In other words, a paraglider is easy to carry everywhere and can be easily stored in the boot of a car.įor hang gliding, the problem is quite different. As indicated above it is made up of a flexible canopy, lines and a harness, all of which is stored in a large rucksack weighing around 15 kg for classic paragliders and around one kilo for the lightest in the world. This is a very interesting point which will clearly make the difference between the two machines and which partly explains the expansion of paragliding and the progressive decline of hang-gliding. In any case, both types of aircraft are equipped with emergency parachutes which prevent any major problems in flight. Hang-gliders are much faster and are therefore less sensitive to turbulence, but may require more precision and concentration both in their aerial evolution and in their approach during landings. This is why modern paragliders are all designed to quickly return to their original shape after a flight incident as soon as they regain airspeed. Therefore it is possible that in case of strong aerological turbulence this shape may be damaged and the glider may stall or go into a parachute. The paraglider flies thanks to a flexible profile conditioned by its speed relative to the air mass. The risks are a little different between the two machines. If the beginnings of both disciplines were rather rock'n'roll and reserved for pioneers, this is no longer the case today with aircraft that have reached their full maturity and a maximum level of safety. Which glider offers the best safety: Hang gliding or Paragliding? Hang glider pilot training has also seen the light of day and the practice has been democratised. Since then the hang glider has been constantly improved with double surface constructions which improve lift (flat lower surface, curved upper surface like on an aircraft wing), new lighter composite materials with a rigid structure which no longer need masts and stays. Many challenges were then born: flying over the Statue of Liberty in New York or the Eiffel Tower in Paris.īut it was in 1973 that the Frenchman Christian Paul-Depasse, with his company Delta, registered the first brand of hang glider in the world: the DELTA-PLANE brand, which has since given its name to this flying aircraft. In the 1960's we find pioneers such as the Australian Bill Moyes who made the first hang glider free flight in history. In the end it was the classic parachute that won the day, but the hang glider was propelled to the forefront. NASA was looking for the best way to glide the space capsules after their re-entry into the atmosphere. But it was especially during the conquest of space that work on the hang-glider was most intense. The hang-glider, or rather its ancestor signed Albert Berlinger, appeared very early in 1811 and was improved in 1890 by Otto Lilienthal.
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