Paragliding Paragliding is foot launched free flight using a soft highly controllable "wing" or canopy. You can launch from anywhere and, depending on the lift, go anywhere.
Parasailing Parasailing is towed non-free flight, generally via a boat, using a non-maneuverable parachute - you follow the boat...period.
Parachuting Parachuting, also called skydiving, is jumping from a plane and deploying a parachute that is much smaller and less maneuverable than a paraglider wing - you can go down but not up.
Parakeet And Parakeet...well, you know.

Most of us have simply always wanted to fly in the most natural way possible, without the noise of an engine, without the inconvenience of bulky hang gliding or powered vehicles, and relying solely on our wits to stay aloft. We judge the pure joy in flying naturally worth the manageable inherent risks involved. Many single engine airplane and sailplane pilots have taken up the sport for these reasons.

Paragliding is similar to Hang Gliding in that they are both "free flight", but their are differences:

• Paragliders use a soft-lines-attached-to-parachute-type-wing, while Hang Gliders use a rigid-tubes-attached-to-sheet-type-wing.
• Full Paraglider rigs weigh 30-35 lbs. and can fold up and carry everything they need to launch their back, while Hang Glider rigs weigh twice as much and have long tubes which must generally be racked and carried to launch on top of their car.
• Paragliders can launch from anywhere they can hike to, while Hang Gliders generally are limited to drive-up sites because of the bulk and weight of the equipment.
• Paragliders can launch in lighter winds and fly slower, while Hang Gliders must launch in higher winds and fly faster.
• Paragliders can generally climb faster and higher in thermals because of their slower speed and tighter turning radius, while Hang Gliders have a slightly better sink rate.
• Paragliders like hamburger, while Hang Gliders like steak tartare ... just kidding.
• Paraglider and Hang Glider equipment costs about the same, although Hang Glider wings tend to last longer.

Many flyers become "bi-wingual", starting in one sport and then picking up the other. Taking a tandem flight in one or both can be the easiest way to find which is best for you.

First of all, paragliders check if the weather looks good for flying - sunny to partly cloudy, with light winds flowing up the launch site. They then pack their harness and wing and accessories in a large backpack, drive or hike to the top of a hill, strap on their harness, helmet and radio, unfold and attach their wing, raise their wing up slightly in the wind to check everything, and then pull the wing up and run a few steps to launch. Left and right control handles are used to turn while flying to find "ridge lift" or "thermal lift" and get higher. Both control handles are pulled deep when about a dozen feet off the ground to slow down ("flare") and land with a few steps. That's it.

Each launch site has a standard "landing zone" where paragliders concentrate their landings unless they catch big air and choose to go cross country. Paragliders generally go out in groups or meet up at the landing zone and designate a driver who takes them all up the hill, drops them off, and then returns to the landing zone to pick them up. Flyers who intentionally or unintentionally land elsewhere call the driver on their radio to tell where to pick them up. The driver can be a non-flyer who enjoys the sport, or will soon get divorced from one who does (just kidding ... kind of), or a rotation of the flyers so they all get to fly. This is another reason to join a club - the more flyers, the less driving.

A light 3-15 mph wind coming up the hill is generally required to launch. Sometimes the wind is fickle, leading to joking references to the sport as "Parawaiting". Flying can be done in all seasons if the weather is nice and the winds appropriate. Paragliders never fly in inclement weather - ever. As part of your instruction, you learn how to evaluate the weather so you can generally determine when to head out because it will be right to fly - not too calm, and not too aggressive.

Watch a lot of TV. Just kidding. Mountainous states (the West, the East) and ocean cliff states (California) are the most popular for paragliding as they offer the easiest and most venues for launching. However, both static and truck or boat-mounted payout tow rigs are used to pull flyers into the air from "the flats". These tow launches typically release at about 1000 - 2000 feet and can produce flights equivalent to or even better than mountain launches, since flyers can catch the same types of thermals once in the air. Florida, for example, is big on tow launches. Powered Paragliding" is particularly popular in the flats because it allows flyers to launch from anywhere.

