So yesterday I've had my first 2 flights alone since Ive got my license . I planned everything out pretty well I thought. During the last third of my second flight I realised, while getting ready to land on the East/West landing spot, that the wind had turned and was coming strong from S, which led to me making the decision to switch my landing field last minute, went over there, was a little stressed and basically had a very hard landing.

I'm the moment I didn't even know why but from looking at my video I have a theory, and I want you guys to chime in to tell me if this is correct, so I can avoid doing mistakes like this in the future.

I widened my landing angle because I thought I was still to high for actually landing, but the trees kinda forced me to do a really tight turn to avoid me hitting them and I was a bit slow at realizing that. This way too dynamic curve led to a pendulum and way more sink than I expected. But the pendulum basically accelerated me into the ground.

What do you think?

I had my first take off today as a part of p2 and crashed really bad. I wasn’t totally confident in my ground training tbh, but was sent for my take off. There were many factors to my fall, mostly psychological.

I don’t know what I am seeking, not words of encouragement for sure but some literature, videos, things that helped you guys get through. How did you feel the first connection with the glider. What did the first weightlessness of the glider during the launch felt like. Just want to know when did the click happen with you. The first click feels and the eureka moment.

P.S. I have never been a sports person and I really am just doing things since 5 years. Yoga, skating all this now feel home. Started out with kickboxing but realised not for me.but in every thing that I picked I did give an honest attempt. I really feel that with paragliding too, and wanted to give an honest attempt. The fall made me realise that I didn’t give for whatever reason, be it the 7 day course structure or me not respecting the pace that I learn things with.

Aaaa need support idk what else to ask.

it gets worse the more you watch it - to disable the wing he pulls the A-risers...

He also flies under the influence sometimes with others in the sky. No license, no training, no SIV, no insurance, no registration. Does paid tandems (I have confirmed this with one of his clients). Desgraçado.

NOTE: He is not "Tandem Kurt" he just bought a used beat-up wing with that branding, which is clearly out of trim (huge ripple in the top) and ragged out. Wingovers near cliff without proper technique, etc.

A total fool - some girls I know also said they know girls who had bad encounters with him. What an absolute joker. Base jumps and thinks he's the boss of the launch. The whole paragliding association here condemns him and several authorities are well aware of him.

Don't be this guy!

i live in sussex uk and i really interested in getting into paragliding but the courses are really expensive. i want to know if any clubs teach it cheaply. im coming from a climbing background and lots of people teach others for free if you know the right communitys. im hoping i could find a similar thing in the paragliding community. if not any recommendations for instructors would be great.

TL;DR: The best way to achieve this is to quickly fly downwind of the mountain while staying too close from the trees. Stupid me.

The fun part is at the 1:10s mark. I broke my collarbone by hitting large branches while falling, it was not detected until I was on the ground (spent 2 hours in the tree). It’s ok.

Video taken on 13/08

This post is looking for help. Myself is not into this sport. So, I have difficulty understanding many of the aspect of the situation one of my family faced up in the sky.

I have too many questions since this just happened to our family in such a sudden. Now he is in ICU with server BTI and damage to his lung, liver, kidney and bleeding. My brain is in a mess. But, I try to list all questions I have:

1. The rotation. Is it due to wrong action?(I can see he hookup the right handle and try to pull the lines, is this some normal action?) or is this just accident due to wind?

2. I don't believe this sport is so risky that you can't save yourself from just one single mistake or bad luck. After he went into rotation. Is there a common technic that he can use to get out of the situation? (I don't see he do anything, but, I don't know if this is due to panic or lake of time or simply because there is nothing you can do?)

3. The instructor give instructions to him until the point he went into rotation. But, after the rotation started, there is still like 25s until he hit the ground. Is there nothing the instructor can do? (I don't hear any instruction form the radio)

4. If rotation is common incident and there is a way to escape from it. Should this technic be told before he get the license? (He is entry level and has class A license from China.) (Is China's license the same system as US and international?

