nice restaurans and hot night life and so on ...




    Is there anything you wish to tell those pilots, who didn't fly in Ölüdeniz ever?
    Of course. Ölüdeniz is like big school of paragliding which offers big range of opportunities to all level pilots. The beginners can take off and come above the sea and have still the altitude of 1500m, for the experienced ones there are perfect thermal conditions and they can easily go up to 3000m and fly as long as they like, the acro pilots and action lovers after some thermalling when they come to the sea their altitude will be around 2000m, which gives them a lot of time secure conditions for action.

    The resort lives with paragliding, there are 11 companies organizing tandem flights and about 70 tandem pilots working all summer, also around 400 people directly and indirectly employed by this sector. If someone comes here for the first time it is never the last time. For example the first time that we had some pilots from Czech Republic was two years ago and in 2002 we had much more than 100 pilots in the resort. Every year from all over the world we have nearly 8000 solo pilots and it is increasing year by year. Everything is very well organized for paragliders. If someone needs more info or any kind of help they can write me from info@babadag.com, visit www.babadag.com or call me anytime from my mobile +905334373102.

    Thanks for the interview and have a nice flights in sunny Ölüdeniz. The snow begins to fall in Central Europe now.