Few sports share the freedom in 3 dimensions that a paraglider does. A paraglider pilot is at one with his or her wing, exposed to nature and her elements. Paragliding is complete freedom in the air, soaring like a bird. It is an individual sport in the air (except tandem of course), but on the ground pilots enjoy a close common bond which bridges cultures and language.Age is no barrier to this great sport. Guys and Girls can fly from age 16 to over 80 years. Only 0.001% of the population fly paragliders, what makes them do it? A strong thrist for adventure and a taste for adrenalin.You may have considered other forms of light aviation, but most have drawbacks due to portability, storage and expense. Paragliders have many advantages, most notably cost and size, with a complete set of modern equipment fitting into a medium backpack.
Paragliding can only be done in fine weather, as rain adversely affects the wing. You can paraglide pretty much anywhere in the world, in France and Germany alone there over 60,000 paragliding pilots all enjoying the feeling of free flight, whether its smooth coastal soaring, thermalling in the Alps alongside birds of prey or acrobatic flying. Paragliding involved one of the lowest investments for equipment of all aviation sports, adding to its growing popularity. From Europe to Nepal, from Israel to Thailand, Bali to Hawaii, Australia to Brazil, Canada to Chile. I cant think of anything I would rather do on a fine sunny day. The world takes on a different feel from the air, the feeling of freedom is indescribable.
And when you have flown enough, touch down, pack your equipment into its backpack and hitch-hike home, or call your retrieval team.Over the last few years paragliders have improved in safety and performance. Paraglider flights have been made of over 500km All without the use of mechanical propultion. Thermic activity is harnessed by paragliders to gain altitude. Once sufficient altitude is gained, we glide off searching for another free ride to the clouds.The wings are extensively tested to ensure safety.
Making paragliding safer for all. Paragliding organisations around the globe govern the training and licencing of pilots. A great way to get a feel for the sport is to take part in an introductory flying day. If its something that you enjoy, you'll need to do licence training and then youre off. Some new pilots have commented that this is the best thing they have ever done in their lives! Go on, have a go. For more details, goto http://www.LetsGoParaglide.co.za
Showing posts with label fly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fly. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Discover paragliding in India
Thrilling, true, but not everybody can be a paraglider.They say, "There are no old and bold pilots," which means only luckyones live to grow old. This isn't meant to scare you, but to say that it needs a lion's heart to be able to fly high up in the sky - like a bird.Welcome to the exhilarating sport of paragliding. If theidea of flying like a bird over pristine countryside and making theskies your playground grabs you we recommend you give PARAGLIDING a try!Nirvana Adventures:Mr. Sanjay Rao,CEO of flynirvana.com quoted "We quit our jobs,bought a house in Kamshet and started a paragliding institute calledNirvana Adventures,".Native Place is a paragliding base for NirvanaAdventures, Kamshet. Conceptualised as the Nirvana AdventuresHQ it houses all the school facilities and infrastructure such as adebriefing zone, audio video training aids and mockups as well asaccommodation for instructors, students and visiting pilots.Nirvana Native Place.TATA INDICOM celebrates Moksha with Nirvana Adventures andNative Pace, Kamshet. MOKSHA ' with Nirvana Adventures &Native Place. After months of searching for the perfect place to get together TATA Indicoms Regional Sales Heads zeroed down onNative Place with its great atmosphere and spell binding monsoonvistas to celebrate.
Native Place - Paragliding base for NirvanaAdventures, Kamshet. The oldest and the only paragliding schoolaccommodation located in the middle of the flying zone at Kamshet,Native Place is a vibrant and a positive energy radiating retreat tonature. Designed as an eco friendly guesthouse to compliment an ecofriendly sport, this warm friendly place is a bright and airy piece ofarchitecture with charming features around a central, open to skycourtyard, custom made for our paragliding pilots and students whoenjoy their stay here and, within a few days come to identify it as ahome away from home, a place that will keep calling them back.Nirvana Adventures - Paragliding INDIA is on Facebook. Sign up forFacebook to connect with Nirvana Adventures - Paragliding INDIA.Paragliding.They are also providing paragliding equipmentsmanufactured globally.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
How safe is paragliding?
