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Paragliding Safety - How Safe is Paragliding?
Paragliding instructors always get asked “How safe is paragliding” and the best answer is: it is safe as long as you make it safe. It is an extreme sport, so as the other extreme sports, safety is of a high significance in paragliding.
If you look into statistics, you will see that in the US every year 1 out of 10000 drivers die in a car accident. So if you compare paragliding with driving a car, you will see that both are equally safe. Even when you compare paragliding with other extreme activities, such as motorcycling, statistics will show you that paragliding is a lot safer.
However, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about safety. Any professional paragliding instructor will give you the most important paragliding safety tip. That is: in paragliding safety highly depends on the preparedness rather than other outer factors such as air pressure and wind speed.
If you have never experienced paragliding and you just want to enjoy the adrenaline rush of paragliding adventure, there is no need to worry about safety measures. You have the option of trying tandem paragliding with a professional pilot. Your tandem instructor will take care of safety and will make sure you are safe.
However, if you are considering becoming a tandem paragliding pilot then let us delve deeper into this topic and give you a few tips about the safety of paragliding.
1. Choose Appropriate Paragliding Equipment
Every time someone considers which paragliding equipment to purchase, it’s important to take into account the level of their expertise.
The paragliding equipment for professional pilots and cross country flights greatly vary from the ones for beginners. And to be able to control the first ones you will need higher competence in maneuverability. That’s why you need to buy the right type of paragliding equipment so that it is easier for you to control it and you feel a lot safer.
Besides this, it’s vital to carry all the safety equipment with you. Always have your variometer, GPS, radio with you during your flights. They will help you notice the changes in altitude and connect with others in case you need help.
To learn about paragliding equipment components you can check out this article.
2. Check Paragliding Kit before every paragliding flight
You should regularly check if your paragliding equipment is in the proper state. Accidents can happen because of the malfunction of your paragliding kit. That’s why it is necessary to check that your canopy isn’t damaged and lines aren’t twisted together prior to your flights. Unless you do it, your negligence will put you at risk.
3.Check the Weather Conditions
In paragliding, it is important to understand meteorology: thermals, clouds, and wind, so that paragliders are able to spot changes in weather conditions at the moment they are happening.
Appropriate weather conditions for paragliding are warm weather with modest cumulus clouds. Nevertheless, it is possible to paraglide in cold and cloudy weather conditions as well. For beginners avoiding strong winds is desirable, because they don’t have enough experience to handle fierce winds especially during launching.
4.Perform Site Assessment
It’s necessary to get acquainted with the conditions of the flight spot before every paragliding adventure. If you fly over houses, make sure you are adequately high in the air so that you don’t face the roofs and power lines.
Always consider the visibility, thermal conditions, launching, and landing zone suitability to avoid any dangers. Stay away from flying over large groups of people, so that you don’t harm many people in case of an accident.
5.Don’t Feel too Confident after a few successful flights
Many beginners make this mistake and become too relaxed after a few smooth flights, although, safety is a thing that must always be taken into account. In extreme sports every action carries some danger. Hence no matter how experienced you are, taking safety measures before each flight is vital for your safety.
Conclusion on Paragliding Safety
Overall, there is a huge advancement in current paragliders and they are made so that they easily recover when the paraglider collapses. So the risk of hazards equipment malfunctions cause is less. Hence your safety mostly depends on your approach to paragliding. If you follow the advice given in this article and stay away from making the same mistakes made by paragliding pilots, which caused many accidents, your safety will be ensured.
The proper training, weather conditions, the state of equipment are factors that if not taken into account will have a negative influence on flights and will cause hazards.
