Paragliding and skydiving are well-known sports activities that people love to engage in.
Paragliding involves flying freely in a seated or standing position in a harness attached to a wing; skydiving other hands involves free-falling from the sky with the aid of a parachute.
Both activities are exciting and daring at the same time, and if you ever want to feel pumped up or feel the rush of adrenaline in your system, one of these should be on your bucket list.
To launch a paraglider, the wing is pulled up like a kite by running a distance to make up the flying speed, but for skydiving, you free fall to a certain altitude before the canopy is deployed.
Skydiving can be done individually (solo dive) or as a part of two or more divers, but requires expertise and discipline, especially in getting the accurate timing for fall and deployment of the canopy, which can be fun if it goes well, or very risky if anything should go wrong.
Paragliding is usually a solo activity, except if it is done in groups and the flight can last few hours depending on the take-up speed and altitude reached.
While both activities are adventurous and fun, they have their potential hazards. Both also require a lot of physical preparation as the training can be tasking, especially on the adventurer’s physical ability and mental capacity.
Also, it requires more than the knowledge of what the sport is to understanding the depth of requirements, expectations, and preparations to be a pro at it.
How difficult is paragliding?
While anyone can try to paraglide, it is expected that such person is in good physical shape because the sport in itself is quite demanding.
You likely have lots of stamina, flexibility, and coordination before you engage in paragliding.
It would help if you were on alert because you will have to make decisions in flight, determining how safe you fly or land.
For some people, paragliding is easy to learn on the first try but takes more practice to grasp its skills and tricks.
Others may take a while to get started with the sport, but learning to glide is not the only thing involved in paragliding, but understanding the skills, altitude, perfect location for starting, controlling the wing, and the ideal weather condition to glide in also matters a lot.
While anybody can pick up a paraglider, not all can stay sustained in the sky.
It takes lots of physical strength and more mental capacity to glide safely and land safely.
Can I paraglide anywhere?
No, you can paraglide anywhere. You need to understand and identify the perfect location to gather enough speed and momentum for launch.
There are places you are not allowed to paraglide due to the presence of so many obstacles and the safety of others around and your safety.
Some of the places you can can’t paraglide include residential areas, and these areas have lots of restrictions or obstacles that could affect the launch of your canopy, from tall trees to power grids, buildings, structures, and so on.
These can be an obstacle to your free launch coupled with the fact that you may not get enough speed or momentum to launch safely to the altitude required for paragliding.
Another restricted area for paragliding is the no-fly zones such as government areas, military zones, etc.
These restrictions may be due to privacy reasons or because of the negative experiences they’ve had with previous paragliders over time.
Paragliding on flight paths is also a big no. This may disrupt the take-off and landing of commercial planes, or you may likely get in the way of an aircraft that may confuse you.
While this rule may not apply everywhere, it is essential to know that paragliding on flight routes is not advisable.
How high can a paraglider go?
A paraglider can go up to 18000 ft or more with some specific permission.
It is safe to go up to any height, but it isn’t safe in high winds, intense thermal activity, or turbulence.
So, it would be best if you fly within the range you can easily control your wing.
Can you teach yourself to paraglide?
Yes, you can, but it is not safe at all to self-teach paragliding.
However, that still doesn’t stop you from knowing the basis and understanding all required to learn and become an expert.
Things to understand with learning paragliding
You have to be fit
You need to carefully consider your physical, mental, and emotional health whenever you want to get into paragliding.
Physical fitness
The truth is that disability doesn’t even stop one from learning how to paraglide. However, you need to contact the BHPA for more info. Your fitness is very needed if indeed you want to learn how to paraglide.
Mental preparation
You must be in your proper sense if you are paragliding. If you are using some medication, you should inform your instructor, direct and guide you on how to stay mentally fit.
Emotional preparedness
You can’t be sad or upset and paraglide at the same time. You are at a higher chance of making a wrong decision, which is why you need to be emotionally stable whenever you want to paraglide.
Weather condition
Paragliding is weather-dependent, and weather changes during the day.
It would help if you had the weather to be dry and the winds below 18mph. For beginners, the best condition is 2mph to 15 mph.
Flight planning
Before going out to paraglide, you need to do the needful by doing some check and balancing, including self-analysis, equipment analysis, site analysis, and weather analysis.
Putting all those into consideration will let you know if you are indeed ready for paragliding.
On a final note, it can be pretty hard to teach yourself how to paraglide, which is why you need the support of a team or an expert.
You can enroll in a school or a course where you learn the basics and practice how to paraglide.
Conclusion
This page answers your question on paragliding is safer than skydiving. If you are considering if you should paraglide or skydive as a beginner, this information will help you make a safe and sound decision.
