parahawking
n. A sport where paragliders follow birds of prey that have been trained to look for and follow thermal updrafts that enable the pilots to stay aloft.
Other Forms
Etymology
Examples
2009
This seems straight out of a Terry Gilliam film. The guy flying with the two really big birds is Scott Mason, who uses them to detect thermal currents to fly his paraglider through the skies of Nepal. It's called parahawking.
—Jesus Diaz, “Flying with Hawks,” Gizmodo.com, October 18, 2009
2009
We are heading to a ridge top 2,000 feet above Pokhara. In the backseat there is a paragliding wing, a leather glove and a pouch of raw buffalo meat. Everything Mason needs to introduce me to Nepal's latest adventure sport: parahawking.
—Christina Ammon, “Nepal's latest adventure sport: parahawking,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 18, 2009
2003 (earliest)
Having been out in Nepal flying with these birds on a daily basis for the last eight years, Adam and Graham were keen to push this interaction further. So after a few beers and plenty of enthusiastic discussion, the idea of Parahawking was born. Parahawking is simply a fusion between Paragliding and Falconry. The idea being that the birds are trained to "hunt" the thermals, which allow the pilots to stay aloft.
—Scott Mason, “The Himalayan Parahawkers,” Falconry & Conservation Magazine, January 01, 2003