The Torrey Pines site in San Diego is famous for ocean cliff launches and ridge soaring because of the steady westerly Pacific winds that bang into the cliff and are forced upward providing fairly constant "ridge lift". However, although steady and dependable, this ridge lift is only available close to the cliff, so flyers typically spend their day in roughly the same general area flying up and down the cliff line never venturing too far from the cliff. This type of flying is typically more crowded and less venturesome, but you can often stay in the air as long as you like and land right back where you took off.

More than you think! The United States Hang Gliding Association has about 15,000 active members, comprised of about 10,000 hang gliders and 5,000 paragliders. Double this for non-registered or currently inactive flyers, and double it again for worldwide. The US, France, Switzerland and South Korea are all particularly popular paragliding countries, due in part to basic topography.

Paragliding is as safe or dangerous as any type of flying sport, whether it be single engine planes, ultralights, gliders, hot air ballooning, hang gliding, or skydiving. Not perfectly safe, but acceptably safe. The main factor in all of these is you - have you learned properly and are you flying within your skill level? Today's equipment is far superior to that of even only ten years ago. Advancements include very forgiving wings, much safer instruction, hands-on safety clinics over water to learn advanced techniques, airbag back protectors in harnesses for rough landings, and reserve chutes. But even the best equipment can only do so much - proper instruction is crucial to safe flying. Part of that comes from your formal instructor, but part of it also comes from the shared experience of your fellow flyers. Choose your instructor wisely and join a good club so you benefit from both.

Yes, but apparently no more so than in any other flying sport. Each of the flying sports (single engine planes, sailplanes, powered trikes, ultralights, hang gliding, paragliding, skydiving) have thousands of active members, and each experiences about a half dozen fatalities per 10,000 members per year. Perhaps surprisingly, unpowered flying (hang gliding and paragliding) appears to be as safe as powered flying and sailplane soaring. Interestingly, half the fatalities in any of the flying sports generally occur among advanced participants pushing the limits of their sport.

Statistics indicate that paragliding and hang gliding are roughly similar in risk. Of the thousands of paragliders and hundreds of thousands of flights per year, there are typically zero to several fatalities. Most are proveably due to poor judgment - flying in obviously poor conditions or attempting things beyond their skill level. For perspective, there are also 50,000 deaths per year driving cars, leading flyers to quip when they park at the launch site that the most dangerous part of their day is over.

Well, although it sounds romantic, only advanced fliers move on to steeper launches, and even then they don't technically "jump off cliffs. They find a controllable incline or hill on that mountain, inflate our wing and push hard a few steps down the incline "loading" our wing with our weight until it gently pulls us off the ground. If our wing doesn't come up right or load right, we see or feel it and stop our launch.

Actually, no. You don't need any government license to fly paragliders nor do you need membership in the United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA), or a rating by USHGA to fly.

To promote experimentation and minimize federal regulation, all ultralight recreational flying sports, including Paragliding and Hang Gliding, are covered under FAA Regulation Subchapter F (14 CFR Chapter 1), Part 103 "Ultralight Vehicles" which states among other things,

"...ultralight vehicles and their component parts and equipment are not required to meet the airworthiness certification standards specified for aircraft or to have certificates of airworthiness."

"...operators of ultralight vehicles are not required to meet any aeronautical knowledge, age, or experience requirements to operate those vehicles or to have airman or medical certificates."

"...ultralight vehicles are not required to be registered or to bear markings of any type."

So you could go out, buy equipment, and start jumping off hills tomorrow if you wanted to, as long as you adhered to the rest of the fairly common sense parts of FAR 103. However, considering the potential dangers involved, almost everyone pursues the sport through a USHGA-certified instructor, getting their USHGA "P" ratings as a natural part of their training. A USHGA rating also makes you welcome at club launch sites, because it provides the locals with some validation of your skill level relative to the site degree of difficulty. And note that the first item indicates paragliding equipment is not regulated either - so most rely on a combination of a knowledgeable instructor and club member recommendations (and try-outs!) to make the best buying decisions.

Paragliders can progress through five levels of certification, called "P1" to "P5". Most paragliders are content stopping at P2 or P3. Instructors certified by the United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA) witness flyers' knowledge, experience and capabilities and sign off on the appropriate "P" rating.

