![]() ![]() The material is also subjected to less folding than paragliders, further prolonging life. Hang gliders are typically made of thicker dacron based materials and can easily last over 10 years. Greater care must be exercised when choosing the weather you will be flying in with a paraglider. Winds can also blow paragliders backwards into trees or into the lee side of a mountain where they can be caught in dangerous rotor. With a poor speed range and lack of pitch control, escaping extreme weather can be prove very difficult in a paraglider. Several pilots have died because of this. Powerful clouds can create cloud suck which can take a pilot past 30,000 feet, where temperatures can drop to negative 40 degrees, and air becomes too thin to breathe. Be warned though, even with a good speed range, poor pilot decision making can get you close enough to a dangerous cloud to make escape impossible.ĭue to their poor wind penetration, paragliders can not fly in high winds, and if caught in high winds, can be put into a dangerous situation. While in turbulent air, slower dive speeds are recommended. An advanced hang glider can dive away from dangerous clouds and approach speeds near 80 mph. It is risky to fly paragliders in strong thermic conditions or high winds and should be avoided.Įxcellent wind penetration due to their pitch control. Reserve deployments in paragliders occur at a much higher rate than hang gliders due to collapses. Collapses can be mild or very violent events, which in the extreme case, can gift wrap you inside of your wing. Most wings will eventually recover on their own even without pilot control input, but a collapse can require up to 300 feet of recovery before the wing opens back up and starts flying again. A collapse is sometimes irrecoverable, in which case he/she must throw their reserve parachute. Paragliders are prone to collapse in strong turbulence, and can even occasionally collapse in light turbulence, which is why they carry a reserve parachute and wear large airbag like back protectors as a last resort when collapsing low to the ground. People new to the sport often assume paragliders must be very safe because they look like parachutes. The vast majority of HG pilots will never experience a deployment. Aerobatic pilots constitute the vast majority of reserve deployments in hang gliding, due to a blown loop or poorly execute aerobatic maneuver. Reserve deployments for non-aerobatic recreational hang gliding flight is extremely rare. Compare this to a 747 jumbo jet which is only rated to 3.5 G's before it folds up. ![]() Hang gliders are certified to 6 G's positive. Hang gliders handle turbulence very well since they have extremely strong internal frames. Advanced wing - 16 mph, to over 100 mph which has been clocked in speed gliding competitionsīeginner wing 13mph to 22mph. Rigid wing 140 fpm.īeginner wing 14 mph to 45 mph. The lower the sink rate the easier it is to stay up. Hang gliders have superior sink rates, which is the rate at which they glide down in still air, measured in feet per minute (fpm). ![]() Competition rigid wings 20:1īeginner gliders 5-7:1. Older beginner gliders 7-8 to 1 glide ratio. Modern beginner gliders can now get over 9:1 glide ratio. A comparison of advantages and disadvantages of hang gliding and paraglidingįor a given height, hang gliders can fly much further than paragliders due to their superior glider ratios. ![]()
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