How comfortable is it? I know from flying powered parachutes, late morning and afternoon flying could be uncomfortable and sometimes even scary... really a leaf in the wind feeling. Thermal activity was the enemy. But I know with paragliding thermal activity is your friend if you want to soar. Do you get bounced around a lot or does the higher wing loading make the difference?

I think I was looking at superflyinc.com in my quick internet search of training schools.

Levi, there are a lot of good schools scattered around but In my humble opinion, you can't go wrong with SF, they have a great site, experienced staff and many many happy customers/graduates. My brother did some training there and he raved about them. I would like to go there and learn myself but just don't have the time. I am an advanced rated hang glider pilot and know a good school when I see one, SF is one. If I do find the time to learn I will go there.

G44

I had a poor experience years ago with one individual from SF, but I can't speak to the rest of the instructors. They might be great. I've heard good things about Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, and I personally am training with Thermal Tracker in southern Oregon. I've never been fond of the 10 day courses for anything. I think a person needs time to study, digest information, and learn from the playback in their dreams. That's just me though.

Scott, I'm still a student so I can't speak about big dirty air except from the cockpit of a Cub I did bend my instructor's ear about what it's like to fly paramotors, and he said that unlike a paragliding harness, which provides a lot of feedback from the wing, the paramotor wing is attached directly to the cage/engine mount effectively insulating the pilot from a lot of wing feedback. That makes it harder to fly actively and is the main reason paramotor pilots fly very early and in calm conditions.

Zane,

I think an article on gliding or paragliding/soaring would be useful here. I am not a glider (any kind) pilot, but as an instructor I have found their comments on technique helpful with my students. It is hard to convince powered airplane pilots they are flying a wing much more than an engine.

With these guys, I would expect to find the one with the skinniest legs the best. He would be the one who spends the most time going slow in updrafts and least time both in downdrafts (he would be going fast) and on the trail hauling all that gear.

Regards,

Jim

So I'm watching the video and when the guy comes on to explain how they fly, I do a double take when I realize its my friend Matt from Sun Valley, Idaho. We meet back in 1997 during the ski season and that following summer he tried to talk me into learning to paraglide with him so we could glide off the ski mountain. I ended up moving away to go to flight school, but he did it and apparently is kicking ass at it. Thanks for sharing this video. I'm going to track him down so I can talk to him about his experiences.

I'm an avid paraglider pilot.

Thermal soaring on a paraglider is unlike anything else you can do. For me it's a constant swing between being terrified and in a zen like trance. Ridge soaring and glass offs can be a fantastic experience without the scary part. I'm addicted.

If you're interested at all I recommend contacting Chris at superflyinc.com. At least take a tandem flight. Best there is.

The wing in the turbulent video is typical of a racing wing, with a much higher aspect ratio and far fewer (and bare) lines. Both mean that it is a lot more susceptible to collapses and other foibles of the parapente wing. On a bubbly day, they almost never offer what could be described as a relaxing sled ride, like a more comfortable intermediate wing. Their drag polars are different...and offer the same sink rates at significantly higher speeds.

My race wing at trim speed is faster than almost any intermediate wing out there with the speed bar on. It loves to make a lot of horrible noises like the one in the video in any active conditions, and I spent a lot more time looking up on an average XC flight by far than looking forward for some segments, trying to keep the bag of dacron from turning into laundry. What isn't shown in the video is that the pilot was also getting yanked around, up and down, and pretty stoutly, like what one rarely experiences in a plane. All in all, I'd much prefer having a barca lounger wing now that I'm older and mortal for the rare occasions I still get out.

On the other hand, I've never really felt half as safe flying a parapente in the Rockies as I did flying hang gliders. Hang gliders are more stable, easier and safer to launch in less ideal conditions, much faster, better performance, and a great deal more stable in big air. The simplicity of the parapente, and the fact you can pioneer a lot more places more easily with a parapente than a hang glider, and other tactical issues make parapentes pretty compelling.

