How safe is paragliding? It may look pretty dangerous being high in the sky with little in between you and the ground if you were to fall. But let’s be realistic and look at the figures – a study into paragliding accidents found that in 242,355 paragliding jumps reviewed between 2004 and 2011, 82 received serious injury and 18 of these people lost their lives. That’s only 0.007%.
If you’re considering paragliding for the first time at a paragliding school or on holiday with a tourism operator, don’t worry, you’ll be flying tandem paragliding. These operators employ paragliding pilots who not only have many years of experience, but have great people skills and can explain what they are doing in the flight and make you feel safe. Most tandem paragliding beginners find that once they’re in the sky, they feel at ease and really enjoy the view.
Paragliding safety can be increased by approaching the sport with a systematic approach. Correct safety checks on equipment and discipline when in flight can help you to avoid most dangerous situations and ensure you live to fly another day.
Here are some key paragliding safety tips:
Maintain Relationships with Experienced Paragliders
Even after completing a paragliding certification course and being told you’re ready to fly solo, it’s a good idea to continue flying with experienced pilots. Join a club or association such as the USHPA in the United States, SAFA in Australia, and the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association in the United Kingdom.
The reason for this is that in your training, you may not gain experience in all types of conditions. Experienced pilots can inform you about different conditions that you’re not very experienced in handling and provide tips on how to safely navigate them.
It’s a good idea to continue paragliding in new conditions while learning to increase your competency. Joining experienced pilots is a great way to do this.
Use Appropriate Equipment
Carrying fancy equipment isn’t enough, you must use it consistently. A variometer and a GPS can inform you about changes in altitude and if your drifting off-track or backwards. These factors can be indicators of weather changes and that you’re gradually losing control of your paraglider.
Make sure you fly with a reserve parachute, it’s not worth flying without one.
Use a Paraglider for Your Level of Experience
It’s tempting when you’re an amateaur with experienced friends, or you want to buy something for the long-term, to purchase a cross-country or performance paraglider that’s designed for experienced pilots. These require higher skills in manoeuvrability and can be a handful for a beginner. There’s no shame in starting with an EN A rating paraglider. It won’t reduce your enjoyment of paragliding, it will actually increase your enjoyment as you’ll be flying something that’s easier to control and will feel more stable.
Read more about different types of paragliders.
Check Paragliding Equipment Before Every Flight
This rule applies to all pilots regardless of experience. You’re paraglider wing may have been damaged when landing in your most recent flight. Your lines may have go tangled when unpacking. Don’t risk it!
Most pilots perform their safety checks in the same way each time, following a set order to reduce the chances of forgetting anything. Helmet (also make sure you’re wearing it) wing, lines, harness, and risers.
Understand and Check the Weather Conditions
Meteorology is something all paragliding pilots need to understand. Key components a thermals, clouds and wind. It’s not enough to check the weather report, even the hourly online reports. It’s important to be able to spot changes in weather as they happening.
And for thermalling, cumulous clouds are important for providing warm thermals for flight. Learn how to spot these and incorporate them into your flying.
Best weather conditions for paragliding are sunny, warm weather with moderate cumulus clouds. However, paragliding can be done in cold and cloudy conditions.
Weather conditions which aren’t suitable include moderate or strong rain, lighting, or excessive wind. It’s important that you recognise your skills and experience when dealing with wind, there will be some strong winds which an experienced pilot can handle, but amateur pilots may find difficult, particularly taking off safely.
It’s also important to consider the direction of the wind. If you have a strong headwind, it will make takeoff difficult and make gliding to your destination in a safe and timely manner difficult. Unfortunately there will be times when you have to abandon your paragliding plans, but at least you’ll walk away without injury.
Maintain Safe Distances
If you have to fly over roads and houses, ensure you’re sufficiently high in the air with more than enough room to correct yourself if something were to make you lose stability. Avoid flying over large groups of people, schools, busy sports grounds, car parks or anywhere else where a crash could harm high numbers of people.
