About a year ago I went para-planing. It was so much fun. I felt giddy for days. Here are a few pictures:

[Show slideshow]

I remember the pilot, Ruslan. He was a super nice guy. How can you not be cheerful when you spend your days taking excited adventurers para-planing. We were his last flight of the day. He and I talked about my background, the Ukrainian diaspora, modern Ukraine.

I was distraught to hear that a couple months after our flight, he crashed and died, along with a pair of passengers. Here are a couple headlines.

http://tsn.ua/ukrayina/avariya-paraplana-na-truhanovomu-zabrala-sche-odne-zhittya.html

http://kiev.vgorode.ua/news/124363/

http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/1370592-zhena-paraplanerista-razbivshegosya-na-truhanovom-provodit-rassledovanie-katastrofy

R.I.P.