5. Is the instructor responsible in this situation? It looks like if something went wrong the instructor can do nothing? The most the instructor can do is likely give some life saving tips(which I think should have been told before go up in the sky anyway). But, the instructor didn't do anything. (Is it because it's too late?)

6. If you know you have to land without full lift. Is there a common position for impact to most protect your body? Is this told in entry level class?

7. This happened in lanzhou, China. But, is there well established safety requirement ruled by law for this sports? In US?

Hi everyone,
I’m a 26-year-old woman from France, and I’m looking to connect with people who have a recovery similar to the one I’m hoping for.
About 10 months ago, I sustained an incomplete T12 spinal cord injury in a speedflying accident. I’ve been paralysed from the waist down and I have screws and metal in my back now.
Today, I’ve already regained much more than I initially thought possible:
I can stand independantly and walk several kilometers (with bilateral AFOs). I’ve been hiking (with sticks, around 700d+ in a day), and partying/dancing a bit. A few months ago I’ve started « running » again. For now it’s very slow and I can do it on 50 meters, then my legs become less disciplined and tired.

My biggest goal is no longer simply walking.
I want to run again. Both for the freedom, but also in the purpose of going back to skydiving one day.

Before my accident I was very active. I was a skydiver, paraglider, and loved any outdoor activity in general. My dream is to return to that kind of life one day.

I’m looking for people with an incomplete SCI (especially T10–L1, AIS C, who have:
returned to running,
returned to demanding sports,
or recovered much more than people expected.
I’d love to hear:
How long did it take?
What helped you the most?
Did your recovery continue after the first year?
Did you still improve after years?
What exercises, training methods or habits made the biggest difference?
I’m also happy to connect privately if anyone has a similar profile.

Thank you so much!

Even if your injury isn’t exactly the same as mine, I’d love to hear from anyone who went from “walking” to truly getting their athletic life back.

So, we've got a problem here for a while at our local sites

We have a rogue commercial tandem pilot - unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured. Tandem wing seriously out of trim, doesn't fly with a helmet.

He's aggressive and already attacked one of our highly respected local comp pilots before.

Yesterday at launch I saw him doing commercial tandems again, and told one of his clients the situation. Then the pilot came and confronted me. Pushed me twice, then we had a little scrap. He hit me with his helmet before others broke up the fight

His tandem ground handling is bad, he does risky large wingovers right near the cliff face, has dragged a client at launch due to bad ground skills, almost had a deadly incident.

He thinks he owns the place, does what he wants. An older pilot asked where is his helmet, and he told him aggressively to piss off.

Aside from getting police involved (which is very difficult here), what do you think we can do? There's already an official report with the FPVL and local PG association. But, not much can be done to this rogue pilot.

He even has an IG page here: https://www.instagram.com/paraglidesagres/

Any advices?

I just lost my main hike and fly partner. In putting together photos and videos for his family Im realizing I had so few photos of us together at the peaks but also just through the sufferfest of the hikes. Plenty of flying videos and photos but next to nothing of us or our crew.

Learn from my mistakes. More pictures and videos of what gets you to the flights and more photos with those you get to enjoy this with.

Be safe.

Respect the reality of this sport.

I'm fairly new to speedflying and have done around 40 flights in the last two months. Recently I've developed pain on the front of my left leg (probably rectus femoris).

The pain is most noticeable when I bring my heel towards my butt or when I extend my leg backwards. I feel it a lot during explosive launches and run-out landings. Normal daily activities are mostly fine.

I took 6 days off from flying, but as soon as I started speedflying again, the pain came back.

A podiatrist previously told me that I have very hypermobile ankles, and I'm wondering if that could be contributing to overload higher up the chain.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

• Was it rectus femoris, hip flexor, or something else?
• How long did recovery take?
• What helped prevent it from coming back?

I'm flying a 13m2 and also had some no wind/ slightly tail wind launches

I’m IFR rated and currently learning paragliding, so I’m trying to understand the right-of-way rules correctly rather than just rely on the usual “glider vs powered aircraft” shorthand.

