paragliding
Sign in to saveParagliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended below a fabric wing. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside.
Key facts
- Sport.name
- Paragliding
- Sport.image
- Paragliding 1350361.jpg
- Sport.imagesize
- 250px
- Sport.caption
- Paragliding in Turkey (Advance canopy)
- Sport.union
- Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
- Sport.country/region
- Worldwide
- Sport.contact
- No
- Sport.mgender
- Yes
- Sport.category
- Air sport
- Sport.olympic
- No
- Sport.IWGA
- 2013
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
38 sectionsContents
- History
- Equipment
- Wing
- Harness
- Instruments in paragliding
- Ground handling
- Location
- Flying
- Launching
- Forward launch
- Reverse launch
- Towed launch
- Landing
- Traffic pattern
- Techniques
- Control
- Fast descents
- Ridge soaring
- Thermal flying
- Cross-country flying
- In-flight wing deflation (collapse)
- As a competitive sport
- Safety
- Fitness and age
- Instruction
- World records
- Related activities
- Sky diving
- Hang gliding
- Powered hang glider
- Powered paragliding
- Speed flying
- Gliding
- National organizations
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended below a fabric wing. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside.
Despite not using an engine, paraglider flights can last many hours and cover many hundreds of kilometres, though flights of one to five hours and covering some tens of kilometres are more the norm. By skillful exploitation of sources of lift, the pilot may gain height, often climbing to altitudes of a few thousand metres.