Recently extreme sports, such as paragliding, have become extremely popular. If you are unfamiliar with paragliding, it is when you jump from an aircraft (sometimes people jump from extreme heights, such as mountains), and glide through the air with a wide canopy parachute attached to you. Like any extreme sport, paragliding has a lot of risks, one being the chance of death. Paragliding has its fair share of reported injuries and death—one notably being a daughter witnessing her dad die from a paragliding accident (he became detached from his harness).
Although paragliding poses its threats, if we let our fear overcome us, we would never do anything fun! The best way to combat fear is with knowledge. So, that is why we have created a list of safety precautions you can take to avoid a paragliding accident!
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Paragliding Accident
Firstly, ensure that you have the correct equipment. Once you have everything you need to paraglide, take some time to examine your equipment. Is anything worn out? Have you had anything for a long time? Older equipment has a higher chance of malfunctioning. So, even though you are attached to the hip with a piece of equipment, it might be time to replace it.
Some of the things you should look for while examining your equipment are; the position the speed bar is set as, a secure, yet easy accessible harness, and slippery boots.
When setting up your equipment before a launch, have a routine. Even brushing over the littlest part of setting up could cause you to have a paragliding accident. So, take your time, and establish a system. While some things can be fixed while in flight, like a brake being twisted, every second count. What if you realize your break is twisted when it is too late? Overall, it is better to be safe than sorry.
So, follow the routine, and have a routine checkup right before a launch. Also, feel free to set yourself reminders. Write down the checklist on a stickie note, on your calendar, or in your phone!
While using a Go Pro, camera, or cell phone to capture your flight, and the breathtaking scenery, may seem like a good idea, it’s not. Electronics are a distraction that could cause a paragliding accident. Camera mounts or extendable poles could get tangled in your gear, interfere with your mobility, or even distract you from safely flying, So, even though paragliding videos are a cool idea, it won’t be awesome if your friends end up seeing the video that cost you your life.
Many paragliding accidents are caused by changing weather conditions. Maybe the wind picked up in a changing direction, or there was a sudden storm. Being aware of the weather conditions and predictions could save you from a paragliding accident. So, the morning before a flight, makes sure to check out the weather for the time you are planning to launch, and a little after that.
Knowing how to recognize a change of weather could also help you. Learn how to spot a warm front, an upcoming storm, or a general change of weather conditions. Knowing how to detect a new weather element is even better than checking the weather before flying because the local news’ weather predictions aren’t always right.
Take a minute and think about expert paragliders. They were not born with those skills. Most expert paragliders had major setbacks, but they kept persevering, and they practiced more than before. So, don’t feel down if you have been paragliding for a few years, and don’t have the skill set as expert paragliders.
Also, try new skills, heights, and areas slowly. Do not rush yourself. Just because you feel that you should be at an expert level, does not mean that you are at an expert level. Flying at a certain height, area, or in different weather conditions, when you are unprepared, could cause a paragliding accident. Even if your friends have a more advanced set of paragliding skills, don’t fly certain areas with them just to show off. Make your friends your inspiration and work your way up to an expert level.
There have been all kinds of paragliding accidents caused by a variety of factors. Maybe the paraglider hit an object or their equipment malfunction. Maybe they flew a certain area in certain weather conditions that happened to be an unpleasant combination. The point is, if it is possible, it has most likely already happened. While severe paragliding accidents are tragic, they can be a good thing for you. Research and read documented paragliding accidents and examine what went wrong. Evaluate what the paraglider did, or did not do, and what the weather conditions were like that day. It is good to learn from other people’s mistakes. After learning about a few types of common paragliding accidents, hopefully, you will be prepared if you are put in a similar situation.
Relating to working your way up to an expert paragliding level, set goals for yourself. You can’t expect to become an expert paraglider overnight. It is going to take time, most likely more time than you expect it to. So, set a list of goals for yourself. Do not set a time frame based goal chart. You never know what kind of circumstances could arise, so you do not want to feel down if a year goes by, and the goal at that time was to be an advanced paraglider. Also, by creating a list of smaller goals, you will be able to check off more, more frequently. Thus, it will make you realize the huge sense of accomplishment and pride that you should feel.
In order to get better, you must be willing to acknowledge your weaknesses and things that you need to work on. After each run, take a couple of minutes to evaluate what you did and did not do. Did you pull the brake just in time? Maybe you need to perfect when you pull the brake because pulling it too late could cause a paragliding accident. Maybe you didn’t set your equipment up to the best of your ability.
Overall, reflect on things that you did amazing, and things you could work on. Not only will this help prevent a paragliding accident, but it will help you become a better paraglider.
Sometimes a big ego can be a factor in a paragliding accident. If someone is overly confident, they most likely believe; that they know everything about paragliding, they can fly in unsuitable conditions, they do not have to listen or learn from anyone else, and that a paragliding accident wouldn’t ever happen to them. Someone who is overly confident, or has a big ego, is more likely to get into a paragliding accident because they feel as if they could conquer anything and they are invincible.
So, instead of having an ego larger than a number of feet you are about to descend from, choose to have a confident, yet simple outlook. Be confident in what you know, but understand that anything could happen to you and that learning from more experienced paragliders could come in handy, and even save your life.
In the spirit of becoming a better paraglider, practice makes perfect. We all know that cliché saying, but it’s the truth. The more experience and skills you have, the less chance you have of getting into a paragliding accident. So, if you’re looking to decrease your chances of getting into a paragliding accident, practice and learn everything you can about paragliding.
Most paragliders experience a near miss at one point or another. A near miss is basically a situation where you were almost in an accident, but something happened to deter you from the accident. A near miss can include anything such as; flying in unsuitable conditions, landing in the wrong place, equipment failure, flying too close to others, or having a terrible landing.
The bottom line is, whatever the near miss is, it could have been a paragliding accident. So, take the time to reflect on what you could do in the future to prevent something like that occurring again, and if it does happen again, what you could do better in that situation.
Sometimes before something is about to happen, you have a gut feeling that it is going to go wrong. That gut feeling is your instincts, aka your intuition. If you are supposed to go paragliding, but you have a bad feeling about it, maybe sit that day out, and go paragliding the next day. The same goes for while you are flying. If you have the instinct to not do something, like a trick, don’t do it. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
While your intuition can be right, sometimes it can be wrong, so don’t start living your life skipping everything because you have a bad feeling about it. But, every now and then, something just tells us what to no, or what not to do. Our bodies have a way of sensing danger and risks, listen to them. You never know when that gut feeling could save your life.
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