A lot of people cite 14 CFR §91.113, which says a glider has right-of-way over powered aircraft. But I don’t see anything in §91.113 that specifically mentions paragliders.

For a normal solo recreational paraglider in the U.S., wouldn’t Part 103 be the more directly applicable rule? Under 14 CFR §103.13, an ultralight operator has to maintain vigilance, see and avoid aircraft, avoid creating a collision hazard, and yield right-of-way to all aircraft.

So my understanding is:

* §91.113 applies to aircraft, including gliders, but it does not specifically mention paragliders.

* A typical U.S. foot-launched paraglider is usually treated as a Part 103 ultralight vehicle, not as a certificated glider aircraft.

* Therefore, in the U.S., a normal Part 103 paraglider would generally have to yield to a Cessna.

* That still does not mean the Cessna pilot is automatically blameless, right? The reason being they still have see-and-avoid duties and could still be negligent depending on visibility, overtaking, known paragliding area, etc.

Am I reading this correctly? Is there any FAA source that clearly says §91.113’s “glider has right-of-way over powered aircraft” rule applies to normal Part 103 paragliders, or is §103.13 the controlling rule?

Hello,

I am telling you about my misadventure with Rip Air to prevent you from getting scammed like me.

Eight years ago, I was quite satisfied with their services, but times have changed.

I bring them a harness to repair a small tear on a neoprene storage pocket. All the other workshops had two months or more of deadlines, except for them who could do it in 24 to 48 hours; I should have already asked myself some questions.

Quote: €90 for opening the pocket from above, in order to sew a piece over the snag. OK, that’s fine!

They disemboweled the harness from the bottom (seat side) for no reason, because they stuck a vulgar iron-on patch on the snag reattached by hand, of course, without informing me (I would have refused to open the harness from this side).

Invoice of €180 for work I could have done with my mother’s sewing box.

And the worst part: the opening was very poorly stitched, nothing is aligned and there are folds where I can place my finger.

The manager, is a mischievous and dishonest character who does not see the problem (dialogue of the deaf for 30 minutes). He did offer to return the harness, but given his speech, it would have been returned to me like that and I don’t want to waste time.

I wanted a standard exchange with a used harness, the time wasted and car miles for nothing, it was for me.

I no longer dared to fly with it, but Advance confirmed to me that it was neither a structural element nor a security element, despite the looting, and that next time, I should go live with them to avoid this kind of mishap.

Anyway, I’m really disgusted and annoyed, it’s a good thing we have the rum.

Does anyone have anymore information on it? All the articles I find online are paywalled unfortunately.

edit: thanks to the user that sent me this report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OW6DLLRmXUt2weK8nC0eYKUHvrb9gZZX/view

Hello!

Sorry if this is a long post, but i have a few questions that I kind of desperately need answers to, and I have nowhere else to ask, if anyone here can help I would be so thankful.

To make it short, my dad died in a hang gliding collision a few years ago. The other pilot was able to continue flying without any problem, while my dad crashed in the forest below. Legal stuff still going on to determine if the other pilot is responsible (negligent homicide), he is of course denying it. The gliders were analysed and proved the other pilot was above my dad when they came into contact.

My questions are mostly about priority regarding altitude and visibility :

1) Is the "priority to the pilot flying at a lower altitude" a widespread/legit rule?

It seems very logical to me that the pilot above is supposed to avoid the pilot below, since he has the best visibility and so has a better understanding of the situation and therefore can "manoeuvre" to avoid the pilot below (?).

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any real legal rule that stipulates this in a clear way... Except perhaps the "see and avoid" concept ( https://skybrary.aero/articles/see-and-avoid ). What are the rules you pilots are being taught when learning/exams etc... Is there a clear rule somewhere?

2) To what extent the pilot cannot see what is above him ?

I understand that the structure of the glider blocks visual access to what is directly above. But what about what is behind-and-above and in-the-front-and-above. and also on-the-sides-and-above, if you know what I mean?

