Glidell Paragliding

What is Paragliding?

The Paragliding Experience

Imagine... standing on top of a ridge with the breeze coming up, and a view that stretches for miles. You watch where the birds are soaring: where they're circling and going up, and where they're just gliding down. You think about whether this flight will be a gentle glide to the landing zone, or an adventure that takes you higher and further than you've ever been. In just moments you've layed out your wing and hooked in your harness. You're ready to fly.

With a well-practiced inflation you easily bring the wing over-head, and with a few steps you are off, settling back under your canopy and heading for "the lift." You are absorbed in your flight - no time or temptation to think about the every day stuff going on below - that all seems miles away. You're just working the thermals to get higher and higher, and thinking about how far you can go today. When the time finally comes for you to land, you do so easily within a few feet of the spot you have chosen.

You have just experienced the incredible joy of free flight in its simplest form.

History

Mieussy, haute Savoie, French Alps circa 1978, Jean Claude Betemps and Gerard Bosson, two very experienced skydivers practicing their precision landings, attempt their first foot launched flights using square parachutes. Why? Simply to save on the airplane cost.

Then they realized they were onto something big. Pretty soon, convert skydivers looked for ways to get a better glide. From a square shape and a few cells, gliders rapidly evolved to a more elliptical shape and many more cells. Paragliding (parapente in French) was born.

Today's paraglider looks similar to a modern, eliptical-shaped parachute but bigger. Unlike a parachute, paragliders are maneuverable and have a glide ratio closer to a hang-glder, which enables altitude gains as well a soaring.


1986	1988	1995

Paragliding schools bloomed all over France, from the Mountainous Alps and Pyrenees to the plains along the Atlantic Ocean. From only a handful in the late 70's, the paragliding population grew to over 50,000 people 10 years later.

Today the European paragliding community is estimated to be around 100,000, most of them in France and Switzerland. The sport has become even more popular in Japan with 30,000 fanatics. In the USA, where Paragliding had a late start, the growth has been steady since its beginning in the late 80's, and continues to gain popularity.

Hang Gliding vs Paragliding

Paragliding and hang gliding both afford you the unique experience of soaring gently through the air, peacefully surveying the land beneath your feet. Both sports also require training and certification via the US Hang Gliding Association. Beyond that, they differ in several important ways.

Paragliding is easier to learn and is less physically demanding. Lower airspeed and greater distance from the flying wing (you are suspended more than 20 feet below it) afford a very quiet experience. The lower airspeed also enables a paraglider to land "on a postage stamp," which is invaluable for long-distance flights. Being able to land almost anywhere means much more freedom to fly long distances when the conditions are good. Paragliders are able to turn much tighter than hang gliders, which can be very helpful in thermal conditions where the "lift" is concentrated in small thermal. A paraglider is also smaller and lighter to pack up and carry - all of your equipment fits into a backpack that you can wear hiking up a hill, check onto an airplane, or throw in the trunk of your car.

A hang glider flies faster than a paraglider and has a better glide ratio, which means you can go farther given the same altitude, and fly in stronger wind conditions. While hang gliders do well in stronger wind, they tend to "sink out" in lighter wind which is great for paragliders. Hang gliders are much heavier (around 75 lbs vs 40 lbs for a paraglider) and less easily transported due to the rigid frame. Special racks are needed on a vehicle for transporting a hang glider. More training is required than for paragliding, and the training can be tougher since it requires many, many trips up the training hill carrying the hang glider.

Many people prefer paragliding to hang gliding because of the quicker learning curve and more portable wing (everything you need fits in a backpack!). The current paragliding community includes many former hang gliders, and "bi-wingals," those that fly both hang gliders and paragliders. While hang gliding and paragliding are two very different sports, we strive to maintain a joint, free-flying community, typically sharing the same sites and working together to increase the presence of both sports. Both sports are also currently regulated by a single organization, the United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA).

Glidell Paragliding