Some people will say " If God meant me to fly
he would have given me wings" always reply " If
he meant you to stay on the ground he would have given you roots"
It is often taken for granted what others have done
before us and we sometimes move through life without a true
understanding of what's around us and the great effort it took to put it
there. Man has always had the urge to take
to the sky but was prevented by the lack of knowledge and suitable
materials. Paragliding is the most basic form of free flight and opens
the door for all to fulfil their dreams of flight. A paraglider is a
soft wing and is not to be confused with a parachute. A paraglider
allows us to glide through the air and not descend vertically in the way
a parachute does. The paraglider is controlled by pilot input only and is based mainly on pilot skill to stay airborne.
Paragliding evolved from skydivers who were curious
enough to try to fly their parachutes from high mountainous areas, it worked
alright but the glide angle was very poor. In 1968 Dan Poynter wrote an
article for Parachutist magazine reporting that ram air parachutes had
been foot launched near lake Placid USA. The sport got a little more
popular later in the 1980s in Europe, mainly in the Alps, where a small
group of pilots carrying their ram air parachutes over their shoulders
joined the local Hangglider pilots.
These parachutes had a glide ratio of about 2:1 and
were very porous as they were designed for skydiving and needed to allow
for the initial shock when deployed at 10,000 ft, as a non porous material
would explode once deployed in those circumstances. Pilots soon discovered that non-porous
material was the way to go and this pointed to success. Some paraglider
manufacturers started to pop-up here and there and the sport was finally
off the ground pun. Gliders then usually had about 15+cells and had
what looked more like ropes suspending you from the glider, these
gliders had no certification (were not independently tested as to their
safety and flying characteristics) and in most cases had no model or
manufacturer identification . The
harnesses used then were very basic, your seat was a 4"piece of
plywood which was covered by the harness material and a lot of pilots flew
without helmets too.
Today we all fly very high tech computer designed
paragliders with micro lines of "Kevlar" (dental floss) 60
cells is not uncommon, glide ratio 9:1, harnesses with full protection
even airbags, compleat with reserve parachute some rocket
propelled. Paragliding equipment also consists of GPS ,Vario, Mobile
phone, Digital camera, drink container, FM radio, speed bar, I forgot
there was no such thing as a speed bar in the early days. We have come a
long way from humble beginnings and paragliding will keep on evolving, 5years is
a long time in our sport and the gliders of 5years ago are like dinosaurs
now.
Some people are totally consumed by the idea of
floating about under a colourful canopy in the company of kestrels ,with
nothing only the sound of the wind blowing through their helmet to
distract them. Isn't nature fantastic!
Do Visit
Principles
of Aeronautics,