P1 = Beginner: Has received basic instruction and testing, and certified to fly from easy hills under an instructor's direct supervision.

P2 = Novice: Has received additional instruction and testing, logged 25 flights on 5 separate days of flying experience, and can fly on his own within limited conditions.

P3 = Intermediate: Has received additional instruction and testing, logged 90 flights and 20 hours of flying experience, and can fly most normal sites and conditions.

P4 = Advanced: Has demonstrated extensive experience, logged 250 flights and 75 hours flying experience under multiple conditions and canopies, and can fly in technically demanding conditions. Required for USHPA certification as an instructor and/or tandem flights.

P5 = Master: The pinnacle, logging a minimum 500 flights and 400 hours, and demonstrating expert technique and depth in the sport to the point of formal recommendation by multiple peers in USHGA. The "teach the teachers" level, only a couple dozen in the United States.

Paragliders generally progress in the following steps:

Tandem flight: An extremely experienced "Tandem-rated" instructor will strap you in to a dual harness and take you for your first flight. This is highly recommended as the easiest way to get that urge to fly out of your system and determine whether paragliding is for you.

P1 Beginner instruction: An instructor will add you to a class, lend you the equipment, and over a week or several weekends teach you and others in the class how to ground-handle a wing and then make flights in limited conditions and under an instructor's direct supervision.

P2 Novice instruction: You will be guided through deeper study and experience, qualifying you as a "P2" able to fly without direct instructor supervision.

P3 Intermediate instruction: You will participate in advanced flying clinics (safety maneuvers, cross-country, ridge soaring, etc.), leading to "P3" certification and the ability to fly most normal sites and conditions. Most people are content stopping here.

The path tpwards P4 and P5 is defined as one of continuous growth in airmanship, as determined by USHPA.

The cost for this instruction is generally:

• Tandem Flight: $75-150
• P1 training & certification: $250-500
• P2 training & certification: $750-1250
• P3 training & certification: $250-1250 (depending on included formal clinics)

Instructors generally provide discounts if you sign up for a multi-level package (e.g., P1+P2), and some may allow monthly payments. Special trips to other locations are generally optional and extra.

How fast you progress generally depends on how much time you are able to commit to the sport.  Someone who can commit full time during the week can progress to P1 status in a week, P2 status in several weeks, and P3 in several months.  Someone who can only commit to weekends, and then only partially (normal people), can progress to P1 status over a couple of flyable weekends, P2 over several months of weekend flying, and P3 over a year or two.

Once you're ready to transition from instructor-provided equipment, you'll need a wing, harness, backpack, helmet, reserve, radio. You may also choose to optionally invest in a variometer (records ascent/descent rates and beeps to alert you accordingly), a windmeter (for measuring peak and average wind speed at the launch site), a stuff sack (for quickly stuffing your wing upon landing for another launch), and a GPS (when you start flying longer distances).

Depending on quality and features, this new equipment is listed below.

Required (total about $4000)

• Wing: $2500-3500
• Harness: $500-750 (with Back Protector)
• Backpack: $100 (often comes with the Wing)
• Helmet: $100-200 (or use a motorcycle helmet in the interim)
• Reserve: $500-750
• Radio: $150-250

Optional / Advanced:

• Variometer: $200-400
• Windmeter: $50-100
• Stuff sack: $50-100
• GPS: $250-1000
• Gloves (helps when start pulling on lines for maneuvers, necessary when start flying high)
• Flying Suit: $150-300 (when you start flying high a lot or think it looks cool)
• Flying Boots (when you have more money than brains or you're at least a P3)

A wing deteriorates over time due to ultraviolet radiation from exposure to the sun, and will generally last five years plus or minus depending on usage. The rest of your equipment lasts forever. Used equipment may be available for up to half that, but always have it checked by a competent professional! Your instructor is your key to the sport, knows you best, and makes part of her living off equipment sales, so it is wise to purchase your major equipment through them, whether new or used.

