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paragliding
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What is paragliding?
Paragliding is a sport that involves flying modified parachutes designed to enhance gliding capabilities. Unlike hang gliders, paragliders lack a rigid frame; instead, the parachute's fabric canopy functions as a wing. This wing comprises fabric cells with openings at the front, allowing inflation via movement through the air, known as the "ram-air" effect.
The pilot is suspended in a seated harness, controlling the wing using lines attached to the paraglider's trailing edge. These lines can be operated individually for turning or simultaneously to adjust pitch and speed. Takeoff and landing typically occur on foot from a hill or mountain. To launch, the pilot inflates the wing, runs down the slope until reaching flying speed, around 12 miles per hour, or uses towing from flatland.
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How does a paraglider stay in the air?
Paragliders stay aloft using design and piloting techniques that harness air currents. Unlike hang gliders, paragliders have no rigid frame. The canopy wing is made of fabric cells with openings that inflate as the glider moves through the air, creating a "ram-air" effect.
Pilots control the paraglider via lines attached to the wing's trailing edge, adjusting them to turn or influence speed. Launching involves inflating the wing and running down a hill until flying speed is reached. Paragliders, like other gliding aircraft, use lifting air called thermals to gain altitude and stay airborne. Soaring flights can cover long distances, with pilots using GPS to navigate routes in competitions.
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What equipment do people use for paragliding?
Paragliders utilize specialized parachutes designed to enhance gliding capabilities. These parachutes have a fabric canopy constructed of cells that inflate with air, creating a wing. The pilot uses lines attached to the wing's trailing edge to control the paraglider while sitting in a harness. These lines allow the pilot to turn or influence the speed and pitch of the glider.
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What are some common safety rules or risks in paragliding?
Paragliding involves risks that demand strict adherence to safety rules. Launching and landing on foot typically occur on hills or mountains, requiring pilots to inflate the wing by pulling it up like a kite before running downhill until reaching a flying speed of about 12 miles per hour.
Pilots must manage lines connected to the paraglider's trailing edge to turn or adjust pitch and speed. Utilizing thermal lift enables soaring flights, but strong winds can impede lower speed gliders. Competitions test pilots' navigation skills over long distances using aerial photographs or GPS.
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How do sports competitions and records work in paragliding?
Paragliding competitions involve pilots flying routes to distant goals, using Global Positioning System (GPS) to record their progress. In favorable weather, routes can extend to 60 miles (100 km) or more, incorporating several turn points.
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) has organized World Paragliding Championships every other year since 1989. By the late 1990s, the world record for straight distance was 208 miles (335 km). National and international records include categories for straight distance, out-and-return, triangle distance, speed over triangular courses, gain of height, and absolute altitude.
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paragliding, sport of flying parachutes with design modifications that enhance their gliding capabilities. Unlike hang gliders, their close relations, paragliders have no rigid framework; the parachute canopy acts as a wing and is constructed of fabric cells with openings at the front that allow them to be inflated by movement through the air—the “ram-air” effect.
The pilot is suspended in a seated harness and controls the wing via lines attached to the trailing edge of the paraglider. These lines may be operated individually to turn the paraglider or simultaneously to influence pitch and speed. Takeoff and landing are on foot and usually occur on a hill or mountain. To launch, the pilot first inflates the wing by pulling it up like a kite and then runs down the hillside until flying speed has been reached. Usually a speed of about 12 miles per hour (19 km per hour) is enough to launch the craft. Paragliders may also be launched from flatland by towing, either with a winch or behind a vehicle.
The sport can be traced to the activities of French parachute inventor Pierre Lemoigne, who tow-launched his advanced round-parachute canopies in the 1950s. The ram-air-inflated cell structure originated in the early 1960s with the kite and parachute designs of the Canadian-born American inventor Domina Jalbert. These designs evolved into steerable rectangular parachutes with relatively high forward speed. It was soon found that they had sufficient glide performance to allow them to be launched from steep slopes as well as by the aircraft deployment usual for parachutists.
From the late 1960s interest in the gliding ability of parachutes grew slowly but steadily. The paraglider developed in the United States and in Alpine areas of France and Switzerland, where it finally evolved fully. Some mountain climbers saw paragliding as an alternative to rappelling (abseiling) down after an ascent, while other enthusiasts appreciated its potential as a sport in its own right. As soon as it was realized that the wing did not have to resist the opening shock to which jump parachute canopies are subjected, thinner lines and lighter construction were used; this reduced drag, and the glide capability increased. Further improvement came from widening the wing by adding extra cells. This increases the wing’s aspect ratio (the relationship of the span to the chord) and improves its efficiency.
Paragliders use lifting air (thermals) in exactly the same way as other gliding aircraft, although their low speed precludes their use in strong winds. Using thermal lift, soaring flights of 100 miles (160 km) are common. In competition pilots fly routes to distant goals, recording their progress by aerial photographs or GPS (Global Positioning System) traces. In favourable weather the routes may be 60 miles (100 km) or more and incorporate several turn points. By the late 1990s the world record for straight distance was 208 miles (335 km). The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Paragliding Championships have been held every other year since the first championship at Kössen, Austria, in 1989. England hosted the first World Paragliding Accuracy Landing Championship in 2000.
Although paragliding is the preferred term, there are several variations, which can give rise to confusion. Sometimes the original French word parapente is used. Parasailing is often applied to the activity of towing a canopy behind a boat for pleasure rides, and parascending describes the European sport of towing low-performance paragliders into the air with the object of landing on a small target. Parafoil is a trade name for certain ram-air parachutes. Additionally, small motors backpacked by the pilot can be used to drive paragliders, in which case the aircraft is referred to as a paramotor or powered paraglider (PPG).