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Before Paragliding came along the majority of aspiring pilots struggled to find the  time and continuity necessary to maintain  the required skills to stay safe. Consequently a large drop out rate exists in most flying sports like hang gliding.

Of course the dedicated pilot who actively continues to fly 3 out of 4 weekends per month at least stays current enough and will always continue to grow safely in hang gliding. However for many the toll on family and other social aspects of their lives made it hard to find the time to stay sharp in the ever critical hang gliding skills of taking off and landing where currentcy is so critical to safety.

In this respect paragliding differs from hanggliding and may be the main reason for its rapid growth. Take offs and landings are slower and gentler in a Paraglider and not nearly as critical in timing or as disastrous in terms of broken material when mistimed.

The key factor, constant practice, is therefore less critical to the Paraglider pilot and consequently the sport allows periods of absence quite easily. This better suits the busy lifestyles of most of our students. This fact is clearly reflected in the retention rates between hanggliding and paragliding students all over the world.

The rewards from the 2 sports are very similar. Both fly from the same hills and are capable of long extended cross country and soaring flights of hundreds of kilometres. In lighter conditions the Paraglider generally excels but the hang glider is better at punching through stronger winds. In thermals the paraglider climbs faster but the hang glider can travel a bit faster between thermals.

 Take offs in a paraglider are more relaxed. Landings are slower and can be made in smaller and more undulating places. It is true to say that a Paraglider is easier and far less stressful to learn to fly and that paragliding students will fly more complex tasks such as long soaring flights much sooner than hanggliding students.

Set up and pack up time of a hangglider amount to about 50 minutes compared with 10 minutes for a Paraglider and the Paraglider fits in the boot of your car. All this makes a difference when going for a quick flight after work, not to mention travel overseas. Look over the comparison chart below.

As I am writing this, being a hang glider pilot from way back, I become aware of what may appear to be a major bias towards Paragliding. However it is true that more people enjoy and fly paragliders these days and facts and figures make it hard to ignore the conclusion that paragliding has made it far more possible for a lot more people to learn to fly and to keep flying….that a Paraglider is a modern hang glider. A call to the HGFA office will confirm the truth of this.

However if you are hell bent on reaping some of the benefits of hang gliding, welcome. You do not need to be especially gifted, only willing to make a constant amount of time available to stay safe in your choice of air sport. It can be very disheartening for an instructor to have brought a student safely all the way to licence only to see them slip away due to a lack of time. It is far more rewarding to have helped all our students make the right choice for them and fly with them in years to come. The entire story above was purely written to avoid the disappointment of starting the wrong student on the wrong course and since at Wingsports we have the choices available we can give you fairly unbiased advice on which course is right for you.

Please take a moment to compare the two wings and see which one best fits your personal time constraints,logistics and ergonomics, as both craft are exciting and great to fly.

A hang glider pilot finds it easy to convert to paragliding. All knowledge will be in place and the Paraglider is much easier to fly and land. Many hang glider pilots learn to fly a Paraglider in 2 to 3 days. From paragliding to hang gliding is a far less common occurrence and there is more time required to get familiar with the critical hang gliding skills required for safe take off and landing…. Maybe as long as 5 or 6 days.

CONTACT US NOW AT....hans@wingsports.com.au ; OR Phone 0419376486 BEST GEAR AT BEST PRICES!!!