Basically, you have to be able to hike a 30 pound equipment backpack to the launch site, and then hike out again to the pickup spot after landing. If the launch site is a drive-up and you land close to the pickup spot, very little exertion is required. Launch sites that require some hiking up the hill, or landings that require some hiking out, require more exertion. You don't have to be a jogger to paraglide, but a three pack a day habit or a heart condition probably won't work either.

Powered paragliding is relatively new within the last five years. It's attraction is threefold:

• The ability to launch from anywhere - don't have to have a launch site.
• Less physical effort - no final hike up to the launch hill.
• The potential to stay up longer and go farther - by powering between thermals.

However, the negatives are:

• Cost - add another $3000
• Noise - irritating to both you and the community
• Weight - you eventually have to land and walk out with it
• Risk - strapping an engine with a 5' blade rotating at 1200 rpm on your back
• Skill - if you can't fly well without a huge contraption on your back, you won't fly well with one

Some concepts are similar in powered and unpowered paragliding.  We strongly recommend for your safety that you not pursue powered paragliding until you achieve a P3 level of basic flying experience.

Actually, yes. Hawks and eagles look for the same ridge lift and thermal lift to circle and climb in that paragliders do. Paragliders call these birds "the locals" who know the wind patterns best, and watch them when launching and flying to join them when they find good lift and start to circle in it. These soaring birds also join us in good lift, but whether they are watching us and making the same decision or just using their superior sense independently is unknown.

"Asymmetric": When one side of your wing collapses momentarily due to wind shear or an improper maneuver - generally no big deal.

"B-line stall": A common and safe technique with modern wings used to get down when in "Big Air" that wants to keep you up, by evenly pulling and holding your B risers down to cause the middle of the wing to collapse enough so you drop instead of fly - always released quickly (not slowly) and evenly when done.

"Big Air": Powerful thermals, usually occurring in summer and developing during midday.  Stay out of Big Air until you gain the proper experience and confort level, i.e. experienced P2.

"Big Ears": When a flyer pulls his outside A-lines to pull his wingtips in to increase his descent rate.

"Biwingual": Flies both paragliders and hang gliders

"Boing": A tree landing where your wing catches in the tree, flexing it and causing you to go...boing!

"Building a Wall": Fluffing up your wing in the wind to check it, and settling it down in a semi-inflated "wall" ready for launch.

"Butthole": On some wings, a velcroed opening at the closed-cell wingtips that facilitates clearing any accumulated debris out.

"Carabiners": The left and right metal D clips that connect the wing to your harness..

"Cell": One pocket of a typical ram air paragliding wing. The little square "holes" you see in front. Generally, the more and finer the pockets, the more aggressive the wing.

"Cloud Street": A nice line of clouds you stay under to go cross country because that's where the thermals are.

"Cloud Suck": A thermal updraft below a cloud that accelerates as you get closer to it, literally tending to suck you into the cloud.

"Cocooned": A very rare but very bad thing - when you fall into your wing and get wrapped up in it.

"Coring": Turning tightly round and round to stay in a good thermal and continue to gain lift.

"Cravat": A major "Lineover" where a line has looped over your wing towards the center, causing a cinch in the middle reminiscent (but only to the French) of a bowtie.

"Flatlanders": Those not fortunate enough to live in easily launchable mountainous states. E.g., Kansans.

"Frontal": When the leading edge of your wing collapses momentarily due to wind shear or an improper maneuver - generally no big deal.

"Full Stall": Fully burying and locking your Brakes down to cause a total wing collapse. Used to clear severe Cravats, or by idiots trying to impress their non-flying friends - not for the faint hearted.

"Glass Off": A wonderful condition where air is rising everywhere providing continual smooth lift for a long period of time, generally occurring only in late afternoons and only rarely.

"Groundhandling": See "Kiting".

"High Five": A tongue-in-cheek reference to something you don't want to do - fall past your wing close enough to give it a "High Five". Usually only encountered by those doing acrobatics.

"House Thermal": The topographic place near a launch site where you can generally catch lift.

"Jellyfish": A slang term other flying sports sometimes use to refer to Paragliders.

"Kiting": "Flying" your wing while on the ground, also called "Groundhandling".

"Lapse Rate": How temperature varies with altitude on a particular day, predictive of likely thermal strength and therefore soaring conditions.

