You can fly in the sky.
It uses a big cloth wing. You sit in a soft seat. The wind helps you stay up. It is a fun way to see the world.
Would you like to fly?
You can fly through the sky.
It uses a big cloth wing. Air goes into the wing to keep it shaped. This helps you stay up high.
You sit in a soft seat called a harness. It feels like a comfy chair.
Some people fly alone. Others fly in pairs. This is called tandem flying.
It is a fun way to see the world.
Paragliding is an adventure sport. It lets you fly through the sky.
You do not use an engine to fly. Instead, you use a large fabric wing. This wing is called a canopy. Air flows into small holes in the front. This air keeps the wing shaped like a teardrop. This shape helps you glide through the air.
To fly, you sit in a harness. This harness feels like a comfy lounge chair. It supports your body while you fly. Some harnesses are called pod harnesses. These help pilots fly long distances.
Pilots use tools to help them fly well. One tool is a variometer. It tells the pilot if the air is rising or sinking. Rising air is called a thermal. Pilots use these thermals to climb high. They can reach heights of a few thousand meters.
Paragliding is easy to carry. You can fold the wing into a small bag. Then, you can put it in a backpack. This makes it easy to travel to high mountains. Some people even fly near Mount Everest!
Paragliding is an exciting adventure sport where people fly through the sky.
Unlike airplanes, paragliders do not use any engines to stay in the air. Instead, pilots use a lightweight wing called a canopy to glide. This sport is popular for both fun and serious competitions. Pilots can fly for many hours and travel hundreds of kilometres. By finding rising air, they can climb to heights of a few thousand metres.
The wing works by using air to keep its shape. It is made of two layers of fabric with cells in between. Air enters vents at the front to inflate these cells. This creates a teardrop shape called an aerofoil.
Most modern wings use a sharknose design to stay stable. This design means the air enters slightly behind the very front of the wing. The pilot sits in a harness suspended by strong lines. These lines are attached to the wing using metal clips called carabiners.
People have been dreaming of this kind of flight for a long time. In 1954, Walter Neumark wrote about pilots launching from cliffs. Later, Pierre Lemongine made better parachute designs in 1961. In 1963, Domina Jalbert invented a special multi-cell wing. In 1978, three friends in France combined these ideas to create paragliding. They called it parapente, which is French for slope.
Paragliding has grown very quickly around the world. The first official World Paragliding Championship was in 1989 in Austria.
Many pilots live in Europe, and France has over 25,000 active pilots. Equipment is also very portable and easy to carry. A pilot can fold the wing into a small bag. They then put it in a rucksack to carry on their back.
Pilots use special tools to help them navigate the sky. A variometer is a tool that tells a pilot if air is rising. This rising air is called a thermal. Finding a thermal helps a pilot gain more height.
Some pilots even use smart glasses to see information while they fly. Paragliding is a unique way to see the world from above. It connects the skill of flying with the beauty of nature.
Paragliding is a recreational and competitive adventure sport involving flight with a paraglider.
A paraglider is a lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched aircraft. It has no rigid primary structure like the metal frames found in airplanes. Instead, the pilot flies using a fabric wing called a canopy. The pilot sits in a harness or a cocoon-like pod suspended below this wing. Although paragliders do not use engines, they can stay aloft for many hours. Pilots can cover hundreds of kilometres by skillfully exploiting sources of lift. These sources allow pilots to climb to altitudes of several thousand metres.
The mechanism of flight relies on aerodynamics and air pressure. The wing shape is maintained by suspension lines and air pressure. The canopy is a ram-air airfoil consisting of two layers of fabric. These layers are connected by internal ribs to form a row of cells. Air enters vents at the leading edge to inflate these cells. This process creates a teardrop-shaped cross-section known as an aerofoil.
Most modern wings use a sharknose design to increase stability. In this design, the inflation opening is slightly behind the front of the wing. This concave shape helps the wing resist stalling. Semi-flexible rods made of plastic or nitinol may also be used to stabilize the profile. The pilot is connected to the wing by a network of suspension lines. These lines attach to risers, which are made of strong webbing. The risers connect to the harness via metal carabiners.
Paragliding equipment is categorized into several distinct types based on use. Harnesses vary significantly to suit different flying styles. Open harnesses are used for training beginners or general flying. Pod harnesses are aerodynamic and offer more stability for long-distance cross-country flights. However, they increase the risk of riser twist and are not for beginners. Acro harnesses are designed for acrobatic flying and can hold multiple reserve parachutes. There are also lightweight hike and fly harnesses designed for portability.
Tandem paragliders are larger wings designed to carry both a pilot and a passenger. These wings fly faster and are more resistant to collapse than solo wings. They do, however, have a higher sink rate.
The history of the sport is a journey of combining different inventions. In 1954, Walter Neumark predicted that pilots would eventually launch from cliffs. In 1961, Pierre Lemongine developed improved parachute designs called the Para-Commander. This design could be towed and steered, leading to parasailing. In 1963, Domina Jalbert patented a multi-cell ram-air parafoil. This device used an aerofoil-shaped cell structure inflated by passing through the air. In 1978, Jean-Claude Bétemps, André Bohn, and Gérard Bosson combined these developments in France. They inspired the term parapente, which is French for slope.
Since its inception, the sport has achieved significant global scale. The first official FAI World Paragliding Championship was held in 1989 in Kössen, Austria.
Europe has seen the most growth, with France alone having over 25,000 active pilots in 2011. The sport is also highly portable compared to other aviation. A complete kit can be folded into a stuffsack and carried in a rucksack. Modern competition wings have a glide ratio of approximately 11.3. Some specialized competition models have reached a ratio of 13.6. This is much higher than a standard skydiving parachute, which has a 3:1 ratio.
Pilots use several specialized instruments to navigate and maintain altitude. A variometer is a vital tool for every pilot. It helps the pilot locate the "core" of a thermal, which is rising warm air. The variometer indicates when the pilot is in rising air or sinking air. This allows the pilot to maximize height gain.
Many pilots also use GNSS units for navigation and radios for communication. Since 2003, some pilots have even used smart glasses with head-up displays. These tools allow the pilot to monitor flight data without looking away from the sky.
Paragliding connects human skill with the complex systems of the atmosphere. It is a sport that relies on understanding wind and lift. Pilots must manage their speed using a speedbar or trimmers. Without these, the wing flies at its trim speed, which is usually the best glide ratio. The sport is constantly evolving through new technology and research. For example, feasibility studies began in 2022 for paragliding above 8,000 metres in Nepal. This would allow flight from the highest starting altitudes on Earth.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (24)
+ 12 more
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.