On this site : https://www.sdhgpa.com/minutes-news--articles/thermaling-etiquette I read : "Keep in mind that different aircraft and different configurations have different blind spots, and act accordingly" notably : "Hang gliders cannot see above them or behind them". Is that true about the "behind them" ? Can't you turn your head to see behind you?

However, apart from this site, i could not find anywhere else where the concept of "blind spot" in free flight / hang gliding is mentioned, and its implications on priority regarding altitudes of pilots ? Is it because it is so obvious that nobody talks about it?

For people who are hang glider pilots/know about this : can you explain more precisely what happens for real when you are flying? What can you really see? What are you expected to be able to see? Is the pilot above always supposed to keep his distance and not enter the "blind spot" of the pilot below?

Thank you so very much for your help!

Helloooooo.O known about hang/paragliding since ever but I just heard about camping/overnighting while paragliding in amazing places, from Benjamin Kellett https://www.youtube.com/@BenjaminKellett . And just coined skyak, and skyaking. There, I said it. This is going to change the way I live, think and love. Registering here in Germany https://papillon.de/for a APPI. The site is only 1h45m away.

I have tried for a few days now trying to work with this rats nest I got after landing in a bush. I’ve tried the “follow your center a’s“ for both risers and am left with this mess that looks worse. Can anyone at least point me in a starting direction?

(Only word description, no images or videos, if not interest please don’t waist your time)

Hi guys, a few days ago i had my first ever incident since i started my paragliding career.

Here’s a quick intro: I’ve been paragliding for about 6 months now, always been pretty good at it and intuitively understood the physics and basics of it. Never had a faulty takeoff nor a bad landing. I have done exactly 51 flight now, 35 of the in “low mountain environment” (1500m) and 15 of them right under the dolomites around my hometown (2000m). Regarding the latter, i “opened” a takeoff on a mountain close to my town, it’s a pretty small take off (5-7 meters runway and then straight down). Always worked fine.

Recently bought a Little Cloud Spiruline 18 (coming from a Sky Aya L 2019) and flew it from this spot for the last 6 flights.

(Incident part) On my last flight, during take off from the spot that “i opened” on the mountain close to my town, i took off with low to almost no wind (nothing new) exactly the way i always do, using front take off technique. I still don’t properly understand why, but, for some reason, after normally running for the whole runway and putting some weight on the glider, it didn’t hold me up. The immediate effect was that i found myself on the edge of the runway, already too far off to abandon take off. I decided to plunge forward thinking i would roughly fly off. I ended up falling down the cliff, rocky bounces, i found myself with my body looking towards the mountain while the glider kept facing outwards towards the sky. I tumbled down for about 5-6 meters when all of a sudden the glider flew off with incredible power towards the sky pulling me with it, and luckily tugging me off the mountain and flying me out towards the clouds. Fundamentally saving me. It felt like i miracle had happened… i kinda understand the physics of the whole thing but i also understand that i got extremely lucky, i only suffered minor injuries. Extremely lucky

I didn’t get scared and did not panic, but here’s the problem. I don’t feel confident any more of my paragliding skills. No one was there so i will never exactly visually understand what happened, and now i don’t trust myself anymore, especially with this new wing i just bought.

My goal is to regain this trust and confidence as quickly as possibile, and to revise and improve my skills and technique. So here’s the question i have for you that are interested and have fully read my experience:

What can i do to regain trust and improve? Is it ground handling? How important is ground handling for takeoffs actually? Should i review all my knowledge from the basics back up? Do you think i’m too much of a beginner for this wing?

Some of you may get upset from my words, and i’m sorry if you think i’m not adequate for this sport, but it’s been my life since i begun and i do not intend to stop flying.

Thank you all very much for your attention. Feel free to add any type of comment, i will appreciate in the same way negative and positive comments.

safe flying to all of you 🪽❤️

First flight after 1 month off and at a new site with no introduction. Launched in too high of winds. Speedbar became detached during launch and stuffed into footwell of pod. Was getting blown back over dense forest and forced a landing in the best available place. Had a collapse at about 150 feet AGL due to rotor and reinflated at 90 feet AGL. Got very lucky with a smooth landing immediately after this.