"Launch Potato": Someone who waits forever to launch, usually holding up others from doing so.

"Lemmings": Those who launch after the Wind Dummy without paying attention to what he experiences.

"Locals": Feathery pilots with naturally occurring wings.

"Lockout": A bad thing - when being towed up letting your wing get turned so far off line (> 60 degrees) you can't recover. Towers will slack the line and you should release from tow.

"LZ": "Short for Landing Zone, the designated place for each launch site where flyers typically land unless they catch lift and choose to go cross-country

"Magic Air": See "Glass Off".

"Oh Shit! Throw!": The simplest guidance for inexperienced flyers asking when they should deploy their Reserve.

"Parachutal": A bad thing - when your wing is not flying but just falling with you like a parachute. Modern recreational wings generally exit Parachutals automatically.

"Parawaiting": What you do at the launch site when the winds don't cooperate.

"Parking": Hanging motionless in the sky when the incoming wind matches your glide speed.

"Perm-a-grin": What's on your face after your first tandem flight, first solo flight, first spot landing, first thermal ascent, first cross country flight, first top landing, etc.

"PLF": Parachute Landing Fall is a technique of falling in order to dissipate impact forces.

"Polar Curve": The plotted curve for a wing of its Sink Rate vs. Airspeed that visually conveys its Stall Speed, Minimum Sink Speed, Optimum Glide Speed, and Maximum Speed for given atmospheric conditions.

"Pressure Knot": A "false knot" when one of your lines curls around and cinches on a loop in another, generally upon launch, with the wing loading then not allowing the loop to come free.

"Ridge Hog": Someone who hugs the ridge for lift forever, usually holding up others from doing so.

"Ridge Lift": Usable lift caused simply by prevailing winds being deflected up a hill. Somewhat risky when pursued, because only useful relatively close to the hill.

"Risers": The thick straps the lines of a wing consolidate to for attachment to a harness, called from front to back the A, B, C and D risers.  The back ones are often called the Rear Risers to avoid confusion, since some wings may have 3 instead of 4 sets of risers.

"Safety Meeting": What flyers have at the local pub when the weather won't allow them to launch.

"SAT": An advanced maneuver where you enter a Spiral Dive and then bury the Brake on that same side and push the outside riser, causing the wing to flip and you to effectively be spiraling backward - named after the Safety Aerobatics Team (SAT) clinic that popularized it.

"Scratching": Looking for lift, generally somewhat desparately and in denial of prevailing conditions.

"Sister Clips": Metal clips with a specially beveled clip-together mating slot, used to quickly attach/detach the Speed Bar lines from your wing to your harness - even simpler than screw or latch carabiners.

"Sky God": A P4 or P5 who can do things with his wing you can only dream about.

"Sled Ride": A flight without lift going only down from launch - boring for the more advanced.

"SnoBall": What you quickly gather your lines and wing up into so you can move it or clear a busy landing zone.

"Speed Bar": A line attached to your wing you can push on with your feet to make your wing fly faster by pulling its leading edge down and making the wing flatter.

"Spin": A bad thing - when your wing is just rotating about its axis instead of flying. Modern recreational wings generally exit Spins automatically.

"Spiral Dive": Leaning and pulling hard on one brake to tilt your wing vertically and convert your forward momentum into a centrifugal revolving spiral, with revolutions based on how many centrifugal G's you can take. Never do this until you learn how to exit one intuitively.

"Stabilo": A common and safe way to clear a wingtip "Lineover" by pulling down and pumping your outside B line (not riser), causing that wingtip to flap down and letting the Lineover slide off.

"Stirrup": A bar attached to your harness you can push on with your feet to get into your harness once airborne. Experienced flyers generally fly with their feet on the Speed Bar, not the Stirrup.

"Thermals": Columns of rising hot air paragliders look for and turn into to get lift.

"Top Landing": Getting up high enough to return and land back at the launch site.

"Wind Dummy": The first person off at a launch site.

"Wing": The thing shaped like a wing that we attach to our harness to fly.

"Wingovers": Doing steep turns from one side to the other, using the momentum of one to initiate the other - kind of like linked half Spirals - similar to carving in skiing.

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