A good question! In Japan, you will find old people serenely gliding across dormant volcano slopes. Through the Alps in France, you might spot daring young men pushing the limits of their skills and their paragliders while flying cross-country in challenging conditions.
Have you never flown in a paraglider, either alone or in a tandem wing? Are you hankering to just 'give it a try', but not yet sure whether you actually want to take it up as a sport? If the answer to both questions is 'yes', then this article is for you.
Well, the second bit is totally true, the first bit might be glossing over the occasional twisted ankle or bruise from beginners attempting their very first landings. But under ideal tourist-flying conditions, yes, it's pretty safe and secure! And of course, you can't go wrong if you are under a tandem wing with an instructor doing all the flying.
Paragliding As Aviation
Now of course, every sport has its risks. Also, aviation in general has it's risks. So Paragliding, being both an adventure sport and a form of aviation, also has a degree of risk. When it comes to safety though, the aviation side of paragliding is all-important. All pilots are trained to operate their aircraft safely, by minimizing potential risks. In some cases it's a matter of pure judgement such as during an approach and landing. Or it might mean sticking rigidly to a check list while preparing to leave the ground. The joy of flying, year after year after year, is the reward for doing it right.
It has been said that paragliding is as safe or as dangerous as the pilot makes it. There's a lot of truth in this, from at least a couple of angles. Firstly, pilot's choose what conditions to fly in. Secondly, they choose how far to stretch their piloting skills. Let's make an analogy with driving a motor vehicle now.
A learner driver can choose to drive around the back blocks for a while, or head straight out onto the freeway at rush hour. That's choosing driving conditions.
Secondly, he or she can choose to observe the speed limits and traffic signs, or push the pedal to the metal while running red lights and overtaking everyone in the way. That's choosing how far driving skills are pushed!
Just for a moment, let's consider what the most dangerous thing about paragliding might be. Many years of experience have led some instructors to believe that this is in fact the ease with which people can learn paragliding! After picking up the basics quite quickly, some novices can start to think that they know a lot more about flying than they really do. This can lead to over-confidence and increased risk-taking. The only way to get really good and fly safely in more challenging conditions is to fly frequently, over a long period of time.
Paragliding Statistics
For some reason, people who have a passing interest in paragliding also have an interest in the statistics of the sport. Particularly the fatalities count. Fair enough, I guess we all instinctively try to assess our risk of dying when trying something new and exciting! So let's get the death-and-gloom out of the way first. The figures are actually quite reassuring, given the many, many thousands of people flying and the flight hours they are accumulating.
The stats for horse-riding and paragliding make for an interesting comparison. And... you guessed it, more people die from being thrown off a horse than crashing a paraglider!
In a similar vein, I came across an insurance report that listed paragliding fatalities per participant to be less than motorcycle riding. Now that doesn't surprise me, I've never trusted those things! ;-) Motorbikes that is.
Another outdoor activity which compares with paragliding in terms of injury rate per participant is snowmobiling. Of which I know nothing, coming from The Great Dry Flat Land, Australia. :-)
Despite there being quite a few thousand active paraglider pilots in the U.S. during 2005, only 3 people died in paraglider accidents. This continued a trend towards fewer paragliding fatalities each year in the U.S.
Now, to be accurate and truthful, the situation in Europe has been much worse in recent years, in terms of total fatalities. But in Europe, there are many times as many active pilots as there are in the U.S. And a big percentage of them are 'pushing the envelope' by flying in challenging weather over very challenging terrain. The Alps, no less! As a beginner, you will not fit that category, hence those particular stats need not worry you.
Enough of death and dying, I'll just touch on a couple of U.S. stats now. In 2005, only 50 accident reports relating to paragliding were received, which was a 5 year low. Also in 2005 in the U.S., 32 pilots or passengers suffered paragliding injuries. 15 of these people required an overnight stay in hospital.
Browsing through some material the other day I came across a tandem pilot who has flown many passengers over the years. In all his 350+ hours of tandem flying, he has never had a passenger injured. This should give you a good feeling, since a great way to 'just try' paragliding is to go for a flight in a tandem paraglider! The pilot is behind, the passenger hangs in front. Air in your hair, and views to die for.. ooops.. I mean really really great views!