In terms of safety, if a person flies regularly, I'd rank hang gliding as easily more safe than a parapente, especially in the mountains. Somewhat more challenging to land (especially at higher DA's), they are still more maneuverable in turbulence and are far safer to launch in strong winds. Here in the rockies, parapente pilots tend to start to get 'blown out' when launch winds exceed around 15-18 mph. We launched hang gliders regularly in winds exceeding 25mph, including from a couple of 14'ers here in Colorado.

On the other hand, on a nice ridge lift or light thermally day with a parapente, your biggest issue while boating around for 2-3 hours and enjoying the scenery is how to take a leak, or how to clean the mustard off after eating a good sandwich aloft, all thewhile plotting your next moves. The LZ's can be far more limited in size, and changeable wind directions at the LZ can be less of an issue on a parapente due to low landing speeds and good slow speed maneuverability. A lot of 'whacks' happen to hang glider pilots at mountain LZ's...a calm wind landing will have you running damned fast at times at the high DA, and an abrupt downwind landing can leave you with bent aluminum.

In any case, either method will make a person a far more aware pilot. The micrometoerology knowledge can make airplane flights smoother for passengers when flying planes, and learning to take consistent advantage of sources of lift can make mountain flying with limited horsepower a lot more enjoyable.

It does, however, have the effect of making powered flight less exciting. Free flight addiction is no joke.

Continuing the comparison to HG, the two biggest ones I see are no roof top racks needed, and no more bent down tubes from a blown launch or landing! AWD cars work, instead of a pickup or 'burban, seriously, with the price of gas these days (and the big miles being done in XC in both sports) that could be a factor.

The big drawback to both sports is the lack of ability to solo fly. By that I mean, at least here in Idaho back when I was HG'ing, it was a "call everyone up and let's see who we can snag as a driver". Those rigs don't drive themselves back down the mountain, or come pick you up when you land 100 miles away. THIS HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR DIVORCES! Guess how I know? I love the ability I now enjoy with powered flight of being autonomous, these bad ass's doing the vol bivouac thing don't count, they are on a whole different level, freaks actually, all single for sure, and young guys also All meant as a compliment! But the biggest freedom I have experienced as a 6 year hg pilot, and 8 year ultralight pilot, and now fixed real wing pilot (ha) has been having my foldup mt bike in a plane that thrives on mo gas, and a 8 hr plus duration. The challenge of any activity can be ratcheted up to any notch one desires, by pushing the limits, and the non powered pilot that doesn't think so hasn't top landed (powered) a new site at 10 K in the middle of nowhere by themselves, a bit different then taking off pavement and staying in the pattern, or for that matter going xc in a HG while in constant radio contact with the sucker, oops I mean driver. When I morphed out of hang gliding and into ultralights, it was because I quickly realized the huge advantage of not having to suck up to drivers constantly, it got to be a huge PITA, and the longer distances involved nowadays (15 or 20 miles was a big deal when I was doing it) means getting home at midnight, and pissed off wife's and girlfriends, or both. I've heard HG pilot's rhapsodize about the "real" flying they are doing, that is a sure way to set me off, it's all real flying, we just can do it whenever we want, don't need 4x4's to get airborne, though we do have to worry about burning alive and they don't, that seems a small price to pay for the liberty of not needing a driver. Kidding there, I think.

courierguy wrote:The big drawback to both sports is the lack of ability to solo fly.

The ability to dispense with the dependence on friends and expensive vehicles was a big deal to me in moving into paragliding. I could jump on the train on Friday afternoon with spare drawers stuffed in my glider bag, and I'd get back on Monday morning in time to work never having bummed a ride or driven a car and with a mild sunburn to help me remember many hours of bliss. A lot of towns are set up to cater to whatever your needs are in Europe on foot or bike, or offer rides to the launch. The demographics were more interesting too. I was the only guy under 30 I knew in the rocky mountain region on a hang glider most of the years I flew, and I was trying to catch up with a group of 12 to 25 year olds on a couple of parapente flights across the Pyrenees over into France in the good ol days.

It does lead to divorces. I watched it happen too often. And there is a lot of "hang waiting".

Yet another "crazy" paraglider video...