Have you never flown in a paraglider, either alone or in a tandem wing? Are you hankering to just 'give it a try', but not yet sure whether you actually want to take it up as a sport? If the answer to both questions is 'yes', then this article is for you.
Well, the second bit is totally true, the first bit might be glossing over the occasional twisted ankle or bruise from beginners attempting their very first landings. But under ideal tourist-flying conditions, yes, it's pretty safe and secure! And of course, you can't go wrong if you are under a tandem wing with an instructor doing all the flying.
Paragliding As Aviation
Now of course, every sport has its risks. Also, aviation in general has it's risks. So Paragliding, being both an adventure sport and a form of aviation, also has a degree of risk. When it comes to safety though, the aviation side of paragliding is all-important. All pilots are trained to operate their aircraft safely, by minimizing potential risks. In some cases it's a matter of pure judgement such as during an approach and landing. Or it might mean sticking rigidly to a check list while preparing to leave the ground. The joy of flying, year after year after year, is the reward for doing it right.
It has been said that paragliding is as safe or as dangerous as the pilot makes it. There's a lot of truth in this, from at least a couple of angles. Firstly, pilot's choose what conditions to fly in. Secondly, they choose how far to stretch their piloting skills. Let's make an analogy with driving a motor vehicle now.
A learner driver can choose to drive around the back blocks for a while, or head straight out onto the freeway at rush hour. That's choosing driving conditions.
Secondly, he or she can choose to observe the speed limits and traffic signs, or push the pedal to the metal while running red lights and overtaking everyone in the way. That's choosing how far driving skills are pushed!
Just for a moment, let's consider what the most dangerous thing about paragliding might be. Many years of experience have led some instructors to believe that this is in fact the ease with which people can learn paragliding! After picking up the basics quite quickly, some novices can start to think that they know a lot more about flying than they really do. This can lead to over-confidence and increased risk-taking. The only way to get really good and fly safely in more challenging conditions is to fly frequently, over a long period of time.
Paragliding Statistics
For some reason, people who have a passing interest in paragliding also have an interest in the statistics of the sport. Particularly the fatalities count. Fair enough, I guess we all instinctively try to assess our risk of dying when trying something new and exciting! So let's get the death-and-gloom out of the way first. The figures are actually quite reassuring, given the many, many thousands of people flying and the flight hours they are accumulating.
The stats for horse-riding and paragliding make for an interesting comparison. And... you guessed it, more people die from being thrown off a horse than crashing a paraglider!
In a similar vein, I came across an insurance report that listed paragliding fatalities per participant to be less than motorcycle riding. Now that doesn't surprise me, I've never trusted those things! ;-) Motorbikes that is.
Another outdoor activity which compares with paragliding in terms of injury rate per participant is snowmobiling. Of which I know nothing, coming from The Great Dry Flat Land, Australia. :-)
Despite there being quite a few thousand active paraglider pilots in the U.S. during 2005, only 3 people died in paraglider accidents. This continued a trend towards fewer paragliding fatalities each year in the U.S.
Now, to be accurate and truthful, the situation in Europe has been much worse in recent years, in terms of total fatalities. But in Europe, there are many times as many active pilots as there are in the U.S. And a big percentage of them are 'pushing the envelope' by flying in challenging weather over very challenging terrain. The Alps, no less! As a beginner, you will not fit that category, hence those particular stats need not worry you.
Enough of death and dying, I'll just touch on a couple of U.S. stats now. In 2005, only 50 accident reports relating to paragliding were received, which was a 5 year low. Also in 2005 in the U.S., 32 pilots or passengers suffered paragliding injuries. 15 of these people required an overnight stay in hospital.
Browsing through some material the other day I came across a tandem pilot who has flown many passengers over the years. In all his 350+ hours of tandem flying, he has never had a passenger injured. This should give you a good feeling, since a great way to 'just try' paragliding is to go for a flight in a tandem paraglider! The pilot is behind, the passenger hangs in front. Air in your hair, and views to die for.. ooops.. I mean really really great views!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)